A "New & Improved" Lord's Prayer

Ok, before you raise your eyebrows in shock and horror that I would arrogantly dare to "improve" the sacred Lord's Prayer, let me qualify my statement: I wrote the title (as I often do) so that you would be intrigued to read the blog article that accompanies it. If I had simply entitled it, "A Commentary," would you have even read this far? Although it is a mere reflection, read on anyway!

Our Father Who art in Heaven
Our Father: meaning, the source of all of us, the source of all Life; Our source is "heaven" or, in other words, our source is "eternal and spiritual."

What if we now just focus on the word, "our," and contrast it to other possible words that could have been used but weren't-- like the word, "my?" That is, with the simple, intentional choice to use OUR Father, I am being reminded that God is not just MY Source, but also hers, and his, and theirs-- - equally.

Hallowed be Thy Name
Your Name is holy; ALL names for You are holy because You are Holiness. And so, the names of God as Elohim, Yahweh, Allah, Great Spirit, The Way, The Tao, Life, Goddess, Truth etc. are all holy because they can each ideally accomplish God's holy purpose.

Thy Name is not just a label, but "Thy Identity, Thy Essence and Core" and so all the mysterious ways we can know you are holy. The forms and ways You choose to reveal Yourself to us are all potentially holy. God that resides in the core, inner Temple of each human body is holy. Therefore, God appearing in and through 'Robert' is hallowed. God appearing as 'Alliyah' is hallowed. God appearing as 'Ari' is hallowed. God appearing as Talik is hallowed. God appearing as Helen, Franc, Alexander, Mosiah, Ruth, Liu, Juan, and so forth....

Thy Kingdom come
Everything is ultimately THY kingdom; there is no mention of any other kingdom that could even dare to compete with Thy Kingdom. This is first and foremost another reminder for us: it is GOD'S kingdom (or more politically correct, God's "reign").

Then, let's look at: Thy kingdom come. Come Now. Come in the future. God's power shows forth in an eternal-Now that is not bound by human conceptions of time; God's kingdom is in the eternal-Now, if we have cultivated conscious awareness of Thy Kingdom within.

Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
Of course, not MY will, not HER, HIS, or THEIR will, but Thine. Seek first only the will of God. Thy Will be done. Thy Will is done both now and in the future. Better yet: Thy Will simply IS. Thy Will "IS" both on earth (in our physical bodies, in the finite sense) and in heaven (in our spiritual bodies, in our eternal Life in God). Thy Will simply IS. Thy Will is the "place" where the finite, mundane stuff of "earth" (for example, that's just 'mom') is made INTO "heaven" (that is, God-appearing-as-mom in this moment, for me).

Give us this day our daily bread
Whatever we have of true substance YOU give us. "You" is not stated, but implied. I want to slow down and notice WHO is doing the giving, Who is the Source of all. You give us whatever it is we truly, ultimately need for our spiritual development, comfort and safety. We are not petitioning for all of our many wants; God gives anew each day, each moment, what our souls truly need.

And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us
God forgive us. I like that part a lot. Does God forgive us in like measure to how we show grace toward others? If so, we're all in big trouble, some more than others. However, this is just another way of expressing the Great Love Commandment: When asked which one of the 10 Commandments was most important, Jesus replied that two, interrelated ones were the most important: love God; love your neighbor.

When I come to this line of the prayer, I think of something I once saw on a T-shirt: "May God have one hand on my shoulder and the other over my mouth."

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

As you may have picked up on by now, I am privy to focusing on not what it is we are requesting of God (give us, forgive us, lead us, etc.) but on what this prayer tells us about what God already DOES for us. So, I note here: God leads us. God delivers us. What if it weren't a request made by we, finite, sinful, impaired, doubting humans but instead a statement made by saints and angels: Fear not, God leads us. God delivers us. We just have to remember it and ask God.

God does not lead us INto temptation. This petitions asks that God intervene on our behalf: God, don't let me lead myself down the wrong path, into error, temptation, and evil. While some theologians will argue, "Yes, God DOES bring us temptation and trial," I believe that temptations and trials simply occur (as a result of our individual and collective actions) and that God can work through ANYthing that initially appears to us as "good" or even "evil."

For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever,

Again, I like to read and hear these words as a reminder. So many times, we pray and wonder, "When do I get my answer?" But the beautiful and amazing thing about the Pater Noster is that it contains the answers we need already. We just have to slow down and notice, really hear how Jesus instructed us to pray.

The prayer closes with this final reminder: It is all GOD's kingdom, It is all GOD'S power, It is all GOD'S glory. Ultimately, (according to all the mystics across the main religions), there is only ONE. There is only One kingdom and One glory. If we dwell --even for a glimpsing moment-- in that inner, still and sacred space where God's kingdom lies, we may come to realize that there is ultimately only One Power, for ever and ever, in the Eternal Now that knows no boundaries nor limitations.

Amen.

Not, "so be it" as in, "O, ple-e-e-ase let it be this way!'

No! It is "Amen" as in, "it IS so . . . now help us, Holy Spirit, to come to greater and greater awareness of these Truths."