A Meditation on the Lord's Prayer

A meditation taken from my book 'Celtic Prayers & Practices - an inner journey. Music is "A Pure Embrace" by Christopher Lloyd Clarke - Royalty Free music.

Transcript

This guided meditation is brought to you by WaymarkMinistries.

Com For this meditation we will be using a meditation on the Lord's Prayer from the book Celtic Chalcic Prayers and Practices,

An Inner Journey by David Cole Ensure you're sitting in a comfortable position,

Rested but with a good posture Ensuring that your breathing rhythm is nice and easy and relaxed and comfortably in and out A meditation on the Lord's Prayer Our Father in Heaven,

Hallowed be your name Your kingdom come,

Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from evil This is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever You may hear perhaps the most famous prayer from the Christian sacred text A prayer which many know from childhood And which you may even repeat each Sunday It may be that you are so familiar with this prayer that you no longer really think about the words But in the following meditation you may find hidden treasure within these familiar words As we go slowly through this prayer,

Pausing often to meditate upon what it has to say to you Our Father in Heaven To begin,

We address one part of the three-part Godhead,

The Father The word affirms our relationship with the Divine And so here we can pause to meditate on what it means to be a child of the Divine We acknowledge that the Divine is exalted above us yet,

Is still close enough to address and to embrace What does it mean to you to be a child of the Divine One?

Hallowed be your name In Exodus,

Part of the Hebrew scriptures,

God gives ten words,

Often translated as commandments One of these is,

Do not misuse or take lightly the Divine name It is hallowed Hallowed means to be sacred,

Special,

Adored,

Reverenced The Divine name was deeply important to the Hebrew people They had many names for God,

All had special meaning and significance How can you hallow the Divine name in your life today,

Make it sacred,

Special,

Adored,

Reverenced?

Your kingdom come Your will be done on earth as in heaven For yours is the kingdom,

The power and the glory forever These invocations from two parts of the prayer are a deep cry from within us Our cries rise from our knowledge that our separation from the Divine intrinsically affects our world and us This plea releases our egos,

Shouts from deep within us that we desire Divine control in the world Rather than ego-driven human control These are courageous words,

To pray them for our world,

We must first allow them to begin within our own selves What area of your life do you need to open today to Divine control?

Give us this day our daily bread We know we must at one level use our own intelligence and knowledge,

Skill and gifts to work for our wellbeing and physical welfare But at a deeper level,

We understand that the Divine One is in ultimate control The Divine Presence provides for us each day Divine provision does not mean we can sit around doing nothing,

Waiting for things to fall in our laps Instead,

This sentence acknowledges that we are not in ultimate control of our daily physical needs A greater power beyond our control brings us the nourishment we need The Hebrew Scriptures tell how God provided for the Israelites in the desert by sending manna from heaven It's unlikely that you will wake up finding fresh manna spread across your front lawn But we can increase our awareness of the Divine Presence in farmers' crops,

In the creatures,

The plants,

In the animals that give us food Note too that the prayer is for today only We are given what we need for the day ahead,

But no more The manna provided to the Israelites in the desert spoiled when they tried to store it for another day We cannot always see where tomorrow's meal will come from,

Or the money for the rent or the mortgage In Matthew 6,

34,

Jesus tells us not to worry about the future We like to make long-term plans for our provision Where am I going to get the grocery money for next week?

How am I going to pay the rent or the mortgage next month?

What am I going to do when my contract runs out next year?

But Jesus reminds us that Divine care and provision is about the present moment When next week,

Next month,

Next year comes,

The Divine will be there too But we are called to be fully present in this moment,

In the now What are you most in need of today?

What worries for the future do you hold and need to give to God?

Can you release them into the Divine hands?

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors Forgiveness is perhaps one of the hardest parts of life Sometimes though,

We have a faulty understanding of what forgiveness asks of us Contemplate these statements,

Telling us what our forgiveness is not Forgiveness is not the acceptance of another's negative,

Hurtful behaviour Forgiveness is not saying it doesn't matter,

Because often it does Forgiveness is not to forget,

But to say that this would not affect a relationship from this time forward,

Though the memory may remain Forgiveness is not the same as healing Forgiveness is a choice which can be instantaneous,

But hurts and wounds will take time to heal Now contemplate this statement of what forgiveness is Forgiveness lets go of grudges,

Releases injuries done to us into the Divine presence,

Letting them go,

Instead of harbouring them within our hearts This letting go is what keeps unforgiveness from festering within ourselves and turning into a poison Unforgiveness is a poison to our inner self,

A poison that grows and spreads if it is not dealt with appropriately Who do you need to forgive today?

Is there any poison that you are harbouring in your heart?

Can you choose to let it go?

Do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from evil This is a powerful line that acknowledges Divine authority over the powers of spiritual darkness and the evils of the world The Judaic Christian scriptures never indicate that God is in the habit of removing people from dangers and difficulties,

But often seems to stand with them through their difficult times He says,

I will never leave you nor forsake you In what areas of your life do you need Divine deliverance from today?

Where do you need the Divine to stand with you in the difficulties and hard times?

In the following silence,

Contemplate these things Do you have the power to do so?

Do you have the power to do so?

Reviews

Thank you for this. 🙏

All I can say is WOW! This was very powerful. Thank you!

Very nice

Found me where I am

I appreciate helping me understand the Lord’s Prayer better today 🕊

I like the breakdown of The Lord’s Prayer in this meditation, especially the part about what forgiveness is. I will certainly come back to this one again and again. This prayer is soooo important.

Your meditations are truely blessing me.Thank you so much.

That touched my heart. thank you

This is the fountain of life to nourish me and the whole world .

Much gratitude, I thank our father for working through you and bringing the Lord’s Prayer to light. Truly uplifting and consciously resonating. Jenni P South Africa

Very nice, thank you!

So sound, contemplative, good. Thank you.

Thank you for a new way to feel about the Lord's prayer...so beautiful!!!

I find myself drawn to this meditation on the Lord’s Prayer often. There are just so many ever-deepening levels to explore here. Thank you!

Very good. Thank you!

Thought provoking and soothing. Made me focus on my life as God walks with me. It opened my breathing and I was able to fully relax.

This was soul searching & enlightening 🦋

A very powerful and intentional meditation, going deep into the meaning of words we all take for granted.

Thank you. This was just what I needed. Especially powerful for me was “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil,” where you state that he is stands with us in all the hard things we might have to face.

I love this meditation. Really helps me to feel closer to God. My only wish is the length of each reflective moment was longer .