In today’s gospel we glimpse as Jesus teaches us simplicity in prayer. First, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Be direct with God because God knows your needs before you can even articulate them. I believe that Jesus does not ask us to do anything he does not do.

He gives basic prayer pointers through what we call the Lord’s prayer. It has taken me many years to begin to appreciate and to love this prayer.  But these days when I pray the Lord’s prayer, the “Our Father”, I believe I am praying to the Father with Jesus. We, Jesus and I are praising God, our Father who also knows me and loves me and who Jesus called his Abba, his Daddy.   I am praying with Jesus that God’s will be made manifest over the earth inviting heaven on earth making the earth whole. And, as in the reading from Isaiah, that what comes from God returns to God bearing fruit.  In asking God for our daily bread, Jesus and I are asking that we are well nourished by what gives us life and is truly fulfilling. I think this is a prayer on trust that God will provide, like with the birds of the air and the lilies of the fields, what I need to survive with integrity. Again, as in Isaiah, we will be well watered, fertile and fruitful.

The forgiveness part . . . when I get to this part in the Lord’s prayer, I feel I must do a quick inventory. Who do I have a gripe against? Who have I offended? Who do I think owes me something? Then, I ask the Lord that I may be able to forgive, let go, move through that stumbling block. Forgive us as we forgive. Father help us forgive.  If you have something against someone, don’t bother to bring the offering or prayer, go forgive first then come and pray, as Jesus tells us in another part of the gospel. Finally, he models that radical forgiveness from the cross.

The final plea of the Lord’s prayer has been more difficult for me to pray with. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. I have concluded that for me that this is a plea for safety.  We, Jesus and I, are asking our Father that we be kept safe . . . in the shadow of God’s wings. That no matter what occurs, we are covered by God’s grace, love and goodness. That what is precious to God about who we are in front of God will always remain whole.

I am profoundly grateful that what we ask of God is simply what Jesus asked himself. He prays with us and we with him. We are truly his sisters and brothers as we all call upon God, with Jesus as his Abba in prayer.