Ora et Labora
The University Church May 2022
Introduction:
We have just finished a six-part book study of The Lord’s Prayer: The Meaning and Power of the Prayer Jesus Taught. It was written by Pastor Adam Hamilton, the senior pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. One of the recurring themes in his book is “Ora et Labora” – “Pray and Work”. Throughout the book Pastor Hamilton challenges us that our prayers should lead to work for God’s Kingdom. One way we decided to work was to share what we have studied and learned in this book study. The book was divided into six chapters, one for each petition of The Lord’s Prayer. This is a compilation of our individual thoughts on The Lord’s Prayer. We hope you will read and reflect on our thoughts and that it will lead you to a fuller understanding and appreciation of the meaning and power of the prayer that Jesus taught.
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name:
- We were unanimous in our understanding of this petition. Our Father – not MY Father. This prayer makes no exceptions or exclusions. When we pray The Lord’s Prayer, we are praying for everyone.
- When we pray “hallowed be Thy Name” we are asking God to use us to hallow His Name. We should ask ourselves how we hallow God’s name – both as individuals and as a community of faith.
- It is a reminder to whom we are praying.
- Don’t “say” or “recite” The Lord’s Prayer – PRAY The Lord’s Prayer. It may be a reminder of what you need to pray about. It may have a different focus every day.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on Earth, as it is in Heaven:
- The perfect, unfailing prayer in only four words: “Thy Will be done”.
- This is a petition of total faith and believing and asks each one of us to be made a channel for God to work through to bring about His Kingdom not only in Heaven, but also here on Earth. It is a reminder that Earth could be like Heaven if only we lived according to God’s Will.
Give us this day our daily bread:
- “Our daily bread” means more then food. It refers to whatever sustains everyone physically, mentally, spiritually.
- We may pray for what we need as an individual, but, again, the prayer says “OUR daily bread”.
- We who have more than enough have the opportunity to be the answer to prayers of others for their daily bread.
- If I have more than enough and do nothing to share the daily bread, then my petition means nothing.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us:
- In Matthew 6:12 (NRSV and NLT) Jesus prays “Forgive us our trespasses as we HAVE FORGIVEN those who trespass against us. Jesus is teaching us to extend the same mercy to others as we seek for ourselves.
- If your forgiven sins still trouble you, remember that God promises not only to forgive, but also forget our sins (Jeremiah 31:34).
- Forgiving others is releasing yourself from all the negative feelings
- about others.
- Forgiveness is a choice and may be a process and not an instant event.
- Forgiveness does not always excuse us from the consequences of sin.
- The “Ánd” is an important link to the previous petition.
- Someone’s “daily bread” may be needing forgiveness from you.
And lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
- Temptation can come from within or without.
- When I choose to lead myself without God’s help, I may lead
- myself towards temptation.
- When I choose to be led by God, he is my crutch. I am still
- walking, but I can lean on Him and be led away from evil and temptation.
- Or if temptation comes close, He will lead us away from it.
- It is not necessarily a sin to be tempted. Everyone is tempted. The sin is in succumbing to temptation. All are tempted, but not all succumb.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for ever and ever.
- This is not part of the prayer Jesus shared in Matthew 6. It is not considered canonical in the Roman Catholic Church. It is referred to as “The Doxology” or praise petition of The Lord’s Prayer. Although it is not part of the prayer in Matthew 6, it has historical authority for inclusion. It is part of the Didache, which dates to the end of the first century C.E. Also, petitions of praise were often part of Hebrew prayers in the Torah and The Old Testament. Early Christians chose to add praise to God, our Father, in the prayer that Jesus taught.
- Allegiance to God comes before all other allegiances. We can use this as a standard to judge policies and actions.
- This petition guides us in choosing how we live in the world – Kingdom vs. Empire could be Kingdom AND Empire.
- Everything is God’s, not mine, yours, or ours. Never was mine, never will be mine. I am a passerby who is invited to participate in God’s great story.
Amen:
- So be it!
We hope that sharing our studies with you has added meaning to your prayer life when you pray The Lord’s Pray. Although we all have known this prayer for many years, we were intrigued at all the thoughts this book study encouraged.
We will begin our next book study on Wednesday, August 3, 2022 at 6 -7:30 p.m. at The University Church. Please join us!
We will be studying Pastor Adam Hamilton’s book When Christians Get It Wrong. It is available in both print and Kindle versions on Amazon, eBay, and christianbooks.com. MAKE SURE you order the revised edition (black cover) not the first edition (bright yellow cover). If you are unable financially to purchase the book, please tell Gayle at least two weeks before August 3, 2022. We will provide you with a book. It will answer the petition about providing “our daily bread”. We don’t want anyone to be left out of our studies!
Please read and be ready to share your thoughts on Chapter 1.
We hope you will decide to join us!
Gayle, Lisa, John, Lynn, Julian, Heather, Bob, Susan, Iliana, and Tim