The Lord's Prayer: Hope for the Neighborhood

By Dewey Johnson

The Lord's Prayer is the third most popular prayer among Christians, the first two being, "Help me! Help me! Help me!" and "Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!" Yet, there is an amazing lack of clarity as to what one is praying for. What does it mean to "Hallow Your Name"?  And should "Your Kingdom Come," what would that be like? Any fun? Obviously,"Your Will Be Done" is pretty much the message of the entire Bible. But what kind of bread are we talking when we pray, "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread?" A Porsche costs lots of dough. Enough to make payments? "Forgive Us Our Trespasses", or is it, "Forgive Us Our Debts"? Which one? Why the difference? And what's this about "Lead Us Not Into Temptation"? God wants us  to do God's will, yet God would tempt us not to do so? What kind of "Our Father In Heaven" would do such a thing? Flip Wilson's character "Geraldine" made more sense. She said, "The Devil made me do it!" In "Praying The Lord's Prayer: Hope For The Neighborhood," Dewey Johnson places this prayer in its biblical context, shows the reader how Jesus used wording from the Exodus with which his original audience was familiar, and explains what the six petitions mean. One needs to know what one is praying for because one just might get it. And The Lord's Prayer bestows benefits not just upon the one praying, but also upon the neighborhood.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dewey Johnson
• Release date: Mar 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201084936

Dewey Johnson

Dewey Johnson is a New Mexico storyteller who grew up in Roswell and lives in Albuquerque. His books include Summer of Champions, Down to Earth in Roswell, The P.I. and the Harvey Girls, The Lord's Prayer: Hope for the Neighborhood, and most recently When Sputnik Hit the Wall.

Book preview

Chapter 1

What are we asking of God?

––––––––

The Lord’s Prayer is the third most popular prayer in parts of the world. The first two, in no particular order, are: 

Help me, help me, help me!

Thank You, thank You, thank You!

When we pray the above two prayers, we understand exactly what we are asking of God. That is part of their popularity. We need assistance in a certain situation, or we are grateful for what God has given us. The words help me and thank you are easy to understand. Not nearly so intelligible are the words of The Lord’s Prayer.

When we pray The Lord’s Prayer we say, Hallowed be your name, or more accurately, Hallow your name. What does that mean? What would God be doing if God was hallowing God’s name? Unless we understand what we’re asking, God could answer our prayers and we would totally miss it. And which name? Lord, Creator, Father? 

And would we like it if God fully ruled our world? We pray Your kingdom come, or more to the point, Rule fully, but if God did bring the work of Jesus to completion, could we still take walks, bicycle, root for the team, play golf, tell jokes, meet friends at the pub, read best-sellers, eat chocolate, travel, make love, take camping trips, and go to the movies? Would we be having more fun than we are having now? Some pray, in essence, Your kingdom come... but not just yet, for if the truth be told, some of us have things pretty good presently. 

And what kind of bread are we talking? A Porsche costs a lot of bread. If we pray, Give us this day our daily bread, is there enough dough to make monthly payments? Or is this bread spiritual rather than whole wheat? And don’t we want more than enough for this day? What many of us had rather do is go in with a couple of friends and pray, Give us this day a winning Powerball ticket! If we could win a big enough lottery, we’d be secure for life, not just this day. Plus, winning the lottery would lessen God’s workload. (Aren’t we considerate?) God wouldn’t have to provide for us day by day. 

And here’s one that perplexes. Why do some Christians, including Methodists, pray Forgive us our trespasses, while others, including Presbyterians, say Forgive us our debts?  Two small congregations, one Presbyterian the other Methodist, held joint services one summer due to low attendance. These were held at the Methodist church building. As summer came to an end, a layperson said during the morning announcements, It has been a great summer meeting together, but next Sunday you Presbyterians have to go back to your debts, while we Methodists stay here with our trespasses.

Which had we rather do, persist in our trespasses or face up to our debts? For example, among the debts we are going to have to face up to involve key environmental processes such as ocean acidification, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. We owe God better than we have done when it comes to the stewardship of Planet Earth. If we persist in trespassing set thresholds for these processes, we will have failed in our obligation to God and future generations.  

And what is this about Lead us not into temptation? On the one hand, God wants us to obey the commandments, but on the other, God tempts us to disobey? Comedian Flip Wilson’s character Geraldine made more sense. She used to say about her bad behavior, The devil made me do it! Not God.

In what follows in this little book, I hope the reader will think through what we’re asking of God, as well as what we’re committing to, when we pray The Lord’s Prayer. 

Chapter 2

The immediate context

The immediate context of T.L.P. is Jesus saying, "Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

"And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go into your private room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So, you should pray like this: Matthew 6: 1-9a (NIV).   

Whenever we pray The Lord’s Prayer, as well as pray in general, we’re dealing with needs, not wants. But if God already knows our needs – your Father knows what you need before you ask him – why pray? Because we tend to know quite well what we want as opposed to what we need, and because our prayers may be mixtures of both wants and needs. The words to the Rolling Stones’ song, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, are perhaps instructive in this regard. You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you might just find... you get what you need.

When we pray, we may want to accumulate stocks, bonds, and a bank balance that make us feel secure about the future. What we need, though, is the faith to trust that God will provide our needs whatever the future. We may pray for success by doing what is popular, when what needs to be done is that which is both right and unpopular. We may want and pray for God to side with our flag even though Jesus flies no flag. And we may want to wait and see how this climate change thing works out when we need to be taking action to help save God’s good creation now. In short, no matter what we want, what we need is to be put right with God, who provides our needs.

There is always a struggle of agendas in prayer, ours versus God’s, wants versus needs. When we examine our lives in the light of God’s presence and listen for God’s voice, however that may come to us, we are ready to set aside our agenda and choose God’s way. Ready to once again be put right with God.

––––––––

The immediate context of TLP (above) is Jesus’ concern about our hypocrisy. He says, "Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."

When it comes to thinking how good we are, or parading our piety, the best thing that can happen to us is that God will reign