As United Methodists move toward the 2016 General Conference Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey is inviting all United Methodists of 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 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,
Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey
Michigan Area The United Methodist Church
Last Updated on January 10, 2023