In Matthew 6 we hear the only prayer attributed to Jesus in the Gospels – the Our Father. Jesus doesn’t pray to “my Father”, but rather “Our Father”, because our relationship is never about just, “me and Jesus.” Our Father is the loving, agape Father of the whole body of Christ. We are organically bound even in our prayer.
I hope you will hear another line in a new way – “Give us this day our daily bread.” Many of us are mired in the guilt of past, anxiety about the future, or both.
But God doesn’t ask us to relive the past or shoulder the obligations of the future. He just asks us to live this moment, giving us the grace we need for each moment in that moment. We are given each day precisely the type and amount of grace we need for whatever God will put before us.
“"This is how you are to pray:
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
Let’s pray….Father of Grace and Mercy – Our Father – hallowed be thy name. Help us to shed the guilt of the past and the anxiety of the future, so can be fully present to all we will encounter this day. Give us this day our daily bread.