Sitting with the Sacred

Much of the Gospels concern themselves with the ways God became one with us through Jesus. But the stories about the ascension set the stage for something very much related but different: our ability to become one with God because Jesus returned to the Father and promised his followers they would receive the Holy Spirit. In Acts, He tells them the Spirit will allow them to be his “witnesses . . . to the ends of the earth (1:8).

Think about what being a witness in court means. A witness sees and shares what she sees. In this way, she receives and gives. The Spirit allows her to do this, to experience Christ and to allow others to experience Him through her. This witness is necessary because with only one person, there is no kingdom. I would define a kingdom as a gathering of people under one, anointed leader. God’s kingdom shares this nature with kingdoms bound by time and space. And yet, God’s kingdom is different. It doesn’t belong exclusively to one generation or one place. It doesn’t belong only to the pre-resurrection Jesus or to that first generation of followers, or to Israel. This difference isn’t something the disciples understand yet in Acts 1:6.

They ask Jesus, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replies that “It is not for [them] to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority (Acts 1:7). All the violence and suffering in the world can make this response as frustrating for us as it must have been for the apostles.

Fortunately, Jesus teaches us through the Lord’s Prayer that we should ask for the kingdom to come and for help in bringing it about by being effective witnesses and imitators of his life.

I read an article a while back that suggested putting The Lord’s Prayer in your own words can enrich your prayer life. Since I read that article, some ideas of how I might do this with the Lord’s Prayer have come to me now and then. When the Acts reading made me think of the prayer, I thought I’d share some of those ideas here. Please know that as I do so, it isn’t my intention to change the meaning of the prayer. But it is my intention to share what those traditional words mean to me.

Our nurturing Creator, Protector, Provider,
and Sanctuary of total and endless sharing,
help us make your presence felt and acknowledged in the world
by making our actions match our just and loving words.
Let us see through Your eyes, and transform our desires to make them align consistent with Yours
so that Your creation will reflect you more and more.
Give us what we need physically and spiritually today to do your work,
and help us trust that tomorrow you’ll do the same.
Forgive us for the ways our choices distort how each of us is uniquely gifted to reflect You
so the we can forgive others when their limitations and choices hurt us.
Help us to share with others what You give to us,
and help us to trust you and to love like You when we don’t feel like it.
Help us see through any lies about You, ourselves, and others,
and when we don’t see through them, help us not to lose hope.
Help us heal from the experiences these lies create.
Help us to believe and live as if everything is possible with You.

We open ourselves to Your bringing these words to fruition in our lives.

Work cited

The Bible. The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.