10/9/2016
Matthew 6:1-14
Chris Breslin
I heard him call you his beloved son
And saw his Spirit lighten like a dove,
I thought his words must be for you alone,
Knowing myself unworthy of his love.
You pray in close communion with your Father,
So close you say the two of you are one,
I feel myself to be receding further,
Fallen away and outcast and alone.
And so I come and ask you how to pray,
Seeking a distant supplicant’s petition,
Only to find you give your words away,
As though I stood with you in your position,
As though your Father were my Father too,
As though I found his ‘welcome home’ in you.
– “Our Father” by Malcolm Guite
“Prayer and poetry are the closest of kin. In poetry we say it; in prayer we become what we say.” –Eugene Peterson
“To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.” –Karl Barth
“[The Lord’s Prayer is] a brief summary of the whole gospel.” –Tertullian
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” –Elvis Costello?
“A father has to be a provider, a teacher, a role model, but most importantly, a distant authority figure who can never be pleased. Otherwise, how will children ever understand the concept of God?” –Stephen Colbert
“The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton” –Duke of Wellington
Scripture
This Sunday’s Songs
Precious Lord, Take My Hand by Dorsey
All Ye Refugees by McCracken
Glory Be to God the Father by Bonar/Mundell
God With Us by Ingram/Jordan
Your Love O Lord (Ps 36) by Avery/Carr/Powell
How Deep the Father’s Love for Us by Townend
Our Heavenly Father by Montgomery/Benedict
Further Reading on the Lord’s Prayer
Prayer by Karl Barth
Lord’s Prayer by Leonardo Boff
Matthew (The Christbook) by F. Dale Bruner
Becoming the Answers to Our Prayers by Shane Claiborne & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Lord’s Prayer: A Missional Reading by Nijay Gupta (at Missio Alliance)
Our Father by Alexander Schmemann
The Lord’s Prayer: Confessing the New Covenant by J. Warren Smith
On the Lord’s Prayer by Tertullian, Cyprian, & Origen
Our Heavenly Father by Helmut Thielicke
The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
Lord, Teach Us by Stanley Hauerwas & Will Willimon
The Lord & His Prayer by N.T. Wright
