“Give us this day our daily bread.”

Read Luther’s explanation of this petition (a little more there than I touch upon in the video).

Come Lord Jesus be our guest.

Let this food (or these gifts) to us be blessed.

Come Lord Jesus you are our bread.

May all the world be clothed and fed. Amen.

This is an old German Table prayer with an extra verse that I received a number of years ago from Lutheran World Relief. I went to their site to check the wording and was blessed with this video.  See how our sharing, our generosity makes God’s good changes happen!

Psalm 136:1  “O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good: For His steadfast love endures forever.”

Peace

Pastor Fitch

Which video do you prefer?

or

“Your will be done. On earth as in heaven.”

We want God’s will to be done, but in our time and the way we want it. We might like slo-mo videos to see the little bits of action that our mind can’t quite catch, but we would rather a long journey be on high speed time lapse!

I have found that the first part of this petition is an excellent small prayer piece to work against pride and to build up submission to God’s good and holy work.

It is a great challenge in a world that so fully rests on our own pride, accomplishments, awards, etc.–to turn over active control to God.

In what things, activities, and relationships could you see God’s will working a different resolution or reconciliation? Are there frustrations because things are not working the way you think they should? Pray this portion again, focusing on openness to what God has in mind for you and the situation.

Be patient. Often we don’t see God’s work at first. Often, the way God works may not be the way we want or what we expect. God is good, though, all the time!

Readings: Job 9:1-12

A few psalms, randomly chosen should help you tap into waiting on God’s will and timing.

Pray for God’s will to become clearer for you, for it to be done in you, for God’s will to be done through you.

How we start our prayers is important!

[Read the explanation in the Small Catechism]

How do you address God?

Yes, there is a connection here to the Second Commandment. A proper use of God’s Name is prayer. Much like you would call out to a parent for them to hear you or help you with something, so a good prayer starts.

The word the Jesus uses for “Father” is “Abba” which is the casual and loving Greek term, not the formal “Pater.” So, this best translation would be Dad, Daddy or Papa. It is necessary to be sure that this emotive connection is there, even if the formal word is used. If it is the wrong word, why do we use “father”? Many teachers wanted students learning the Lord’s Prayer to use an address that had a nuance of respect and recognized authority. It should not be too hard for us to acknowledge that we frequently have a hard time with what Jesus says and shift it to be closer to what we think is acceptable.

Still, the opening is important. If this is our loving and casually close God that is our daddy or papa in heaven, then what can we pray for? What will our Daddy withhold from us? This is a critical component of the incarnation–the chosen closeness and intimate love of our God, coming into our lives. Jesus becomes our brother and gives us permission to address God properly.

Have you ever known someone that, after introductions, said something like, “Oh, please call me Murphy, I don’t use my first name with my friends.” –how would that person feel if you then called them by their first name in a formal manner? Isn’t it an act of accepting and initiating a relationship to call someone how they want to be called? Should we address God as the loving and close Daddy that He is.

Matthew 7:7-11

Luke 11:5-13

Luke 12:32

Pray for those who do not know how to pray to or address God.

Pray for those who have difficult, conflicted, or non-existent relationships with their earthly father and might find it hard to think of the Heavenly Father in a positive way.

Pray for those who have grown distant from God, barely remembering or hardly using the Lord’s Prayer–that they may turn back and become close again with their heavenly Papa.