"The Lord's Prayer: For Thine is the Kingdom ..."

Pastor Laura Guy

February 22, 2009

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We remembered all we had learned about the Lord's Prayer, all that Jesus had taught us about how to pray and Who God is. As in the musical version of the Lord's Prayer written by Malotte, we are ready for the big finish - the last line - "For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. Amen".
We saw that most modern Bibles put the last line of the prayer, the doxology in Matt. 6:13, as footnote with a comment about how most ancient texts do not have this line. How did this go from being the big finish, the ending of the most important prayer ever, to a footnote?
We realized that this last line may have originally been something the church said in response to the prayer, a way of giving God thanks for the prayer. Over the centuries, it became so closely associated with the prayer that some monk who was copying the Bible from one scroll to another added it in Matt. 6, maybe with some kind of notation about it being a response. Year after year, century after century, the line was included. But recent discoveries of older copies of Matthew clearly show that it was not a part of the original prayer, and therefore Jesus probably didn't include it. So, if Jesus didn't say it, should we?
We thought about all the billions of Christians who have prayed this prayer, including that line. It is a line giving praise to God, and it is an appropriate ending, an appropriate response to the prayer. So, yes, we should continue to say it.
We heard how the word, "Amen!" means "Let it be so!" It is not a quiet ending to our prayer but an exclamation mark. As Eugene Peterson translates it, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
We laughed at how one of the first words we learn is, "Mine!" We want everything valuable for ourselves. But this ending to the prayer gives three of the most valuable things in the world - the Kingdom and the ability to rule, the power over our lives and the glory, the fame and honor - all of it goes to God, not us.
We looked at where the last line likely does come from, the story of the building of the Temple in 1 Chron. 29:1-11. The people do not hold on to treasure, but freely give it, with an open hand, to God.
We prayed for God's forgiveness for all the times we have tried to keep the throne, the power and the glory for ourselves. May we, too, give to God with an open hand.
We celebrated communion around the table of love.