a short article from a contemporary Christian writer on the theme (an audio version is also available online)
some questions to address
a further time of prayer
finally, a ‘sending out’ section, with suggestions for further reflection and selected quotations from the great tradition of Christian writing to help you do so.
This pattern of contemplation and discussion will, we believe, help you to decide whether you wish to respond to Christ and be part of his Church. Remember that the Church is not a group of men and women who are, themselves, certain about all these things, but who ‘believe and trust’ (this is what you are asked at baptism) and then go on following Jesus Christ and continuing the journey of faith.
We all learn in different ways and there is a variety of material here to support you. Different people will receive something from the different parts of the session according to their own learning style.
At the end of this course, we hope you will have made some new friends and explored quite a lot of areas of Christian faith. Just as importantly, you will have been given confidence to read the Bible prayerfully and critically, and you will have, if you wish, established a pattern for prayer. We hope that Pilgrim will help you lay a foundation for a lifetime of learning more about God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ and what it means to be his disciple.
This little book gives you all you need to begin this great journey. You are standing where millions of men and women have stood: you have caught a glimpse of who God is, and you are puzzled and curious to know whether the claims of the Christian faith can be trusted and whether they actually make any difference to life.
This book and this course can help you. You will need the book for each session, but outside of the sessions you may want to look each week at the material you are about to study together. As the course goes on, you may want to take time each week to look back at what you have already covered as you move forward on your own pilgrimage.
INTRODUCTION TO THE LORD’S PRAYER
Long ago, when Christians were first learning about the faith, people would prepare for baptism as adults over two or three years. The final part of their journey would be in the season of Lent, preparing for baptism at Easter.
During the final part of the journey, the bishop would hand over to them and teach them about some of the greatest treasures of the Christian faith. One of the most important was the prayer we know as the Lord’s Prayer.
This prayer was only taught to and said by Christians. You couldn’t look it up in a book (there were no printed books then). It was one of the special things you were given as you prepared for your baptism. You would learn it by heart and teach it to your household.
Reflect for a moment on the wonder of this special prayer, used by every generation of Christians there has ever been. For some, the words are very familiar. Perhaps we learned them as children, but perhaps we have never thought about what they mean for adults. For some, the words are too familiar – we have given up thinking about what they mean. But for some, the words will be new, something precious to be explored on the way to becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ.
One of the early Church Fathers said that the whole of the Christian gospel – the whole of the good news – is in the Lord’s Prayer if we truly understand it.
We are going to explore the Lord’s Prayer in these sessions as a gateway to the Christian gospel, as a guide to our own prayers, and as a way of deepening our relationship with God.
This prayer is used all around the world by millions of people worldwide and has been for 2,000 years. There probably isn’t a moment, day or night, when there isn’t someone on earth praying the Lord’s Prayer. There probably isn’t a language on earth that doesn’t contain a version of the Lord’s Prayer.
You can pray this prayer when you are full of joy. You can pray it in the ordinary days. It’s used at services of baptism (or christenings) and weddings as we celebrate great family events. It’s used at the bedside of someone who is dying and at their funeral service.
The Lord’s Prayer is found in a slightly different form in two of the four gospels (the accounts of Jesus’ life and teaching) we find in the Bible: the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke. In both gospels, the words of the prayer are given by Jesus. The setting for the prayer gives us an idea of why Jesus gives us this prayer as a precious resource for our faith.
Luke puts the Lord’s Prayer in Chapter 11 of his gospel in the context of Jesus’ own prayers. The disciples see the difference that prayer makes to the Lord. But they also know that they struggle with their own prayers. They don’t know what to say or do. So the disciples ask Jesus a key question as he returns from his prayers one morning: Lord, teach us to pray.
Think about this request for a moment. It’s a request that implies that prayer is a very important activity. But it’s a request which implies that prayer is something we need to learn to do.
Jesus replies by giving them a prayer to pray. It is a very brief prayer and one that anyone can memorize from an early age. Yet each line in the prayer is rich and powerful. This is the prayer that teaches us to pray.
Matthew sets the prayer in the centre of the collection of Jesus’ teachings and sayings known as the Sermon on the Mount. Again, it follows some basic teaching on how to pray. Prayer is not about showing off and standing on street corners but about developing a secret, inner relationship with God. It’s not about the ability to string words together and impress other people but about simplicity and sincerity.
Then Jesus offers these words for prayer which give us a way of keeping to his teachings. The Lord’s Prayer is brief compared to other prayers of the day. The Lord’s Prayer is something anyone can learn by heart and so use in private, in that hidden room, as we come to our prayers: Pray then in this way.
God is approachable. Prayer is something anyone can do. You don’t have to use complicated words or flowery language. God isn’t swayed by arguments or by length or by skill in prayer.
Here are some words you can say, but here also is a deep pattern for prayer.
Here is a way of seeing God and the world and yourself which is profound and revolutionary and good news.
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 sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
Contemporary language version
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the