Contextually, in the Sermon on the Mount the Lord\u2019s Prayer illustrates \u201cshort prayer\u201d in contrast to Gentile verbosity. In this sense, Matt 6:7-15 interrupts the flow of the principle established in 6:1: doing things to be seen by others shifts to manipulating God by long-windedness. And instead of hypocrites being the foil, we now have Gentiles. Contextually, in the Sermon on the Mount the Lord\u2019s Prayer illustrates \u201cshort prayer\u201d in contrast to Gentile verbosity. In this sense, Matt 6:7-15 interrupts the flow of the principle established in 6:1: doing things to be seen by others shifts to manipulating God by long-windedness. And instead of hypocrites being the foil, we now have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1733,1748],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer-and-formation","category-sermon-on-the-mount"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nGentiles, so Jesus stereotypes, think they\u2019ll be heard because of the length of their prayers. Not so with the followers of Jesus. The implication being: Jesus gives a prayer that counters long-windedness with brevity and to-the-point prayer. Why? the Father knows what you need, so tell him.
\nSome people\u2019s prayers \u2026 well, I won\u2019t go there. Let me suggest that we learn to pray with three sources \u2014 the Psalms, the Lord\u2019s Prayer, and the prayer books of the Church (like The Divine Hours, Celtic Daily Prayer, The Liturgy of the Hours, Benedictine Daily Prayer, The Little Book of Hours, The Book of Common Prayer<\/em>, and I could go on).
\nSecond, observe the simplicity and directedness of the Lord\u2019s Prayer: no wasted words. Get to the point, Jesus seems to be saying.
\nThird, the Lord\u2019s Prayer is divided in two: \u201cyou\u201d petitions (subject is God) and \u201cwe\u201d petitions (subject is humans). In The Jesus Creed<\/em> I made the suggestion that the first part is what prayer looks like for those who love God, and the second what prayer looks like for those who love others.
\nFinally, there are two versions of the Lord\u2019s Prayer: one in Luke 11:2-4 and one in Matt 6:9-13. Here\u2019s a table so you can see the differences:
\nMatthew Luke
\nOur Father in Heaven\t\t\t Father
\n1.\tHallowed be your name.\t\t\t Hallowed be your name.
\n2.\tYour kingdom come.\t\t\t Your kingdom come.
\n3\tYour will be done
\n(on earth as it is in heaven)
\n4.\tGive us this day our daily bread. Give us each day our daily bread.
\n5.\tForgive us our debts\t\t\t Forgive us our sins
\nas we also have forgiven for we ourselves forgive everyone
\nour debtors\t\t\t\t\t\t\tindebted to us.
\n6.\tDo not bring us to the time of trial\tDo not bring us to the time of trial.
\nbut rescue us from the evil one.
\n[7.\tFor yours is the kingdom, power, and
\nglory, forever. Amen. Added later in
\nmany manuscripts. Cf. 1 Chron 29:11-13.]<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"