A Prayer for Hard Times

Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

Amen.

I'd like to consider for a moment Matthew 6:9-13, commonly known as the Lord's Prayer.

It is a “pattern prayer,” taught by our Lord as a pattern of the priorities which we should have when we pray, the things we should all be wanting when we ask. It was given under circumstances remarkably like those we face today. In giving this prayer the Lord was addressing a group of people who held an otherworldly hope of a coming age in which righteousness dwells. This group of people, while large in terms of absolute numbers, was yet a very small percentage of the total Jewish population of Palestine at the time. They lived in a world dominated by corrupt and self-serving elites, from the rulers and agents of the Roman Empire to the self-seeking leaders of the Jewish political/religious class (Pharisees, Saducees, Herodians, tax-collectors) who had sprung up to accommodate the Roman occupiers and conquerors of Palestine. The members of these elites used their power to devour the poor and powerless who were under their reign. The Lord's Prayer was a prayer for hard times, given to people living in hard times.

Therefore it is a good prayer for today, a day in which those Christians who seek to conduct themselves as strangers and exiles on the earth must live in the shadow of a corrupt, dominating, exploitative global system – a system which has invaded every area of common life, including the religious/evangelical institutional realm. In considering this prayer, I think it may be helpful to study each of its clauses and ask what it is we are really praying for when we recite each of its requests.

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Yes, Lord, teach us reverence. Our society has so corrupted us that we mock everything and consider everything a joke. Teach us to appreciate those things that are worthy of honor, to give reverence where reverence is due. Above all, may this world learn to hallow Your Name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

May righteousness reign on earth. Lord, You see the injustices perpetrated by the powerful against the poor, and how it seems that the powerful will never be brought to any earthly justice. Lord, behold the wars started on the basis of lies, in order that rich, powerful elites may steal the resources of other countries. Lord, behold the exploitation of the poor by the rich, the unjust imprisonment and enslavement of the poor by the rich, the swaying and corrupting of earthly governments by the rich, the destruction of the earth in order to satisfy the appetites of the rich. Thy Kingdom come. Bring in a day of judgment and justice in which these evils will be righteously and swiftly stopped. And prepare us for that day by turning us away from unjust deeds in our own lives. Maranatha.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Yes, Lord, we repent of asking to be rich, of asking to be spoiled, of living as materialists, of overconsumption. We simply ask for our daily bread, our needful bread for the coming day – knowing that in the days now upon us the answering of this prayer must rightly be regarded as a miracle, for which we will give thanks.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Lord, we know that hard times will bring out the worst in many people. May we be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Deliver us from vindictiveness.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Lord, in the coming times, may we behave honorably. May we not face a temptation so severe that we would compromise ourselves or deny You by our words and actions.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Remind us in the coming days that no matter what happens, You are still enthroned in Heaven. We acknowledge that You are still in command.

Thoughts, anyone?