For ideas about using this prayer as an exercise in Lenten transformation, visit the February 16, 2016 post entitled “Babbling”.
Reflections on THE LORD’S PRAYER – SUMMER 2015
Letters to God the Creator
Dearest Abba, We do not know how to pray as we ought; yet we persevere as we look for the perfection of persistence in our love of you. For even as we struggle to remain in you, you remain in us. Even as we bend to your will, you bend to our plight. Even as we trust in you, you trust in us, asking us to take your Spirit into a broken and waiting and beautiful world. Your immense and overpowering love takes hold of us in the person of Jesus and this love carries us into your creation . . . to call new life and new love to you. In your great generosity you invite us to enter into your holiness when you give us your Name. In our little way we respond . . . as we ask to be holy, too.
Dearest Abba, we know that we are presently in the Kingdom with you and yet when we experience the world this is difficult to remember. We have somehow carved up your creation into little bits that we hoard for ourselves in dark cupboards. When we reflect, we know that you have called us to collaborate in your new kingdom rather than content ourselves with the belief that you have atoned for our transgressions. We know that we must act as you act. We know that your kingdom awaits our hands and feet. We know that in the new kingdom we are holy with you . . . and we must act in and through you.
Dearest Abba, you who mark no distinction between rich or poor, high or low, weak or strong, young or old . . . you welcome all. May we be as generous as you. You who feed the lost and lame, the abandoned and denied, the mournful and anxious, the excluded and rejected . . . you include all. May we be as intentional as you, you who sustains without fail, who abides without accountability, who heals without payment, who forgives without anger, you who loves each, who loves all. May we be as merciful as you.
Dearest Abba, you have delivered us from every kind of madness and evil, but we seem too often to forget this. You have given us perhaps too great a burden in creating us in your image, in giving us stewardship of your wealth and work. Each time you return to ask for an accounting we are lacking. Either we have not forgiven one another or we have failed to ask forgiveness. We have reneged on a promise or we have taken advantage of those who lack our own good fortune. We have forgotten, or chosen to ignore, your call to feed your sheep and to care for your lambs. Yet despite all of this you abide with us, pardon us, heal us and love us. Give us the clarity and courage to do as you do. Give us the wisdom and patience to heal as you heal. Give us the hope that we are more than spoiled children. Give us the hope that we are you.
Dearest Abba, you do not succumb to the devil’s easy lure. You turn bread and wine into your very body and blood and offer them to us each day as your sustaining life, and you refuse the temptation of turning stones into bread of this world. Deliver us from the temptation of impatient, quick fixes. You know better than to throw yourself from the Temple pinnacle, and you do not give in to the lure of the quick compliment of this world. Deliver us from putting you to the test. You reject the temptation of violence and offer instead your enormous love. Deliver us from worshiping anything or anyone but you. You know that the kingdom, power and glory are yours forever. Amen.
Dearest Abba, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want”. (Mark 14:36) Remove all obstacles from us. Remove all doubts and regrets from us. Remove all temptations and guiles. Give us in their stead your mercy, your love, your peace. Amen.
Consider reading: John Dominic Crosson – THE GREATEST PRAYER: REDISCOVERING THE REVOLUTIONNRY MESSAGE OF THE LORD’S PRAYER- HarperCollins e-books
