THE LORD’S PRAYERLENT 2011

FOUR FIXTURES of catechesis• Apostles’ Creed• Lord’s Prayer• Ten Commandments• The Sacraments

Apostles’ Creed:What we believe.

Lord’s Prayer:How we pray.

Ten Commandments: How we behave.

Apostles’ Creed:What we believe (lex

credendi).Lord’s Prayer:

How we pray (lex orandi).

Ten Commandments: How we behave (lex

vivendi).

“Lex orandi, lex credendi est.”

The law of prayer is the law of belief.

As we pray (or worship),

so we really believe.

“As we pray and believe,

so shall we live”Worship & Theology & Ethics

THE LORD’S PRAYER“This, then, is how you

should pray . . .” Matthew 6:9

The Lord’s Prayer is intended as a general guide to prayer, not a rote form.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

“Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your

name.”

THE LORD’S PRAYER“Father” is popularly

understood to imply a new, personal intimacy in Christ.

More accurately, it emphasizes the corporate identity of those praying.

OT BACKGROUNDTwo tributaries:

Israel David

ISRAEL22Then you shall say to

Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is

my firstborn son, 23and I say to you,

“Let my son go that he may serve me.”’

Exodus 4

ISRAEL16For you are our Father,though Abraham does

not know us,and Israel does not acknowledge us;

you, O LORD, are our Father,

our Redeemer from of old is your name.

Isaiah 55

DAVID14 I will be to him (David)

a father, and he shall be to me a

son.2 Samuel 7

DAVID10 In that day the heir to

David’s thronewill be a banner of

salvation to all the world. Isaiah 11 (NLT)

DAVID1 Come, everyone who

thirsts,come to the waters . . .

3Incline your ear, and come to me;

hear, that your soul may live;

and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love

for David.” Isaiah 55

“OUR FATHER”We are the Exodus people.We are the Messiah’s people.Both identities come with privileges and responsibilities.

WRONG IDENTITIES:THE YOUNGER SON

13Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a

journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property

in reckless living.Luke 15

WRONG IDENTITIES:THE OLDER BROTHER

28But he was angry and refused to go in . . .

His father came out and entreated him, 29but he

answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you,

and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might

celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours

came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you

killed the fattened calf for him!'

TRUE IDENTITY:OUR FATHER

31And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32It was fitting to

celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was

dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'

“OUR FATHER”

“in heaven”We pray as those

redeemed, but also longing for full,

“heavenly” redemption in the future.

“OUR FATHER”“hallowed be your

name”We accept our role as

those who believe (credendi), pray (orandi),

and live (vivendi) in a way that demonstrates to

one another and the world who God is.

LENT AND THE LORD’S PRAYER

Lent is a time to move more intentionally and fully into our identity as sons and daughters in Christ, with God “our

Father.”

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your

Name,your kingdom come,your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sinsas we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial,

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

and the glory are yoursnow and for ever.

Amen.