As United Methodists move toward the 2016 General Conference Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey invites The Michigan Area to participate in the corporate spiritual discipline of prayer.
Each Monday throughout the six weeks of Lent, Bishop Deb will email a devotional inviting all to her in not only just praying Jesus’ own prayer, but giving deeper thought to this most familiar – and most beloved prayer.
Here is Week 3, emailed February 29, 2016 …
I love a good loaf of bread. One of my favorite places is The Great Harvest Bread Company. They make some of the best bread I’ve had. If you have never tried their olive loaf or their cheddar garlic loaf, you have missed something special. And I loved the fact that I could stop by and actually be given a taste of a particular kind of bread before I bought it. I would buy a loaf and eat it all week. Just one good slice would easily make a very filling – and a very satisfying – meal.
That wonderful bread made me realize how just ‘bread alone’ could, indeed, be sustaining. “Give us this day our daily bread“, begins the third line of the Lord’s Prayer. Now this is a statement we understand. We understand food –
–with our full to over-flowing pantries;
–with our grocery stores lined with items we’ll probably never need;
–with our restaurants offering big, bigger, and even BIGGER portions;
–with many of us trying to shed those stubborn pounds
We understand food. Or do we?
Do we really understand the power of this line, “Give us this day our daily bread”? Do we really understand the depth of the cry, “Give us food”? We understand the kind of hunger that makes our stomachs growl when we go too long between meals. Or the hunger that comes from smelling the holiday turkey or ham cooking in the oven. But that kind of hunger can easily be resolved by a quick trip to the refrigerator or the cupboard.
This cry goes much deeper. It is a cry of millions across our world for whom the lack of ‘daily bread’ is a constant, life-threatening condition. This is the cry of people whose very existence is threatened by hunger – people for whom a loaf of bread is truly life-sustaining.
Perhaps as we pray this prayer, this third line will call us to remember – and respond to – those who have no ‘daily bread’ – whether they are in Haiti, or Chile, or the Sudan … or just down the street.
In the study guide for the Lord’s Prayer, Becoming Jesus’ Prayer, published by the Iowa Annual Conference, we read these words: To honestly pray “give us this day our daily bread” is to be reminded of our role in establishing God’s kingdom of justice on earth as it is in heaven. It involves feeding the hungry. But there is more to this prayer. It would be an easy task if the prayer were only asking us to share our ‘leftovers” with those who lack food. The prayer is subversive. (p. 26)
It is our responsibility to share what we have with the world, and if we really did share, hunger could truly be a thing of the past. There is one other thought I would like to share regarding this particular line of the Lord’s Prayer. As we pray for bread to sustain our lives, we should also pray for that which sustains our souls.
“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’” (John 6:35)
In a world that tries to convince us that more “things” will fulfill our lives, Jesus reminds us of the deeper hunger within our souls – a hunger that can only be satisfied by God.
In the words of the Communion hymn: You satisfy the hungry heart, With gift of finest wheat. Come, give to us, O saving Lord, The bread of life to eat. (UMH #629)
So as you pray this Disciple’s Prayer this week, when you get to the phrase, “Give us this day our daily bread”, pause for a moment and offer a special prayer for those who have no ‘daily bread’. Then take another moment and pray that you might find the soul-filling bread you need to continue your walk through life.
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread … Amen and amen.
Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey
Michigan Area
The United Methodist Church
Here is Week 2, emailed February 22, 2016 …
“Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name.
Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
(Matthew 6:9-10)
There’s a great ad on television I saw several years ago that I really liked. It first shows a mother pushing a child in a stroller. The child drops a toy and man walking by picks it up and hands it back to the child, and the mother looks grateful. In the next scene the same mother is walking out of a coffee shop and when she sees a coffee cup perched precariously on the edge of a table, she quietly pushes the cup away from the edge. Someone oversees that act and offers a hand to a man who has fallen. And on and on it goes. As someone sees an act of kindness, they are inspired to act kindly to another.
At the end of the ad we hear these words:
“When a person does the right thing, we call it responsible. When an insurance company does it, we call it ———-.”
Now I know it’s an ad for an insurance company, but I still like the thought. And what I like about it is that it reminds us to do the right thing – to walk the talk – to live out what we claim to believe in our everyday life and actions.
Perhaps we could put it this way:
When a Christian does the right thing, they are living out the kingdom of God.
“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
When I pray the Lord’s Prayer, this tends to be the line I skip over rather quickly, and move on to “daily bread”, and “forgiveness”, and “temptations”. But I shouldn’t. For just as the first line of this prayer is a declaration of our faith, this second sentence reminds me to look toward the bigger picture – the coming of God’s kingdom here on earth.
For prayer has the capacity to shape us in the ways of God.
As Christians, we are called to do everything we can to bring in the Kingdom of God. We are called to be Christ’s hands and feet to the world and to embody God’s love – God’s grace – God’s justice – God’s compassion – in everything we say and do. We ought to be doing “the right thing” simply because it IS the right thing – it is what God would have us do.
In Richard Foster’s book, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, we read this:
The true prophetic message always calls us to a spiritual defiance of the world as it now is. Our prayer, to the extent that it is fully authentic, undermines the status quo. It is a spiritual underground resistance movement. We are subversive in a world of injustice, oppression, and violence. Like Amos of old, we demand that “justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream” (Amos 5:24). We plead the case of the orphan and the widow, or whoever the helpless ones are in our context. In our prayers and in our actions we stand firm against racism, sexism, nationalism, ageism, and every other ‘ism” that separates and splits and divides. (p. 247)
Friends, can you imagine what this world would be like if we all lived as though God’s kingdom were already here?
As you pray this Disciple’s Prayer this week, listen for ways God may be nudging you. In fact, try offering a prayer as you read your morning newspaper, or as you watch the evening news. Make prayer a way of life.
When you are frightened – pray.
When you are grateful – pray.
When you are touched by the beauty of God’s creation – pray.
When you pound your fists in anger or frustration – pray.
When your heart is filled with joy – pray.
Make prayer a way of life.
Make listening to God a way of being.
And make living out the kingdom of God your goal.
Prayer Is the Soul’s Sincere Desire (UMH #492)
(to the tune of Amazing Grace)
Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, un-uttered or expressed,
The motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burden of a sigh, the falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye, when none but God is near.
Prayer is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach the Majesty on high.
Prayer is the contrite sinners’ voice, returning from their way,
While angels in their songs rejoice and cry, “Behold, they pray!”
Prayer is the Christians’ vital breath, the Christians’ native air;
Their watchword at the gates of death; they enter heaven with prayer.
O Thou, by whom we come to God, the Life, the Truth, the Way:
The path of prayer thyself hast trod; Lord, teach us how to pray!
Amen and amen.
Here is Week 1, emailed February 15, 2016 …
The other Sunday I sat in church directly in front of a boy of about eight or nine years old. He was sitting with what I assumed were his parents and grandparents. He was a typical little boy, as he wiggled and squirmed and banged the pew in front of him with his feet – full of life, full of energy and full of questions. Lots of questions. He asked why we did this, and why we did that, and what the guy up front doing now. Question after question, asked in his little boy whisper that wasn’t really a whisper at all – and I was pleased his grandfather tried to answer his questions quietly but honestly.
The truth was, I actually enjoyed listening in on this private teaching time. But what really moved me was during the time for prayer. As the sanctuary stilled, and the pastor began to pray, this little guy quieted down – the questions finally coming to an end. And when we were invited to pray The Lord’s Prayer, a little, clear voice rang out behind me, “OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE THY NAME …” On he went, proudly proclaiming every word of that familiar prayer. I found myself no longer saying the words, but just listening – moved by a small child’s prayer.
“He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘When you pray say …'” (Luke 11:1-2)
How many times in our lives have we said that most familiar of all prayers? And yet, as Anne of Green Gables has said, “Saying one’s prayers is not the same as praying.”
She is correct. It is far too easy to just simply say the words without really digesting them – without really thinking of the power of those holy words.
“Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.” These aren’t just words – they are a declaration of faith. They are a statement that proclaims the power, the presence and the magnificence of the God we worship. And yet … they also remind us that our relationship with God is a personal one – a relationship so deep that the only way to describe it is through the image of a parent whose love for a child is beyond words. That is where prayer begins – with an acknowledgement of who this God is, and our relationship as God’s beloved child.
As we begin this holy journey through Lent, I am inviting all of us in the Michigan Area to make this Disciple’s Prayer our prayer, and to make it a part of our daily spiritual journey. There are many ways to pray it:
- Pray it slowly, pausing after each phrase.
- Or sing it.
- Or read it, with the words in front of you.
- Or say a phrase slowly, over and over again.
- Or pray a different version of it.
But don’t just say it … pray it. And each time you pray it, listen for God’s word to you. Each week we will focus on a particular phrase of the Lord’s Prayer, but I want us to pray the entire prayer every day until the words are no longer just words, but until we can proudly proclaim – and claim – this prayer as did that little boy in the pew behind me – with excitement and with awe.
So, pray with me now – Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread . And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever. Amen.
And amen.
With you in the Work of Christ,
Last Updated on October 20, 2023