Daily Bread

‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

‘Pray then in this way:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

When I struggle to sleep, I often recite the Lord's Prayer over and over. I find it calms my nerves and soothes my soul.

It really is a genius prayer. It begins by honouring God, and then did you know that many ancient versions of the text contain a sentence that we have omitted from the verses we have learned to recite: "Your Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us." Yup! Check out the footnotes in Luke's gospel!

Then we have the prayer for God's mission where we are called to help bring and live out heaven on earth (something we cannot do without the Holy Spirit).

And finally, we pray for our three basic needs:

1. That we have enough with which to live and get by,
2. that we might give and mediate forgiveness, and
3. that we would be delivered from evil.

Jesus knew what he was doing when he taught this prayer, and also that one day soon his followers would be filled with the Holy Spirit, and when this happened, they would be communing with God. God would literally be with them, and as such, prayers would be less about petitioning an absent God, but aligning with the God who lived in them.

It is worth meditating on the Lord's payer line-by-line, and you never know, it may just soothe your mind and help you sleep!

Our Father in heaven,
may your name
be revered as holy.
May your kingdom come.
and may your Holy Spirit
come upon us and cleanse us.
May your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Please give us each day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive
everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us
to the time of trial,
but rescue us
from the evil one.
Now and forever.