Today's reading is taken from the Gospel of Matthew,
chapter 6, verses 9 to 13. This, then, is how
you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed
be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today
our daily bread, and forgive us our debts. as
we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from the
evil one. The word of the Lord. My name is Kyla,
and as Rob said, I am the online engagement director
here. But I'm also going to be unpacking the
Lord's Prayer with you this morning. And so if
you've been around for most of this summer, you
probably know that we have been journeying through
the Sermon on the Mount together. And if you
haven't been here at all for this series yet,
if this is your first Sunday with us, no worries.
I'm really glad that you've joined us today,
and I hope that you have felt welcomed here.
Today, as Rob said, we're going to be wrapping
up our series on the Sermon on the Mount. But
we're not actually going to do that by looking
at the end of the sermon. That's where Sandra
took us last week. But we're going to be diving
right back into the very center of the sermon,
the heart of this sermon. Now, you might remember
that many weeks ago now, Rob referred to the
Sermon on the Mount as Jesus' manifesto of the
kingdom of God. So it's this sermon that teaches
us all about what the kingdom of God is like,
who Jesus is, and who we are called to be as
citizens of that kingdom. And so the Bible Project,
it's a resource that I really like. It breaks
down the Sermon on the Mount into these different
sections, starting with an introduction, and
then three large sections of teaching, and then
a conclusion. And each of those three larger
sections, they've broken down into three smaller
sections. And right in the center of the center
section is the Lord's Prayer. So the Lord's Prayer.
and prayer in general, sits at the very heart
of this sermon, which I think means that it sits
at the very heart of what the kingdom of God
is about. And that means that there's something
really important for us to pay attention to in
the words of this prayer. Now, I'm willing to
bet that almost all of you have heard this prayer
before, even before Kerlin came and read it for
us this morning. We say it almost every week
here at Trinity. You've probably said it before
in other churches. Maybe you've said it before
at home or with your families. And sometimes
that repetition means that words will start to
lose their meaning for us. Now, I hope that the
Lord's Prayer has not lost its meaning for you.
But if it has, if the words are starting to feel
a little bit stale, I just want to ask for the
next few minutes of your attention. And I hope
that God can reignite a fire in you. to sort
of see the beauty and the power of this prayer
as God has been showing me as I prepared to share
with us today. And if you are here and you have
never heard this prayer before in your life,
even better. I am really excited to see how God
gets to speak to you in this time as we learn
to pray this prayer that Jesus taught us. But
before we dive specifically into the Lord's Prayer,
I want us to take some time to think about how
prayer in general works. Because I think once
we understand more about prayer in general, the
words of the Lord's prayer will take on a much
richer meaning for us. Now, when I say that I
want to think about how prayer in general works,
there are a lot of different ways we could go
in this. But I have a very specific angle in
mind. I don't want to wade into the waters of
how prayer gets answered or the ways that our
prayers may or may not influence what God is
doing in the world. Those are really important
topics, but they're for people much smarter than
me to elaborate on and sort of figure out. Instead,
I want us to think about how prayer works in
us. In other words, what happens to us? What
happens to me in my heart and my mind when I
pray in the way that Jesus taught us to pray?
I think something really powerful happens. Because
prayer isn't just about words that we are saying
to God. Prayer actually opens up a space for
us to collaborate with God. To share our heart
with God and to have God's heart revealed to
us. Prayer, if we do it in a posture of humility
and willingness to respond, actually changes
something in us. Through prayer, God shapes us.
And God calls us. To illustrate what I mean,
I want to share a little bit of my story with
you. So in the same year that I graduated from
high school, my parents moved from Nova Scotia
to New Brunswick, so to another sort of province
away. And while that didn't impact my day -to
-day life very much, because I had also moved
to attend university, it did mean that when I
went to go visit my family, I wasn't actually
going home. And that was really hard for me.
It was really disorienting to go to a new house
and a new church in a city that I didn't really
know, six hours away from the place where I had
grown up. And I was really angry about it. And
when I took that anger to God, God led me to
Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 7, which says this.
Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to
which I have carried you into exile. Pray to
the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you
too will prosper. Now, I understand there is
a big difference between the Israelites living
in exile in the land of their enemies and me
living in Fredericton with my parents. Fredericton
is actually a very nice city you should all go
visit sometime. But I took these words to Jeremiah
to heart. And reluctantly at first, I began to
pray for this place where I found myself spending
spring and summer breaks. At first, those prayers
were kind of vague, praying for those few people
that I knew, or praying for the names of local
leaders whose names I could Google, praying for
the church that my family attended. But over
time, I found myself wanting to learn more, and
my prayers became more specific. And I found
myself naturally praying for this city and these
situations that I was learning about. Over the
years, I have lived in Fredericton off and on,
and I've had the privilege of working with some
churches there. And I strongly believe that the
foundation of that work and the seeds of the
communities that I became part of were planted
through my prayers. Not because I think that
my prayers actually changed much in terms of
what was happening in the city or the churches
that I would later become part of, but because
through prayer, I came to love a place that I
had previously written off. Through prayer, God
formed my heart to break for the things that
break God's heart and to rejoice over the things
that God rejoices over. And through prayer, God
called me to partner with God and others in the
work of the kingdom in that specific time and
place. And God uses prayer in this way all the
time. You might be able to think of an example
in your own life where during a time of prayer
you felt your heart soften a little bit. And
you felt compassion towards a person or situation
that you had been struggling with. Or maybe you
can think of a time of prayer when you felt like
God really wanted you to step out and to do something.
In scripture, Jesus prayed and then called the
twelve disciples. Elijah prayed on a mountain
and then was empowered to stand up against the
evil rulers of his day. And Mary's prayers carried
her through the ups and downs of her life as
Jesus' mother. God works through our prayers
not just to answer them, but to do something
in us. And I don't think it's actually a huge
surprise that prayer works in this way, especially
if we make it a habit. Just like any habit shapes
our lives. So if you go for a run every day,
that will improve your fitness and your endurance.
If you sit around every evening and doom scroll
social media, that will change your brain chemistry.
In the same way, setting aside regular time for
prayer changes us. So then, how does the Lord's
Prayer change us? What does this prayer actually
tell us about what Jesus is like and who we should
be as his followers? And what does God call us
to do through the words of this prayer? That's
what I want us to spend some time unpacking together
this morning. Quick word about the structure
of the prayer as we answer those questions. So
the Lord's Prayer, as it's presented in scripture,
has two main sections. So the first one goes
something like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed
be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven. In broad strokes,
this section is all about the big picture. It's
about praying for God to come and to work on
the earth in powerful ways. And contrary to how
I have sometimes thought about this section,
it's not just like a prelude to the actual prayer.
And it's not just this part where we say some
really nice things about God so that God will
do what we want when we get to part number two.
This is actually something that's really powerful
for us to pray. And then we get to part two,
where it goes something like this. Give us today
our daily bread. And forgive us our sins or our
debts or our trespasses. As we forgive those
who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil. So the first section
takes this aerial shot. And the second section
is like the close up. It draws our attention
to the daily stuff of life. And it asks God to
guide us and provide for us in some really important
ways. Now. If you're familiar with this prayer,
you might be saying, well, Kyla, what about the
last part of this prayer? The part that goes
something like, for thine is the kingdom, the
power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. That
is also an important part of this prayer, but
it's actually not likely original to Jesus or
to the gospels of Matthew and Luke, the other
place in scripture that we find this prayer.
The earliest written manuscripts of these gospels
end the prayer after deliver us from evil. And
the first place in written history that we see
this last sort of line show up is in what's known
as the Didache. The Didache is an ancient Christian
manual that was composed sometime before 300
AD. So it's this book that tells us all about
what the early church was like. It gives them
instructions for how to live as followers of
Jesus in their context. And it's there in this
Christian manual or this Christian handbook that
we read this. As the Lord commanded in his gospel,
thus pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
as in heaven, so also upon earth. Give us today
our daily bread and forgive us our debt as we
forgive our debtors. And lead us not into trial,
but deliver us from evil. For thine is the power
and the glory forever. So some later copies of
the Gospels of Matthew and Luke then also include
this line, perhaps partially because it became
part of the sort of oral tradition of the church.
And we can see in some of Paul's letters that
he adds these sort of benedictions to prayers
as well. It was a pretty common practice. But
regardless of whether this line was originally
part of the Lord's Prayer and originally said
by Jesus or added later, I think it's safe to
say that although it's not going to be the focus
of our time together today, it's still a really
valuable part of the prayer and a really valuable
part of church tradition. So, now that we understand
the structure of the prayer, we can start to
dive into the words themselves and explore how
God might be shaping and calling us through this
prayer that Jesus gave us. And actually, the
very first word of the prayer sets us up in a
really important way. The first word is our,
our Father. And what that signals to me is that
this prayer isn't primarily meant to be prayed
alone. The entire prayer uses plural language,
our and us. And it does this because Jesus intended
that the disciples would pray this prayer together
as a group. Now, I don't think that that means
we should never pray it alone. But it does mean
that there's something really meaningful to be
gleaned from praying this prayer together. as
a group of people learning to follow Jesus together.
Praying in this way reminds us that we are not
alone in our pursuit of the kingdom of God. We
are part of a larger community of disciples,
whether we like it or not, whether we all get
along with each other or not. This larger community
of disciples, bigger than even just this church,
is really diverse. It's a community of people
who are different from us in lots of ways. People
who irritate us, people who hurt us, people that
we don't always understand, and people who will
believe some things differently than us. But
all of this is the church. The people that we
have the least in common with are the ones who
pray beside us and for us, just as we pray beside
and for them. So when I ask God to give me my
daily bread, I'm not just asking for myself.
I'm actually asking for God to give us our daily
bread. I don't get to ask for my needs without
an eye to the whole community of Christ. Asking
God to meet your needs and mine, to meet our
needs together. The provision of my daily bread
is wrapped up in yours, and your forgiveness
is bound together with mine. We come before God
as a community, setting aside our squabbles and
our differences to pursue the kingdom of God
together on earth as it is in heaven. Now, if
you've been around the church long enough, you've
maybe experienced some disappointment, frustration,
or heartbreak at the hands of other followers
of Christ. I know that I have. And I don't want
to dismiss that. It's important for that pain
to be healed. And sometimes it's necessary for
boundaries to be set. But that pain, no matter
how big, cannot become an excuse for opting out
of the community of Christ. Take a step back
from certain roles or groups or individuals,
sure. But don't take a step back from Christ.
And ultimately, the call to Christ is a call
into community. We can't follow Jesus if we're
trying to do it all alone. We need each other.
So that's our. And that's just the first word
of this prayer. But don't worry, I'm not going
to spend that much time on every word. We will
get done in time for our second service to start.
The hour is pretty specific in its focus. It's
talking about the followers of Jesus, the people
who are praying this prayer. But the prayer as
a whole is much more broad. We pray that God's
kingdom would come on earth, across the whole
world. not just our little community or our country
or the people that we like, across the whole
world. We're praying for God to do something
global. And so in this first section, God shapes
us by fixing our eyes on God and the work that
God wants to do in the world, leaving the particular
concerns of my life on the back burner just for
now. The three basic requests in this first section
are that God's name would be hallowed or would
be understood as holy, that God's kingdom would
come, and that God's will would be done. And
the context for all three of these requests is
the earth, that each request would be fulfilled
on earth as it is in heaven. And those are huge
requests. God's name. God's kingdom, God's will
are so much bigger than we can possibly grasp.
And yet, thankfully, God gives us little pictures
of what they look like throughout scripture,
and in particular, throughout the life of Jesus.
We see God's name honored when Jesus cleanses
the temple to remove all of the price gouging
and the distractions that prevent people from
entering into worship. We see God's kingdom.
through all of the miracles that Jesus performs,
from feeding the hungry, to healing the sick,
to raising the dead. And we see God's will manifest
throughout the entire life of Jesus, but in particular
when Jesus prays in Gethsemane for God's will
to be done, and then follows that will, despite
the cost, all the way to the cross. This is the
stuff that we're praying for when we open the
Lord's Prayer. For unjust systems to be overturned.
For healing to take place. For needs to be met.
For life to come out of death. That's really
big stuff. It's bigger than anything that we
could possibly do. And it requires God. And yet,
the beauty of the story of scripture is that
God chooses to do this big daunting work in partnership
with humanity. Jamie Arpanrici, a community leader
and author in Winnipeg, writes that implicit
in each of these petitions is a call for our
submitted participation in God's response. It's
an affirmation that while no human effort could
ever make God's name holy or bring about his
kingdom or accomplish his will, by his spirit,
he has chosen us as his instruments in bringing
them about, if only in part. We have an important
role to play in answering this prayer. The Bible
Project founders Tim Mackey and John Collins
compare this part of the prayer to an athlete
who's talking to their coach. So imagine that
an athlete goes to their coach and they say,
Hey coach, may your team be the best team and
may your name be honored when we win the championships.
Now, that's a very nice thing to say. But of
course the coach will look then at the athletes
and say something like, Great, go work hard.
Do your training and make sure that that happens.
Of course the coach is involved, and without
good coaching, that team will fail. But the athletes
themselves have a critical role in making these
things come about. If they don't train and work
hard and listen to the instructions of their
coach, then their words are meaningless. Now,
I think this metaphor is a little bit limited
because I don't think God actually needs us in
order to accomplish God's will. But nevertheless,
God chooses to work with us. And so we have an
active role to play in ushering in the kingdom
of God. And in that way, even as these words
remind us that the things we long for are beyond
our ability, God uses these words to call us
into action. So what does that action look like?
I think that's where the second half of this
prayer comes in. While the first section, as
I said, takes this aerial shot, the second section
zooms in on the particular concerns of our lives
here and now. Our daily bread, our relationships
with God and others, our challenges and the temptations
that we face. And what this says to me is that
the kingdom of God isn't just about the spiritual
stuff, and it's not just about hoping for good
things to come someday. It's also, and importantly,
about the real stuff of life. And in light of
the fact that we are formed into a community
and called into partnership with God, we ought
to care very much about the real stuff of our
lives and our neighbors' lives right here and
right now. And the first step to caring about
this real stuff is admitting to God and to one
another that we have needs. That might sound
pretty basic, but in a culture that places a
high value on individualism and self -sufficiency,
admitting our needs can be surprisingly difficult.
Sometimes I think it's easier to admit our needs
to God, at least when we're talking about some
of the physical things. Most of us can readily
pray for our food or for healing or for financial
difficulties that we're facing. We've sort of
been taught that that's the stuff of prayers.
Those are the things that we bring to God, right?
But what about those more spiritual or intangible
needs? Our need for forgiveness or our need for
wisdom and guidance? Are you just as ready to
come before God and admit when you have messed
things up and need to be set right? Are you ready
to come to God and say, I don't actually know
where I'm supposed to go. Because those are also
an integral part of this prayer. We pray for
forgiveness, but in order to do that, we need
to admit that we need it. We need to come before
God saying that we have made the wrong choice,
and that we need God to cleanse us and set us
on our feet again. And we pray, asking God to
keep us from temptations, to deliver us from
evil. But again, this requires us to admit our
weakness before God. To ask God to keep us from
trials and to deliver us from evil is essentially
asking for God to protect us from the things
that we know will cause us to stumble. To spare
us from the tests of life. To have the wisdom
to choose the right thing even when we don't
know what to do. We ask God for all of that because
we know that if we are left on our own, we don't
actually have the strength and the wisdom to
do it. We will likely succumb to the easy answers,
even when those answers are in opposition to
the kingdom of God, rather than working in partnership
with God. And so we come before God and we admit
that we all have needs. But the Lord's Prayer
also calls us to come to one another and admit
our needs. I don't just need God's forgiveness.
I need yours. And if the provision of my daily
bread is wrapped up in yours, then sometimes
I will have to come to you and admit that I don't
have enough bread. And that, at least for me,
is where it gets a little bit more scary. It's
one thing to tell God that I am broken and needy.
It's a whole other thing to say that out loud
to the person sitting across from me. And yet,
that's the way that community works. is the calling
of Christ. We don't get to do the Christian life
alone. We need one another, and that means we
need to admit our needs to one another. We need
to come to one another and honestly admit the
places where we have been hurt and where we have
hurt other people, whether intentionally or not.
And then we need to admit that we need the grace
and mercy of God from one another. Because without
it, there is no hope of becoming the kind of
community that Christ has called us to be. Admitting
our needs is a scary, vulnerable thing to do.
Which is why it's so important that the other
calling that comes through this prayer is mutuality.
We aren't just called to come to one another
and admit our needs. We're actually then called
to meet those needs for one another in partnership
with God. As I said before, I don't get to ask
for my daily bread without also asking for your
daily bread. And that means that if I have more
than enough bread for today, that bread doesn't
actually belong to me. It's a gift given to me
by God to be shared with you. And in case it
wasn't clear, I'm not just talking about bread
here. Yeah, it's our daily food and our material
needs, our housing, our clothing, water, health
care. But it's also all of that stuff that keeps
us going and that makes life worth living. Love,
hope, peace, faith. We need to share those things
with one another too. To offer the hope that
I have to another when I see them feeling hopeless.
We ask God to give us, not just me, not just
you, but to give all of us together. Everything
that we need to be a community that embodies
the kingdom of God. And that includes both the
physical stuff that we need to keep us alive
and the care for one another that carries us
through the ups and downs of life. And I think
that's why Jesus can transition so smoothly between
asking for bread and asking for forgiveness.
Because it's not just about the physical stuff.
It's about all that we need. And all that we
need... comes as a gift from God that shapes
us and calls us to share that gift with others.
I can't ask God for something that I am not willing
to offer to you. Because the truth is, it's all
God's anyway. Whether we are talking about our
daily bread or our grace, we do not have a right
to any of it. It is all God's. Freely you have
received, now freely give. Or as John says, we
love because God first loved us. The love and
grace of God is an incredible gift, but just
like bread, it's not meant for hoarding. It's
a gift that we receive directly from God, but
that miraculously becomes even greater when we
choose to share it with another. So can you see
the challenge and the beauty of this prayer?
This is not the kind of thing that we say quietly
with our hands nicely folded as our minds wander
off to the next thing on our to -do list. If
we take this prayer seriously, we see that Jesus
is calling us to wholehearted discipleship that
reshapes our entire lives. That calls us into
a messy community of faith where we put God first,
we admit our needs, And we care deeply for one
another using all that God has given us. Dr.
David Niranje, a theologian, activist, and bishop
in Uganda, wrote this. To pray these simple sentences
is a commitment to dismantle the current political
and social order of inequality and violence.
And to seek a path where all have access to the
table. It's a commitment. that we make before
God and one another, that then calls us into
action to seek that path that brings all to the
table. That, my friends, is the shape and calling
of the prayer that Jesus gave us. Coming together
as a community formed by Christ to do the work
of Christ in a broken world through the power
of Christ. May God use this prayer to work in
our lives and in our world. Thanks be to God.