 Over these last few weeks, I have been thinking a lot about The Lord’s Prayer and what it means for us today. If you have a Christian background, as I do, you probably know it by heart. It is from the New Testament when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. From the metaphysical point of view, The Lord’s Prayer is powerful stuff. Let’s explore:
Our Father OK, in this feminist, gender-free culture we’ve got today, just starting with the word “father” might turn some people off. But the point is that we are all related. This is a blood-spirit-identity connection. Who art in Heaven What and where is heaven? The idea of heaven is different for different people, according to your belief system. Some consider Heaven to be an actual place. Or, if you think like me, heaven is a state of being and returning to the Source. We get glimpses of it now and then, but mostly (unfortunately) we are on Earth and not feeling it. I do realize that “Art” is an archaic use of what we would now say as “is” or even “resides.” But I really like the poetic double-meaning possibilities here of Art as creation, too. That makes God the creator. Hallowed be thy name I love this one! This line is about the power of words. If everything real contains God (in line with ACIM, Alchemy, and many other spiritual teachings), then all of our words should be used thoughtfully and respectfully. “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.” (John 1:1) When we verbalize hate, or self-criticism, or any other negativities, our God-self reinforces that reality. Thy kingdom come This is interesting. It is not about us going to the kingdom (which one might presume under traditional Christian thought to be the afterlife). This is about the kingdom coming to US. Now! This is peace on earth. This is loving all, unconditionally. Kick-ass. Thy will be done A hard one for most of us free-thinkers who want to be in charge of our own wills. But that, of course, is ego. And any Buddhist or student of A Course In Miracles will tell you that our own will/ego/attachment to how we want things gets us in trouble and tends to leave us miserable. God’s will is higher than that, and that is where our happiness is. On Earth, as it is in Heaven The old Hermetic principle rewrote this as: “As above, so below. As within, so without.” It is about creating the Earth and our minds to reflect the Source. It is about peace and love on Earth. Give us this day, our daily bread Here is a line that naturally points to gratitude. We are not petitioning God for a Lexus, or fame. We humbly request that our basic needs be met. It is our job to do the rest. And forgive us our trespasses Some translations read the word “trespass” as “sin,” some as “debt.” I grew up reading and hearing “trespass,” which of course is a broken rule or a violation against another’s boundary. The word “sin” means “to miss the mark”–which I love because that shows a less malevolent side of human weakness. “Debt,” of course, is what is owed to someone or something. Any version of this line is about the bad energy we carry with others. As we forgive those who trespass against us We can’t exactly expect to be forgiven without forgiving, right? What goes around comes around. This is true Karma. Lead us not into temptation Damn, don’t you love temptation? Temptation, of course, is the desire to sin (which we just went over). Whether your temptation is a hot fudge brownie sundae, or someone else’s spouse, or committing a crime, no matter how good it might feel in the moment there is always regret and shame later. And compounding it all with lies, to the self or others, to cover it up. That big snowball grows and grows as it rolls downhill… But deliver us from evil I am inclined to think like the Buddhists and ACIM here again. Evil, or some might say, the Devil, is also within us. That is the ego stuff that justifies temptation and sin and eventually undoes us. *** Jesus ended the Lord’s Prayer there. In the Episcopal Church I grew up in, we closed with “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever, Amen.” Those are church niceties that have no real power. The Lord’s Prayer truly reflects God’s words, and that is the only prayer you need to know. A COURSE IN MIRACLES, ACIM, BUDDHIST, CHRISTIAN, CHRISTIANITY, HERMETICISM, HOW TO PRAY, INTERPRETING THE LORD'S PRAYER, JESUS, METAPHYSICAL, SPIRITUALITY, THE LORD'S PRAYER, THE LORD'S PRAYER THROUGH ACIM, THE LORD'S PRAYER THROUGH BUDDHISM, THE LORD'S PRAYER THROUGH HERMETICISM
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