Today is the commemoration of Jerome, Translator of Holy Scripture.
Today's readings are Psalm 119:161-168, Deuteronomy 1:37-2:15, and Matthew 6:1-15.
I've been thinking a bit about the Lord's Prayer lately. I was spurred on to it by an elderly lady some years ago who asked me why the congregation where I was an elder never prayed the Lord's Prayer. She had grown up with this on her tongue and in her heart and mind. At her age, as she sensed some of her mental faculties leaving her, it seemed she was ready to return to some of the liturgy of her youth. Yet in many circles people shy away from this prayer, citing Matthew 6:7 and suggesting that saying a prepared prayer is a matter of heaping up words to no effect.
As I've studied Luther's Small Catechism I observe that he said quite the opposite. The Lord has given us all we need to pray for. There's nothing in life that doesn't fit into the Lord's Prayer somewhere if we pay attention. We give glory to God. We ask that he will have his way with us and our world. We rejoice that he is providing all we have and all we need, particularly forgiveness. We confess that we don't forgive our debtors like we should and we ask the Lord to change our hearts so as to deal with us in the way we would like to be dealt with.
In the catechism we see this prayer in our morning prayers, before and after each meal, and in our evening prayers. If we eat regularly and pray as Luther suggests we are bringing all this before our Lord and Savior some eight times a day. This is not vain repetition. It's prayer that we desperately need.
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