On the Lord's Prayer

But its familiarity to us from regular liturgical and devotional usage and it being called the “Lord’s Prayer” hides its radicality from us. This prayer is a Cross-eyed disciple’s prayer given by his or her cross-eyed Lord. Read it slowly and reflect on what it says in the context we’ve been developing.

Jesus introduces this prayer in 6:7–8 and appends a conclusion (6:14–15). Its seven petitions relate to both the divine (6:9-10) and the human (6:11–1). The first three petitions concerning God decenter and correct us. It’s God’s name that matters, not ours; and God’s agenda for which we are to pray, not ours. It is earth and not heaven for which we are to pray. Our favorite preoccupations, ourselves and our agendas, are sidelined and our hope of escape to a “better place” than earth (i.e. heaven) is thwarted. As I said, this prayer decenters and corrects us.

The last three petitions undercut our desire (expectation) for a life of comfort and ease. Daily bread, like daily manna for Israel in the wilderness is just that – enough for today and not to be hoarded! Nor can we have forgiveness without forgiving others. Especially those others who irritate, disturb, even frighten us. Relatives, strangers, and enemies. And then everyone’s favorite – conflict. The trials engineered by the evil one – we will be so involved in them that we will need to be delivered by Christ from them.

The picture of life as followers of the cross-eyed one is decidedly cross-eyed. As one paraphrase of the prayer has it, “it does not once say ‘me.’” Praying like this, and meaning it, is like every home repair project I’ve ever attempted. It costs more, takes longer, and makes a bigger mess than I could ever imagine. This prayer invites God to take us apart and put us back together again in proper functioning order to serve him and his agenda in this life and the next.