In heaven
Who believes in heaven these days? On a story level, “heaven”
is God’s dwelling place in the clouds, the place where rain
and lightning originate. More profoundly, heaven is the timeless
seat of the value and affirmation of all things, and therefore a
safe “haven” beyond the conflicts and exclusions of
the world.
Your name be holy
A “name” is one’s reputation, authority, position
and power. The prayer is that we live so that a liberating and affirming
God’s “name” is honoured, venerated, set apart.
Your kingdom come
Not, of course, a “kingdom” in any literal sense, but
a form of social organisation that is more just and inclusive than
what’s on offer in society today. Feel free to use a more
suitable word.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Our faith is not focused somewhere over the rainbow or in what happens
after death, but in the transformation of the real world in which
we live.
Give us today our daily bread
All we ask for is enough to get by. Think of the difference it would
make for the world if the affluent, nominally Christian West prayed
these words and really meant them!
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
At the heart of the prayer is the paradox that our relationship
to God is inseparable from our relationship to our neighbour. In
St Francis’ “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace”,
we sing, “It is in pardoning that we are pardoned”.
From this point on, see how the prayer begins to mirror the above
petitions in reverse order.
Don’t lead us into temptation
Give us the strength to be satisfied with our daily bread, and not
lust after what is not ours or may harm or exclude others.
Deliver us from evil
As we pray for God’s desires for the world to be accomplished
through us, we also pray that we may not contribute to the world’s
woes by doing evil or get tangled up in the evil around us.
For the kingdom is yours
An open and affirming society has its foundation in God, and needs
to be true to that foundation.
Power is yours
All power relationships, positions of authority and responsibility
fundamentally belong to a compassionate God and are to be exercised
according to God’s will.
Glory is yours
All the things we glory in—good looks, money, academic qualifications,
class, culture—all of this a pile of rubbish next to the fundamental
glory of our loving, compassionate God.
Forever
Our prayer ends focusing on the world’s future, just as it
began by focusing on our ground and origin.
