Some call it the Lord’s Prayer, the Model Prayer, the Disciples’ Prayer, but whatever you want to call the short five-verse petition from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, it is clear that no other recorded prayer contains as much concise truth and instruction on building a relationship with the Father as is contained in the sixty-six words that begin with, “Our Father which art in heaven…” Mere recitation takes a little under twenty seconds but application of the principles and theology contained can easily stretch to twenty years, even a lifetime. It is not a prayer to be read or said but to be processed and lived. Jesus decried the Pharisees’ lifeless form of praying by rote and ritual as being “vain repetition”. We have all recited or repeated the words of this prayer but its very purpose is to free us from being repetitive. “After this manner therefore pray…” This isn’t repeat after me, instead the prayer contains the basic elements that constitute thorough and healthy prayer. A gifted parrot could be taught to “say” a prayer, “Polly want a cracker?”, but it could never be taught to “pray” a prayer because prayer is more than recitation; it is heart-work, artwork, emotion, pleas for help, seeking, and beseeching, dialogue, relationship and transaction.
Arthur Wellesley commented that “the Lord’s Prayer contains the sum total of religion and morals”. Frederick Maurice adds, “The Lord's Prayer may be committed to memory quickly, but it is slowly learnt by heart”. Luther pressed the head of every family to teach it to their children. Tertullian called the Lord’s Prayer “an abridgment of the entire Gospel” because it contains the essence of all that Jesus taught. It is a whole library in a few lines, an ocean of wisdom in a few droplets, a whole college curricula in a short paragraph. Rowan Williams, once Archbishop of Canterbury stated, “If somebody said, give me a summary of the Christian faith on the back of an envelope, the best thing to do would be to write our Lord’s prayer”. I’ve studied it for thirty years and it breathes fresh inspiration each time I read or recite it . . .

Christ is the Teacher on prayer, but He is also the lesson. After a lone disciple watched Jesus open the heavens in supplication he pled, “Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1) What followed was a synopsis of the earlier teaching from Matthew. Note, he didn’t ask, “Lord, teach us to preach” or “Lord show us how to run the show”. He observed that prayer was the hub of Christ’s life and all other issues were only spokes of the wheel. It is interesting that just one of the Twelve saw the essential value of Christ’s prayer ministry. You would think all would notice the obvious, but so it is today, worshipers are many but volunteers for prayer are few. Leonard Ravenhill preached the same, that today’s church has many singers but few clingers, lots of fashion but little passion, many organizers but few agonizers, lots of fears but few tears. I might add that many interfere but few intercede.

Let’s scale the mount with the sandal-shod Son of God and learn the “how to” of prayer, then return to the lowlands and display the power that is given in service to people needing love. Public ministry is the result of personal maturity and personal maturity comes from private intimacy. The Spirit bids us come, the heart says, here am I.

“When you said, Seek my face; my heart said unto you, Thy face, Lord, will I seek” (Psalm 27:8)