Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song And Praise

PASTOR ELLEN:  In today’s gospel reading, Jesus teaches about prayer by giving us what we now call The Lord’s Prayer.  We often think of the Lord’s Prayer as an efficient way to pray. We know it by heart, and it is used as the perfect close for meetings and gatherings.  Yet, far too often, we recite this prayer by rote, not even thinking about what we are saying.   It is also important to acknowledge that, in this “can-do” culture in which we live, prayer too easily becomes an attempt to change God and aggrandize ourselves instead of what it is truly meant to be.  You see, prayer really is an interior practice that brings change to the one who is praying, change to our very selves.  This will always happen if we stand calmly in God’s safe presence, allowing God to invade our hearts and heal us.  So, it is interesting to note there is something about this beloved prayer, The Lord’s Prayer, that emphasizes the need to let go and trust God.  It is interesting that each petition in this prayer contains some sort