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Meditations On The Lord’s Prayer: Part Two.

Sister Doreen’s Reflections

Meditations on the Lord’s Prayer: Part Two

I have found that it is helpful to begin to ponder the several translations of the Lord’s prayer that are being used today, and I have chosen two that we use regularly at the Convent and also one of Neil D Klotz – and some thoughts that were inspired by Neil’s book “The Hidden Gospel.”

O Birther!  Father-Mother of the Cosmos,
Focus your light within us – make it useful:
Create your reign of unity now –
Your one desire then acts with ours,
As in all light, so in all forms.
Grant what we need each day in bread and insight.
Loose the cords of mistakes binding us,
As we release the strands we hold of others’ guilt.
Don’t let surface things delude us,
But free us from what holds us back.
From you is born all ruling will,
The power and the life to do,
The song that beautifies all,
From age to age it renews
Truly – power to these statements –
May they be the ground from which all my actions grow;
Amen.

(from Prayers of the Cosmos: meditations on the Aramaic words of Jesus by Neil Douglas Klotz)

Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!  The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!  Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!  Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.  In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.  In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.   From trials to great to endure, spare us.  From the grip of all that is evil, free us.  For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever.  Amen

(from A New Zealand Prayer Book, the Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, by Jim Cotter)

Abba, Amma, Beloved, Your name be hallowed, Your reign spread among us
Your will be done well, at all times, in all places, on earth as in heaven.
Give us the bread we need for today. 
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Let us not fail in the time of our testing. Spare us from trials to sharp to endure.
Free us from the grip of all evil powers.
For yours is the reign, the power and the glory,
The victory of love, for now and eternity,
World without end.  Amen and Amen.

(from A New Zealand Prayer Book, the Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, by Jim Cotter)

Some meditations on the Lord’s Prayer:  

Our Father:

  • O Thou, the One from whom breathe enters being in all radiant forms
  • O Parent of the universe, from your deep interior comes the next wave of shining life.
  • O fruitful, nurturing Life-giver!  Your sound rings everywhere throughout the cosmos.
  • Father-Mother who births Unity, You vibrate life into form in each new instant.

Your will be done on earth as in heaven: (the Aramaic translation of ‘will’ can also mean desire, delight, or consent – it expresses an inner harmony ..)

  • Let your delight flow through us, in wave and particle.
  • Let your pleasure manifest in us, in light and form
  • Let your desire act through us as command and individual purpose.

Give us this day our daily bread

  • The prayer asks not only for physical bread but for whatever nourishes  a healthy sense of “I am”, which can include mental, emotional or spiritual food.
  • It is anything that feeds the “I”

Forgive us

  • A frustrated hope, something that misses, or a wrongly sewn thread – something that needs to be dug out or to sew – something that requires an effort made against resistance.
  • Multiple meanings might lead to :  “these wild parts of you see but aren’t yet illuminated, hear but aren’t struck by the sound that envelopes the mystery of Unity; not until they (and you) are turned around, not until turning you begin to release the cords with which you tie your selves to the past” ..

(inspired by “The Hidden Gospel” by N. Douglas-Klotz)