Several years ago, a sister in Christ confessed to me that in worship she often skips saying The Lord’s Prayer. She admitted that, like many of us, she found herself saying the words without much thought and that made her sad. So instead of saying the words out loud, she listens to those around her saying them and tries to focus on God and soak in the words of this powerful prayer. One of my challenges in worship is leading The Lord’s Prayer—I don’t want to fall into the habit my friend described! And yet, while saying it I often worry I will get the words wrong or stumble over them and get us all off track! At times it doesn’t feel like I have prayed it so much as led others to pray it. How about you? There is something powerful about saying The Lord’s Prayer corporately in worship—but I often slow down to savor its words more when I pray it during private prayer time. During our Lenten worship series, I may invite us to slow down or perhaps even listen to it like my friend does instead of saying it during Sunday worship. I may invite the congregation to listen and pause for a few seconds after each section. Adam Hamilton suggests this in his book, which we are using to guide our worship series. He provides an example of how he does this at the end of the book, and I’ve included an excerpt at the end of this post in hope of inspiring each of us to slow down and meditate on the lines as we pray. I'd love to see any inspirations you write as you slow down to mediate upon each line. When we change things up a bit, we may gain insight or connect to God more deeply. In praying for Ukraine this week, I Googled “The Lord’s Prayer in Ukrainian” and listened to a video that displayed the English words and the Ukrainian words side by side. Even though I studied Russian in college (and could recognize the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet which Ukrainian also uses), I didn’t know most of the words. Yet hearing it prayed and knowing it was the same prayer we pray in Tyner, gave me a deeper sense of solidarity with Ukrainian Christians—who after all are members of The Body just as we are. I invite you to change things up in how you pray The Lord’s Prayer during Lent or how often you pray it. Listen to the link above to hear The Lord’s Prayer in Ukrainian or search for a video of The Lord’s Prayer in other languages that intrigue you. Remember as you listen that we are all part of The Body of Christ, the church universal. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
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Pastor CathyPastor Cathy has been appointed to Tyner UMC since July 2019; she also is a part-time writing instructor at Bethel University in Mishawaka. Archives
July 2022
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