The Lord's Prayer

Praying the Lord's Prayer is a good and simple way to pray privately. Pray the prayer through, and then think about one of the phrases. Spend a few moments reflecting on that phrase, for example, imagining what it means for God's Kingdom to come, or how we forgive those who sin against us.

At some point in a service the congregation will join in the Lord's Prayer, either in its traditional or its modern form.  This is the model prayer Jesus taught his disciples and includes all those types of prayer except the 'blessing'.

The traditional form of the Lord's Prayer is,

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.  Amen.

The modern form of the Lord's Prayer is,

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your Kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
now and for ever.  Amen.

‘Amen' is the ancient Jewish way of ending prayers.  It means ‘So be it' or ‘So let it be'. 

The Lord's Prayer starts by doing two things.  First, it addresses God as ‘Our Father in heaven', a key idea that Jesus taught.  Then, in case we forget that we are addressing God, it reminds us that his name is to be honoured.

We then pray that God's Kingdom, or rule, will become the norm on earth.

Only then do we turn to our own needs.  First, we ask God for our basic human needs to be satisfied.  Then, we ask for the wrong things we have done to be forgiven, acknowledging as we do so that we must forgive others too.  Then, we ask for God's guidance and protection as we journey through life.

Finally we acknowledge God as the great King of Creation whose rule, one day, will be lived out everywhere and so the prayer ends on a note of trust in that great hope and with our commitment to living towards that goal as we say ‘Amen'.