Our "Lord's Prayer," a Liturgy with Words, Images

Prepared by the evening EfM class, March 19, 2019. See my EfM blog. Prior to the worship, members of the group had time to choose a line of the prayer and to find or create a text and / or image to share that in some significant way corresponds to that line. This approach, intended to bring new mental images to a familiar text, was applied earlier to the Apostle's Creed. See my post of 02/23/2019. [Photo: All the images and texts displayed in one place.]

Clockwise from upper left, images and texts corresponding to kingdom, temptation, will, bread, Father in heaven, forgive, and name.

Worship Centered on the Lord’s Prayer

Prayer Leader (Scott) from Matthew 6.7

Jesus said, “And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

All (in unison)

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,

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer Leader from the BCP, Collect for the 2nd Sunday of Advent
and Psalm 19.14

As we now repeat these words, let us pause after each clause to offer corresponding text or images taken from scripture, our culture, and experience, so that we may more fully read, mark, and inwardly digest the prayer.

All from Psalm 19.14

May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

Prayer Leader

Now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say…

All

Our Father, Who art in heaven…

Reader One

I offer a corresponding reading from Genesis 1.3-4, with an image from a book, The Art of God, the Heavens and the Earth. 

And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

(At the conclusion, the reader says…)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord.

All

Amen.

Hallowed be Thy name…

Reader Two

I offer a corresponding reading from Exodus 2.13-14, with an image of the burning bush made from Hebrew calligraphy.

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, “What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 

(At the conclusion, the reader says…)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord.

All

Amen.

Thy kingdom come…

Reader Three

I offer a corresponding reading from Isaiah 6.6-9, with images from the Isaiah portion of the Knesset Menorah, and Edward Hicks's Peaceable Kingdom.

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

(At the conclusion, the reader says…)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord.

All

Amen.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…

Reader Four

I offer a corresponding image: a photograph of a Celtic "thin place" where a violinist can be imagined to be making beautiful music, doing "God's will."

(At the conclusion, the reader says…)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord.

All

Amen.

Give us this day our daily bread…

Reader Five

I offer a corresponding reading from Sara Miles, Take this Bread: a Radical Conversion.

I grew inside my mother, the way Katie grew inside me. I came out of her and ate her, just as Katie ate my body, literally, to live. I became my mother in ways that still felt, sometimes, as elemental and violent as the moment when I'd been pushed out from between her legs in a great rush of blood. And it was the same with my father. He had helped make me, in ways that were wildly mysterious and absolutely powerful. Like Jesus, he had gone inside somebody else's body and then become a part of me The shape of my hands, the way I cleared my throat, the color of my eyes: My parents lived in me -- body and soul, DNA and spit. That was like the bread becoming God becoming me, in ways seen and unseen.

(At the conclusion, the reader says…)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord.

All

Amen.

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…

Reader Six

I offer a corresponding reading from Genesis 45.4-15, with an image from The Brick Bible.

Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.


Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 

(At the conclusion, the reader says…)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord.

All

Amen.

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

Reader Seven

I offer a corresponding image, a stock photo for the word "temptation."

(At the conclusion, the reader says…)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord.

All

Amen.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

(Silence, while the images and texts are placed together in full view. Then the leader continues…)



Prayer Leader

Finally, let us pray for our own needs and those of others: For the church, and this church; for those who govern and hold authority; for grace to do your will in all that we undertake; for those in any need or trouble; for the departed. We remember especially those on our prayer list, and any we remember now, silently or aloud. (pause) We give thanks for the blessings of this life. (pause) Finally, we collect all our thoughts into one prayer that the Lord taught us, saying…

All (in unison)

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,

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer Leader

Let us bless the Lord.

All

Thanks be to God.

[Since we put this together, the images and readings have come to mind as I've prayed the familiar words. This fits in with the reading by Timothy Sedgwick concerning kataphetic worship -- i.e., using significant images to stimulate meditation and awareness during prayer.]