Fair Lord, I pray to You concerning my excesses and deficiencies: grant me forgiveness here for my misdeeds, my ignorance…
Even if I had a hundred strong tongues with which to speak faultlessly, I could never relate one hundredth of the wonders of my High King –
The eternal lofty Over-King of the varied world, Who has numbered every skillful multitude, our Pillar, our Patron, our Abbot, the lofty King Who has created.[1]
“Our Father . . .”
Matthew 6:5-13 NKJV
And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:
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 forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
The Heidelberg Catechism[2]
Question #120
Why has Christ commanded us to address God thus, “Our Father?”
To awaken in us, at the very beginning of our prayer, that childlike reverence and trust toward God which should be the ground of our prayer; namely, that God has become our Father through Christ, and will much less deny us what we ask of Him in true faith than our parents will refuse us earthly things.
Question #122
“Hallowed be thy name”
That is: grant us, first, rightly to know Thee, and to sanctify, glorify, and praise Thee in all Thy works, in which Thy power, wisdom, goodness, justice, mercy, and truth shine forth; further also, that we may so order and direct our whole life, thoughts, words, and actions, that Thy Name may not be blasphemed but honored and praised on our account.
Question #123
“Thy Kingdom come”
That is: so rule us by Thy Word and Spirit that we may submit ourselves more and more to Thee; preserve and increase Thy Church; destroy the works of the devil, every power that exalts itself against Thee, and all wicked counsels conceived against Thy holy Word, until the perfection of Thy kingdom arrive wherein Thou shalt be all in all.
Question #124
“Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth”
That is: grant that we and all men may renounce our own will, and without any gainsaying obey Thy will, which alone is good; that so everyone may discharge the duties of his office and calling as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven.
Question #125
“Give us this day our daily bread”
That is: be pleased to provide for all our bodily need, that we may thereby acknowledge Thee to be the only fountain of all good, and that without Thy blessing neither our care and labor nor Thy gifts can profit us; and, therefore, that we may withdraw our trust from all creatures and place it alone in Thee.
Question #126
“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors”
That is: be pleased, for the sake of Christ’s blood, not to impute to us, miserable sinners, any of our transgressions, nor the evil which always cleaves to us; as we also find this witness of Thy grace in us that is our full purpose heartily to forgive our neighbor.
Question #127
“And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”
That is: since we are so weak in ourselves that we cannot stand a moment, and besides, since our sworn enemies, the devil, the world, and our own flesh, cease not to assault us, be pleased to preserve and strengthen us by the power of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not succumb in this spiritual warfare but always offer strong resistance, till at last we obtain a complete victory.
Question #128
“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever”
That is: all this we ask of Thee because Thou, as our King who hast power over all things, art both willing and able to give us all good, and that thereby not we but Thy holy Name may be glorified forever.
Our Father who is in heaven, may your name be treated as holy. May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. [3]
The Lord’s Prayer
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
[1] Spiritual Poetry of the Celtic Revival, From Anonymous, The Psalter of the Quatrains, Canto III (9th or 10th century)
[2] G. I. Williamson, The Heidelberg Catechism: A Study Guide, 1993, Puritan and Reformed Publishing.
[3] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 6:9–13.
