Anna Chaplain Lead for Wales, the Revd Sally Rees, shares pastoral resources for this renewed period of lockdown:
In times of trouble, it is a good idea to go back to familiar and comforting words – both for ourselves and for the people we are supporting pastorally. So, for the next couple of weeks, I thought we would look at the words of the Lord's Prayer together (from Matthew 6:5–14, concentrating on verses 9–13) taking a line each day.
In these very strange and difficult times where we cannot meet, comfort or touch those who we love and care about, let's hold on to the power of prayer, and 'hold in prayer' the lives of those we cannot see. Prayer is a privilege and NOT EVER a small thing. In this way we can still be part of God's Kingdom and His work in and with our loved ones.
Verse: Matthew 6:9a
This, then is how you should pray, 'Our Father in heaven'.
Thought
Jesus taught his disciples to come to His 'Daddy' and talk to him
WE have a loving heavenly father who longs as a Daddy does to hear the cries, moans and requests of his children. As our Father is in heaven, he knows the beginning and end of all things and he is not restricted by time and space and so can be near each one of us and those we love and care about at the same time. He can hear our prayers and we can leave our loved ones safely in His hands and care. In these difficult times I have found holding a Holding Cross and quietly naming those who I am concerned about very helpful.
Prayer
Father, thank you for your love for us.
Jesus, thank you that you have made a way for us to pray directly to the Father, just as a child would come to his/her Daddy.
Holy Spirit, thank you that you enable us to use the right words as we come to pray.
Thank you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit that you, who brought this world into being, care about each one of us individually.
Thank you that we can hold our loved ones before you today, knowing that you are with them and will minister to them
We name.... before you today
Hold, heal and protect as each one needs, we pray
Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer
Hymn (Dave Bilbrough)
Abba Father, Let me be
Yours and your alone
May my will for ever be
Evermore Your own
Never let my heart grow cold
never let me go.
Abba Father, Let me be
Yours and yours alone.
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Verse: Matthew 6:9b
Hallowed be thy name
Thought
Although God is our Father we must remember that his name is always Hallowed or Holy. HIs works are always Holy as is His Kingdom. He is our good and loving God and he is always worthy of honour and praise, no matter what our situation or how we are feeling.
Prayer
Our Father who is good and gracious and always Holy
We praise you now for your love for us and your concern for our world
As we bring our prayers to you today, help us to pray in accordance with your Holy purposes and will.
Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer
Hymn (anonymous)
Holy, holy holy is the Lord
Holy is the Lord God almighty
Who was, and is and is to come
Holy, holy holy is the Lord.
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Verse Matthew 6:10a
Your Kingdom Come
Thought
We pray for His Kingdom, which is different from ours.
God doesn't need our prayers because it is His Kingdom
but our prayers are the means by which we become partakers of His Kingdom
God's Kingdom looks different from ours
In praying for His kingdom, we focus on God's call to 'act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly' (Micah 6: 8) for both ourselves and our world.
What a privilege!
Prayer
Our Father, in heaven
hallowed be your name
Your Kingdom come
Thank you, Lord, for the privilege of sharing in the work of your kingdom
Give us opportunities to see where you are building your kingdom here, today
and help us to focus our prayers on these, as well as our requests.
Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer
Hymn (Rend Collective)
Build your kingdom here
Let the darkness fear
Show your mighty hand
Heal our streets and land
Set your church on fire
Win this nation back
Change the atmosphere
Build your kingdom here, we pray
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Verse: Matthew 6:10b
YOUR will be done.
Thought
When we come to God it is so easy to come to him with OUR will in mind.
We need to come to him content that God knows us as our Father and that He knows best. This is a lot harder than it may seem. To give over our ‘will’ to God is to submit to his.
Prayer
Our Father, in heaven
Hallowed be your name
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
As we come before you today
help us to give ourselves completely to you
so that we may know your loving purposes for our lives
and in so doing reflect your glory.
Lord in your Mercy, Hear our prayer
Hymn (Edwin Hatch)
Breathe on me breath of God
Fill me with life anew
that I may love what thou dost love
And do what thou dost do
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Verse Matthew 6:10b
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
Thought
Thinking of what heaven is like may be challenging but we do know that heaven is where God is King and where His will is done
So, we pray ‘Thy will be done’ not as something passive that we have to submit to, but as an active and real attitude, set towards making the will of God be present and real on earth as well.
We also know that God’s kingdom is peaceable, reconciling and healing, focusing on others’ needs.
So, let’s pray that we can actively ask God the King of our lives today, and to use us to be part of God’s kingdom on earth.
Prayer
Weaver (By Ruth Burgess – Great prayers from the Iona Community)
O weaver, shuttling the thread of glory
through the pattern of our days.
Come, bed us down
into a cloth of earth and heaven
Come clothe us with joy
Hymn (from, prayer of St Francis)
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred let me bring your love
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord
And where there’s doubt, true faith in you
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Verse Mathew 6:11
'Give us today our daily bread'
Thought
The Lord's prayer now turns from God to ourselves. We need to learn from this pattern so that our prayers always focus on God's name and Kingdom first. WE can now bring our needs to him, bread being the most basic need, but also symbolic of all our needs.
God's provision is one day at a time. We can ask for today and trust Him for tomorrow. However, as the prayer is for US - ' if we are truly praying this prayer, we can never simply pray for food only for ourselves,
We must pray for the needs of the whole world, where millions go hungry and many starve.' (Tom Wright)
Prayer
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
Thank you that you give us the bread that we need, each day
Help us to trust you one day at a time, knowing that you know what we need in every way.
Help us always to be concerned for others needs as well as our own
Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer
Hymn (verse 3 of Seek ye first the kingdom of God by Karen Lafferty)
Man shall not live by bread alone,
But by every word
That proceeds from the mouth of God
Hallelu, Hallelujah!
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Verse: Matthew 6:12
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Thought:
Martin Luther King Jnr said ' Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude'
Forgiveness is not easy but is possible with God's help. If we are able to forgive others, we show that we are able both to forgive ourselves and to receive our heavenly Father’s forgiveness and peace, and be grateful for it.
Prayer
Our Father in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven
Give us today our daily bread
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors
Thank you, heavenly Father that through Jesus you have already forgiven our wrongdoings
Even the things we find difficult to forgive ourselves for.
Help us continually to work at forgiving those who have caused us pain and hurt
And to know your peace, love and wholeness in both receiving and giving forgiveness
Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer
Hymn (Carol Owens)
God forgave my sin in Jesus name
I've been born again in Jesus name
And in Jesus name I come to you
to share His love as He told me to
he said: Freely, freely, you have received
Freely, freely give
Go in my name and because you believe
Others will know that I live.
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Verse Matthew 6:13a
'And lead us not into temptation'
Thought
Even when we are trusting God for our needs and accepting his forgiveness, we are still human
and we will still have times when we are tempted to doubt and to look for comfort in the wrong places.
However, take heart, Corinthians 10:13 says 'God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it'.
We can overcome temptation with God's help and ask that we are protected from being led down the 'wrong' path.
Prayer
Our Father in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us today our daily bread
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us
And lead us not into temptation
Help us to see that looking towards Jesus for his light each day that
we can be used by you, and that you trust us with your kingdom
even though we make the same mistakes over and over again.
Help us today to commit ourselves to you and so be used by you today.
Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer
Hymn (verse 2 of What a friend we have in Jesus by Joseph Medlicott Scriven)
Have we trials and temptations, Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged, Take it to the Lord in prayer
Can we find a friend so faithful, Who will all our sorrows share
Jesus knows our every weakness, Take it to the Lord in prayer
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Verse: Matthew 6:13b
'but deliver us from evil'
Thought
We are human and we live in this fallen world, and we need God's help to
remain faithful servants of his kingdom.
The evil one is as real as our heavenly father and
Jesus is so aware that his disciples need this prayer
and we need to remember daily that we are dependent on God's deliverance.
' We are constantly seeing, hearing, and feeling the presence of evil. It is about us, and within us, and around us on every side; and we entreat him, who alone can preserve us, to be continually delivering us from its power' J C Ryle
Prayer
Our Father in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us today 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.
As we bow before you today, we thank you that you have already delivered us from the evil one
in your death on the cross. In our helplessness, as we cry to you
Help us to daily look to you for continued deliverance as you protect us with your 'walls of salvation' (see hymn below).
We pray at this time for protection for all those who are working for the NHS
for carers, shop keepers, delivery drivers, and all who are putting themselves at risk for others today.
Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer
Hymn (an old hymn written by Augustus Toplady)
A sovereign protector I have
Unseen yet forever at hand
Unchangeably faithful to save
Almighty to rule and command
He smiles and my comforts abound
His grace, as the dew shall descend
And walls of salvation surround
The soul He delights to defend.
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Verse: Matthew 6:13 King James Version (NB this version is not in the NIV)
For thine is the kingdom. The power and the glory
Thought
In the King James translation, the prayer starts the conclusion with the familiar words that we
recognise, For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory
Before the prayer can end we necessarily must turn our focus back on God's will
and acknowledge that it is all about His kingdom...and it IS all about Him and His glory.
This is a pattern for our prayers, how often do we follow this pattern in our 'free' prayers?
Perhaps this is why we almost always close our intercessions in church with the Lord's prayer.
I like that.
Prayer
Our Father 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
forgive us our trespasses and 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
Help us always to remember that you, your will and your kingdom, your power, your glory
begins and ends our prayers.
Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer
Hymn (Jack William Hayford)
Majesty, Worship His majesty
Unto Jesus Be Glory Honour and praise
Majesty, Kingdom authority
Flows from his throne
Unto his own
His anthem raise
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Verse: Matthew 6:13c
For ever, and ever Amen
Thought
As we close this prayer - we are reminded that it is set in eternity
We, God as trinity, and our prayer are set in His endless, glorious Kingdom
Amen - So be it, we submit to your will Lord
Let us pray, the prayer our Saviour has taught us.
Our Father 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
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
Hymn (last verse of In Christ Alone by Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend)
No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From Life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.
