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Who art in heavenTuesday, March 7, 2017
From Matthew 6 The prayer's first half honors God. I acknowledge that God is God and I am not. But God does not emphasize this separation; God also inhabits both my body and my soul. In the prayer's second half, he fills my stomach and my heart, and expects me to share what I've been given with others. Every day we need to eat, and we need to share what we have. Every day we both speak and listen. Every day we resolve conflict, giving and receiving forgiveness. Every day manna falls from heaven for each of us, for us all together. God expects us to pick it up and eat it. Give us this day. My mind teems with thoughts, plans, dreams and fears. In this inner life I am not alone. God's presence invites me to share it all with him. God's perspective deepens mine. Always there is a wider mercy, right there for me to claim. Thy kingdom come. Every day Jesus says the same thing. The kingdom of heaven has come. In this world as it should be you can stop protecting yourself. Open your posture, open your pocketbook. Pray the simple prayer of praise and gratitude. Know your safety and your strength. God says, "Trust me beyond what you see and think you know." The cattle on a thousand hills will be glad. The earth is fertile and fruitful, made so by God's word, which always achieves the end for which it's sent. In all my extremes, Lord, you sustain me and save me to your quiet camp to rest. Your gentle touch and soothing words fill my soul. Your bread and wine are sufficient for the day as we share the meal together. Fire burns free, and even the darkness is as light to you. I lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. On earth as it is in heaven. |
What does God know we need before we ask? Jesus was not talking of luxuries but of physical and emotional sustenance: our daily bread, self-awareness and forgiveness, protection from evil both within ourselves and in others. Those, far more than luxuries, make life worth living. The Lord's Prayer is a simple, thorough masterpiece. It has certainly stood the test of time.