Teach Us to Pray

Midweek Lenten Vespers 3

A Reading from the Small Catechism of the Rev’d Dr Martin Luther:

The Lord’s Prayer, as the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to his household.

Our Father who art in heaven. What does this mean? With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.

Hallowed be Thy name. What does this mean? God’s name is certainly holy in itself, but we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us also. How is God’s name kept holy? God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father!

Thy kingdom come. What does this mean? The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also. How does God’s kingdom come? God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What does this mean? The good and gracious will of God is done even without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may be done among us also. How is God’s will done? God’s will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s name or let His kingdom come; and when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die. This is His good and gracious will.

Give us this day our daily bread. What does this mean? God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. What is meant by daily bread? Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. What does this mean? We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.

And lead us not into temptation. What does this mean? God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.

But deliver us from evil. What does this mean? We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.

Here ends the reading.

Sermon:

Lord, we pray for the preacher, for you know his sins are great.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Prayer doesn’t change God. Prayer changes us.

When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach us how to pray—according to the Gospels of Matthew and of Luke—He bequeathed to us a brief yet comprehensive prayer, trusting in the goodness and the faithfulness of God. This prayer has formed the core of our corporate worship ever since: every Divine Liturgy, every Matins, every Vespers, every Compline, every Midday Prayer. The Didache, a catechism as old as the New Testament, requires us to pray it thrice a day.

Prayers in the Graeco-Roman world of Jesus’ day often relied on rituals, formulae, complicated verbiage. If you got it right, the gods might hear and grant your suit. But Jesus hasn’t patience for such things. “Be not wordy in your prayers,” He warns us. Instead, His prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, consists of seven short and straightforward petitions: that God would keep His Name holy, send to us His Kingdom, work His divine will in our world; that He would feed us, forgive us, and deliver us from temptation and from evil.

Don’t pray for show, Jesus tells us. Don’t pray for fame or for respect. Pray simply, quietly, in secret; because God always sees us, always hears us, in secret, and knows what we need better than we could possibly know it ourselves. And to be clear—this is Luther’s keenest insight—God will answer these prayers regardless of whether we pray them. God will indeed keep His Name holy; His will shall be done; His Kingdom comes whether we want it to or not. God will work for our good.

What we are asking, in this Lord’s Prayer, is that all of these things happen in and through us; that we be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. Let your will be done in us, O Lord. Work your will, send your Kingdom, grant your forgiveness, through us. “Make us according to your heart, O Lord; make our thoughts yours.” Salvation cometh and that right soon. May we be the crest of the wave, rather than detritus swept from its path.

Prayer, then, for us, is not a spell, not a wishlist. It runs far higher and deeper than that. Prayer is our communion with the divine. The English Orthodox author Martin Shaw put it thusly:

John Chrysostom wrote that prayer acts as a harbor for those blown by the storm, is a staff for the weak-limbed, an anchor for the shipwreck, a treasury for the poor. It was considered access to pleasure, an experience of joy, and a practice that gave horror to demons. From his view, no Christian should be anything but delighted to swim in those luxuriant waters of devotion. Prayer is a form of self-regulating where we grow in consciousness of our true nature. Prayer is not static but dynamic, even within liturgical repetitions. We are in movement, falling yet deeper into the mind of God. Prayer lubricates our acts of charity, gifting poetic resonance to the small course-correctives needed for a day trying to live in the wonderful trouble of the Christ-light.

Jesus had complete confidence that His Father always heard Him; utter trust, utter faith, that God would not leave Him destitute. In this our Lord was not naive. He knew such suffering as few could ever dream. Yet nothing could separate the Son from His beloved Father. Not hunger, not homelessness, not rejection, not the machinations of the devil, not the betrayal of His closest friends, not even the grotesquerie of the Cross. While He hanged there, pierced and lacerated, He recited the Psalter by heart.

God answers all prayers. Not necessarily how we would like, nor in the time we would prescribe. Certainly we wish that He would. We wish that a simple prayer might dispel all injustice, all injury, all sickness, all war. Just pray it all away. And sometimes that happens; miracles do occur. But every prayer is answered in the Resurrection. Wonders seen before that serve as foretastes of the feast to come. In the meantime, we ask that God would answer prayer in us. In the words of Pope Francis: “You pray for the hungry, then you feed them. That’s how prayer works.”

Remember there are many forms of prayer. The first is simply verbal: prepared or impromptu, silent or aloud. We speak to God as Father, trusting that He hears us, and loves us, better than any earthly father could. The second is meditative, the prayer of study: turning over a story, a thought, a verse within our heads, gazing at its facets like a diamond, gnawing on its marrow like a bone. The Rosary remains the most popular form of Christian meditation.

But the highest form of prayer, according to tradition—known as contemplation in the West, and hesychasm in the East—is, quite simply, silence. It is sitting in the presence of the Lord, knowing He is with us; doing nothing, saying nothing, just to be with Him. In some ways, this is the easiest form of prayer, because you don’t do anything. But in others it is by far the most difficult, because you don’t do anything. Jesus was great at this, always off to the wilderness, the mountaintop, the lake. People still find Him in fishing boats.

Here’s the bottom line. God the Father commands us to pray. God the Son teaches us how to pray. And God the Spirit does the work of praying the prayer within us. Take the time. Make the effort. Turn your life into a prayer. And you will find a strength of peace beyond this weary world.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pertinent Links

RDG Stout

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St Peter’s Lutheran

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Nidaros Lutheran

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