Spiritual Practices

The Lord’s Prayer in Advent: Wait

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed by thy name.
Thy kingdom come; thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
And forgive us our sins,
As we forgive those who have sinned against us.
And lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory, forever. Amen.

Our Father, who has given us the right to call You ‘Abba, dear Father”, we honor Your name- We hallow it, there is no other name like Yours. In this season of waiting for Your kingdom to come in glory we worship You. We long for Your kingdom to come in all its fullness, that Your will would be done, now and always. Your presence is our food and our portion, and “so we will wait for you” (Lam 3:24). Lord, would You give us hearts to forgive those who have sinned against us – that there might be nothing that stands in our way of receiving all the grace and life You have given us. We grow weary Lord, but we pray that through Your Spirit, You would deliver us from all temptation and evil. Because of Your kingdom, and power, and glory we can rest in confidence that “we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13). Amen.

Advent Two – Lectio Quote – Wait

“One of the main reasons God doesn’t always answer us immediately is that waiting is God’s crucible of transformation. Waiting is how God gets at the idols of our heart. Waiting addresses the things we think we need besides God to be content: money, comfort, expedience, success or control. It creates space to learn more about who God is, to receive his purposes into our lives, to move past our resistance and say our deepest yes to him.” Ruth Haley Barton

You can go through the same steps that we use for Lectio Divina for Scripture, or simply take some time and read this quote slowly and ask the Spirit to give you power to let waiting be that crucible of transformation.

Advent Two – Confessional Prayer

…We cannot talk about sin for very long without being drawn into doxology. Were it not for the mercy of God surrounding us, we would have no perspective from which to view sin, for we would be entirely subject to it. That is the reason for affirming that whatever sin is unmasked and confessed, God’s redemptive power is already present and acting.
Fleming Rutledge

Enter into a time of confession as you think about this Advent theme- Waiting. Is this a challenge for you? Not just in this time of waiting for the Lord to return, but in your daily walk? Are there ways you have sinned against others in your impatience or frustrations?

Start by centering your heart in God’s presence… Give thanks to Him that you do not need to hide anything from him. Affirm that He is faithful and good, and his mercy and grace are “new every morning.” The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).

Now let Him begin the process of searching your heart. Are there ways you have not honored Christ this week? Where were your thoughts and desires not centered in Him? How have you failed in obedience to Christ?

Waiting can stir up our needs for control, our impatience, our frustrations. Ruth Haley Barton calls waiting the crucible of transformation. “Waiting is how God gets at the idols of our heart”.

Then, simply confess specifically what the Holy Spirit is showing you. Don’t rush through this process. Simply rest in God’s presence as He does this.

Now choose to let this go and receive the truth of this passage: “I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. Let him lead me to the banquet hall and let his banner over me be love”. If you have confessed a stronghold of fear or complacency receive Christ’s forgiveness for you.

And finally commit this confession to the Lord. As you rest in his grace and mercy ask Him how to walk this out. Ask for the supernatural power of His Spirit to give you what you need to move forward. Thank Him that you “have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [you] who live, but Christ lives in [you]” (Gal. 2:20).

… my soul waits for the Lord, more than watchman for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Psalm 130:6-8

Advent Two – Lectio Divina

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31

Step One – Read the passage slowly, attentively. Allow yourself to be taken in by the words – pay attention to any word or phrase that strikes you in the passage. (If you haven’t studied this passage, you may find this first reading will stir observation questions in you – such as who, what when, where and how).

Step Two – Read it again. Meditate and reflect on the passage. What is it in your life that needs to hear that word or phrase? Sit in silence for a time, attending to the thoughts, images and impressions that begin to come to you. Turn that into prayer.

Step Three – What is God saying to you? What do you begin to feel called to?

Step Four – How does God want you to live this passage out? What are you resolved to do?

Advent One – The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
And forgive us our sins,
As we forgive those who have sinned against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, what an incredible thing to be able to say, our Father. We hallow your name because of all names it is the holy name. As we enter this season of Advent, we pray that Your kingdom will come soon and Your full and complete will be done, here on earth, in our lives, as it is in heaven. Give us the bread of life that can only come through Your Son Jesus Christ, and may we receive it as sustenance to help us prepare for His return. Forgive our sins of complacency, dullness, self-centeredness; and grant us grace as we forgive others. In this season of preparation, keep us strong when we are tempted and deliver us from the evil that would turn our hearts away from Your return. May we heed the warnings of John the Baptist to repent and believe. In the strong assurance of hope that we have in You, we proclaim that yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Advent One – Lectio Quote

Under the spiritual practices tab I wrote about Lectio Divina, which is a way of reading Scripture that goes beyond knowing about the Scripture to receiving it “into our bones” through reading and reflection. One way to approach this is to read it, reflect on it, respond to it, and resolve to listen to God through it. Charlotte Mason puts it like this – we bite, we chew, we savor, and we digest. We can do this in reading Scripture and we can also do it with other forms of reading (or listening or even viewing – Lectio Visio is a real thing!). Obviously, these other practices don’t hold the authority of Scripture but they do yield great wisdom when we slow down and take in what someone else has created!

We bite, we chew, we savor, and we digest.
Charlotte Mason

I have discovered this new way of reading through keeping a commonplace book. I have done this for years, mostly through typing passages from books I’ve read, etc. into my OneNote app. (Which I love!) But I discovered commonplacing quite by accident at the beginning of this year and the person who filmed the YouTube video I watched challenged us to write these out by hand (I have terrible handwriting). I found that as I slowed down to write or copy a passage out, it stayed with me longer, and was legible as well! My commonplace books have really helped form my understanding of Christian formation and the Church calendar. So each week, I have selected a passage from what I’ve been reading that fits our theme for the week and now want to encourage you to take it and “bite, chew, savor and digest!” I may include at some point some of my other meanderings into commonplacing so that you reap the benefit I’ve received as well! This week’s quote comes from John Shea and is more lengthy than I will probably do in the future. But I love what he says about repentance!

“The more deeply one enters into the experience of the sacred the more one is aware of one’s own personal evil and the destructive forces in society. The fact that one is alive to what is possible for humankind sharpens one’s sense that we are fallen people. The awareness of sin is the inevitable consequence of having met grace… This grace-judgment dynamic reveals that the center of Christian life is repentance. This does not mean that the distinguishing mark of the Christian is breast-beating. Feeling sorry, acknowledging guilt, and prolonging regret may be components of the human condition, but they are not what Jesus means by repentance. Repentance is the response to grace that overcomes the past and opens out to a new future…

Repentance distinguishes Christian life as one of struggle and conversion, and pervades it, not with remorse, but with hope. The message of Jesus is not “Repent,” but “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.”
John Shea, A Star is Rising: Advent Meditations

Advent One – Confessional Prayer

The grace of God prepares the way for the confession of sin, is present in the confession, and even before the confession has been made, has already worked the restoration of which the confession is not the cause but the sign.
Fleming Rutledge

This is a good prayer to either pray through in your journal, or with others. Praying with others, confessing our sins, is a rich way to build community and humility. If you have any questions about this spiritual practice I’ve included an explanation of this in the spiritual practices section.

Begin by centering your heart in God’s presence… Give thanks to Him that you do not need to hide anything from him. Affirm that He is faithful and good, and his mercy and grace are “new every morning.” The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).

Then, simply confess in as specific a way you can the sins that trouble you. Don’t rush through this process. Simply rest in God’s presence as He does this.

Now choose to let this go and receive Christ’s forgiveness for you. Remember – “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

And finally commit this confession to the Lord. As you rest in His forgiveness ask him how to walk this out. Ask for the supernatural power of His Spirit to give you what you need to move forward. Thank Him that you “have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [you] who live, but Christ lives in [you]” (Gal. 2:20). How is He calling you to prepare for His return?

Merciful God, who sent your messengers, the prophets, to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Book of Common Prayer.

Advent One – Lectio Divina – Prepare

³ A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴ Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. ⁵ And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isa 40:3-5 ESV)

Step One – Read the passage slowly, attentively. Allow yourself to be taken in by the words – pay attention to any word or phrase that strikes you in the passage.

Step Three – What is God saying to you? What do you begin to feel called to?

Step Four – How does God want you to live this passage out? What are you resolved to do?

Since this is the first passage for lectio divina I’ll share how this went for me. The words that stood out for me in my first reading were prepare and make straight. This was pretty straightforward, so I spent some time thinking about what this meant. I went to the passages in the New Testament where this passage is quoted (Mat. 3:3; Mar. 1:2-3; Luk. 3:4). All three passages speak of this prophetic word from Isaiah. I came back to the passage and read it again, slowly. And the phrase that stood out for me then was “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed”. This led me to a deeper reading and contemplation of the passage. And as I answered the last two questions, I sensed God’s presence and heard his call to respond. Practice may help this exercise flow more naturally. Remember, we are guided by truth here, and our interpretation of a particular passage will not be contradicted by other Scriptures.

The Lord’s Prayer – A Guide

[The Lord’s prayer] was among the ultimate privileges allowed only to those in Christ. It took parrhesia, Holy Spirit boldness, to dare to say Our Father. That is reflected in the introductory formula used in the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by the Orthodox to this day. “And make us worthy that we joyously and without presumption may be made bold to invoke Thee, the heavenly God and to say Our Father…” It is a prayer for Christians, and only Christians are in a position to pray it, because only they know God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (The Forgotten Father, Thomas Smail, 177-178).

I have taken the template of the Lord’s Prayer and written one to fit each week’s theme. I found it very inspiring! But I would also invite you to consider writing your own version, using this guide. And please if you can find The Forgotten Father, please read it!!

W.S.C refers to the Westminster Shorter Catechism. I love it because if frames theology within the context of questions and answers!

1. Acknowledgment of who God is:

Our Father in heaven, holy is Your name.

*WSC: The preface of the Lord’s Prayer, which is… teaches us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, able and ready to help us; and that we should pray with and for others.

Hallowed be thy name – we pray that God would enable us, and others to glorify him in all that whereby he makes himself known; and that he would dispose all things to his own glory.

2. Prayer for His Will

Your kingdom come; Your will be done.

On earth (in my heart) as it is in heaven.

WSC: thy kingdom come, we pray that Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.

Thy will be done- we pray that God, by his grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to his will in all things, as the angels do in heaven.

3. Petition

Give us this day our daily bread (manna) (all that we truly need for this day…)

WSC: In this petition, we pray that of God’s free gift we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life and enjoy his blessing with them.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (Jam 1:17 ESV)

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phi 4:11-13 ESV)

4. Confession and Repentance

and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us – (may we too have your heart of grace…)

WSC: In the fifth petition, which is… we pray that God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon our sins, which we are then encouraged to ask, because of his grace, we are enabled from the heart to forgive others.

Are there people you need to forgive?

5. Prayer for protection:

and lead us not into temptation* (testing) (I know too well how weak and frail I am in the face of testing and trials and even temptation) but deliver us from evil.

* Save us from this time of trial.

WSC: In the sixth petition… we pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin or support us and deliver us when we are tempted.

¹²Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. ¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, an (Jam 1:12-15 ESV)

² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (Jam 1:2-4 ESV)

See also – Ps. 66:10; Ps. 139:23-24; Mt. 26:41; Jn 17:15.

6. Acknowledgement of His Sovereignty – appropriate time for intercession

For the Kingdom of God and all its power and glory belongs to You – both now and forever.

(we desire Lord to fully trust You and Your sovereignty).

WSC: The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, which is thy kingdom…Amen, teaches us to take our encouragement in prayer from God only, and in our prayers to praise him, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to him; and in testimony of our desire and assurance to be heard, we say, Amen.

As you do this, or when you read the weekly Lord’s Prayer the reflections below might be helpful.

I am moved in this prayer by:

I am called in this prayer to:

I hear God saying to me in this prayer:

Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina (Latin for Sacred Reading) is an ancient practice that Christians have used as a way to take to heart the Word of God. It involves reading a short passage of Scripture and taking the time to meditate on it, pray through it, and seek how to live it out. As such it helps the Christian to listen to God through His Word. Because the Word is living and active, as we approach it reflectively, we come to understand God’s Word through our senses and intellect, to be nourished by it, and to receive Christ into our lives in a tangible way. We read, we reflect, we respond, and we resolve. Put another way – we bite, we chew, we savor, and we digest. What a picture that paints as we seek to describe this kind of listening!

Because the Word is living and active, as we approach it reflectively, we come to understand God’s Word through our senses and intellect, to be nourished by it, and to receive Christ into our lives in a tangible way.

It’s important, however, that we not simply grab a passage out of context and make it all about us or our needs. This reminds me of a story I heard often when I first came to Christ. A certain man came to God and asked Him how to find a wife. He then opened his Bible to a passage that read – “grace be unto you” and decided this was God’s way of telling him to look for a wife named Grace!

The best balance to Lectio Divina is to first study a passage in its context. There are some very basic observation tools that help us to do this. If we come to a passage that we desire to listen for God’s Word to us, a natural curiosity to its source, context and place gives us those tools. Look it up! Add some notes about the passage.

An ancient practice for Jewish teachers of the law is called Midrash. This refers to a form of interpretation that allows the teacher or rabbi to apply his own meaning to the text. However, the Hebrew root of this word is “drash” which meant to study, inquire, seek, explain, or investigate. This is a great way of approaching any text of Scripture. We ask questions like, who, what, when, where, and how. We look at repeated phrases or words; we do word studies where we follow the word we’re looking at and see where it is used in other places of scripture. Suffice it to say that study helps keep us on track as we look to read the text meditatively.

Jean Khoury, author of Lectio Divina: Spiritual Reading of the Bible, writes that in approaching the Bible, we must distinguish two levels: the level of understanding and the level of listening. This, I think, implies that we use both mind and heart as we come to the Word. A much-loved professor at Wheaton College, Clyde Kilby, used to tell his male students, “men, you can’t kiss your girl and think about it at the same time. In essence he was saying- both practices are essential – reason and experience.

One story from Scripture helps tease this out. In Luke 24, two disciples, after the death of Christ, were on their way to a place called Emmaus. They were distraught over what had just happened and discouraged as well. A man comes up and asks to join their journey. He then asks them why they are so downcast -and they, in shock, say to him – “you mean you don’t know what just happened?” As they walk, this man begins to open the Scriptures to them, explaining to them why what happened to their teacher, Jesus, had to happen. Once they reach their destination, they ask this man to join them for supper. At first, he declines but then agrees. As they were at table, this man took the bread, and in that moment, they recognized him as Jesus. This is what the text says: “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (Luk 24:30-31a).

“All of a sudden, we just know: prayer is a conversation in which God’s word has the initiative and we, for the moment, can be nothing more than listeners.
Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Another author puts it like this: “All of a sudden, we just know: prayer is a conversation in which God’s word has the initiative and we, for the moment, can be nothing more than listeners. The essential thing is for us to hear God’s word and discover from it how to respond to him. His word is the truth, opened up to us… God’s word is himself, his most vital, his innermost self: his only begotten Son, of the same nature as himself, sent into the world to bring it home, back to him. And so, God speaks to us from heaven and commends to us his Word, dwelling on earth for a while: “This is my beloved Son: listen to him” (Mat. 17:5) (Prayer, Han Urs Von Balthasar, Ignatius Press).

Each week, I will include a passage that I found relevant to the theme of the week and ask you to consider reading it reflectively.

We can also apply this approach to other kinds of writing. While this never carries the weight of taking in God’s Word, it can help us slow down and take in the meaning of certain quotes or prayers or other writings. Some weeks then, I will include a quote or prayer from my studies that hopefully will help, challenge, or inspire you.

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and the comfort of your Holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus. Collect from the second Sunday in Advent.