Thursday, February 11, 2016
When I was just 10 years old, I felt my first call to ministry. Church was one of those places where I felt I could fully be myself, a place where I felt fully loved by what seemed like a whole lot of people.
One of the things that I excelled at during my youth was memorization. At one time, I knew all the disciples, the books of the New Testament (in order), the Apostle’s Creed, and lots of songs, including all four verses of Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, and a few others. Of course, I could recite the Lord’s Prayer from memory.
But I had no idea what all that stuff meant. Words like ‘trespasses’ and ‘hallowed’ had little meaning to a 10 year old. Later I learned about, and questioned, things like the theology of How Great Thou Art and The Old Rugged Cross. I changed denominations from Methodist to Congregational. Creeds no longer were an important part of worship. I found the balance of beauty and sorrow in the story behind the writing of Amazing Grace.
As I became an adult and began worshipping with different congregations across geographies and theologies, I found differences in the ways churches recite The Lord’s Prayer. Some say ‘sins’ instead of tresspasses. Some say ‘forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.’ While I first experienced those differences as jarring and a bit of a shock to the system, I now see those differences as openings, or opportunities.
What does it really mean to recite The Lord’s Prayer? What are we really saying? What are we asking God for? Is it just a rote prayer that we’ve forgotten the meaning to long ago? Is it meaningful because that’s how we’ve always done things? What do you associate with the Lord’s Prayer? At Edwards Church, you might associate it with the prayer of confession and forgiveness of sins, but what if it was said at a different point in the service? Would it mean something else? What would an active or interactive Lord’s prayer look like?
Welcome to Lent! I hope we explore these questions and many more throughout these six weeks. Perhaps by Easter, we will understand our faith and our communal life of prayer just a little bit more.
Today’s Prayer: “God, help us to find prayers that bring us closer to you. Help us to express what we really mean when we find ourselves in conversation with you. Give us words full of meaning. Open our hearts and our minds this Easter, that we may be surprised by new things, and yet comforted by those things that are familiar. Remind us that we are all related to one another, true kin with each other and with your son, Jesus. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”
–Dawn Sorensen