An Auspicious Prayer

I have marveled at the power of “The Lord's Prayer” every time I say it. Most Christians say it every Sunday during worship and sadly we say it by rote. Every Sunday we repeat it with the rest of the congregation without thinking about what it means. All the way through the words have great meaning and we just say them because everyone else is saying them.

There is a phrase that should stop us in our tracks and say “Now wait a minute!” It is that part where we ask God to forgive us in the same way we forgive others. Most of us need more mercy than that. How many people carry a grudge around all their lives. Unforgiving and angry we condemn someone who hurt us in some way. Often we hold others who are different from us as guilty of the sins of their people. Some hate other people only because their parents hated them.

Yet Jesus teaches us to pray “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” You can put in Debts or Trespasses as you are accustomed but it comes out to sins all the same. It begs the question “How can we be forgiven if we do not forgive?” The answer is we can not for the hatred, anger, grudge or spite put a barrier between us and God. The non-forgiveness becomes our sin that is not forgiven as long as we hang on to it.

Think twice before you say The Lord's Prayer for it is an auspicious prayer.