There is nothing prosaic about the Lord’s Prayer. I begin with that claim not only to get your attention but to dogmatical state a fact. I repeat it, there is nothing prosaic about the Lord’s Prayer.
Ponder for a moment. This prayer is the most familiar of Christians around the world. It is an identifying marker for those who follow Jesus. Although Jesus spent a great deal of his life praying, we only have two prayers from him. This is one of them.
Obviously, his disciples sensed prayer was a dynamic part of Jesus’ life, so they made their appeal, “Lord teach us to pray.” This was a personal request. Yet it has become so common, and is used so often in public worship, we don’t pray it often in our personal time of prayer and devotion. That’s the reason I’m afraid it has become prosaic…matter-of-fact, lifeless, humdrum, unemotional.
Familiarity breeds dullness and numbness.
The response they received the disciples received was the most straightforward direction towards a prayer life that Jesus offered. Prayer was not to be offered to some distant deity — it was to be submitted to a loving, parental authority. No Awesome God. Not a Sovereign God. An “Our Father.” That form of address changed everything.
Prayer is relationship and relationship is personal. We are praying to a specific God whom Jesus calls Father. How can we allow that to be prosaic. As “Our Father,” we are coming to God honestly as we are. In relationship to “our Father,” therefore, we need not fear. Change is not only possible, it is inevitable,
Jesus encouraged his disciples to pray diligently and pray often. Yet to pray to “our Father,” not to some unknown “god.” Jesus taught his disciples to pray to one who loved them — not ruled them; to pray to one who pardoned them — not passed judgment upon them.
Jesus encouraged prayer to a Father who loved, and with whom communication was. This prayer Jesus offered to his disciples was not some abstract piety or some “pie-in-the-sky” pleading. It was tough love. It was to first forgive others who have done you wrong. But it was also a transformative prayer. No longer were we to be sinners waiting in line, we were now sons and daughters welcomed home.
How can we respond prosaically to something like that?