pilgrim people

Another reason for praying the Lord's Prayer in public worship every week is that it gives us continuity with the historic Christian church. As we look at the liturgies (orders of worship) of the historic Christian church, we find that the Lord’s Prayer has almost always been a regular part of the worship service in the patristic, medieval, and Reformation eras.

For some, the weekly practice of praying the Lord’s Prayer evokes frightening images of Roman Catholic ritualism. But we should remember that this is an historically Protestant practice. In all of the liturgies of the Reformation – the liturgies drafted by Martin Bucer (1539), John Calvin (1542), Thomas Cramner (1552), John Knox (1556) as well as others – the practice of praying the Lord’s Prayer was included as a regular part of the divine service. Like the Apostle’s Creed and the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer was not deleted from the service by the reformers. In reforming worship, they sought to remove superstition and idolatry, but they held fast to those things that they believed were biblical and useful, not throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Instead, they sought to maintain the biblical practice and instruct Christians on the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer through useful catechisms which were written, published and used for the benefit of the people.

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Like confessing our faith in the creed, praying the Lord’s Prayer in unison during the service allows our children an opportunity to be involved in worship. From their earliest years they will become familiar with the practice of uniting with God’s people in one voice on the Lord’s Day.

It is not uncommon, however, to hear some parents object to this practice: “I don’t want my children to pray in a meaningless, mechanical fashion. I’m concerned that they will think worship is merely jumping through hoops and mouthing the right words.”

But here is where parents must be diligent to take up their responsibilities of catechizing and discipling their children (Deut 6.4-6; Eph 6.1-4). If we teach our children what it means to pray, “Hallowed be Thy name,” “Thy kingdom come,” “Lead us not into temptation” and so on, they will begin to understand the theological depth and richness of this prayer that they have grown up praying and memorizing.

As parents, we should use the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer to teach our children about God and his kingdom, and about the nature of the Father and our dependence on him. Use the Heidelberg Catechism as it exposits the Lord’s Prayer in questions 116-129 to help you in your instruction. It is important for us to teach them why they are praying what they are praying. Over the years, this can have a tremendous impact on our children as they learn the great value of this prayer our Lord taught us to pray, allow it to shape and structure their own prayer life, and develop a heart that worships with understanding.

In the meantime, praying the Lord’s Prayer at home during the week and in public worship on the Lord’s Day provides covenant children from the earliest years an excellent opportunity to participate in the Divine Service.

A second reason why we should pray the Lord's Prayer regularly (and in corporate worship) is that this prayer provides us with a proper framework and structure for our prayers. When we pray the Lord's Prayer regularly (as in weekly worship), a form becomes fixed in our minds. An outline of how we are to pray is established in our memory so that life's priorities are underlined and brought into focus. Often, our personal prayers are grossly out of focus. Because of our sinfulness, we tend to put more thought into our personal concerns than the glory of God. Of course, God is deeply interested in our personal concerns. He commands us to cast our anxieties upon him, for he cares for us (1 Pet 5.7; cf. Phil 4.6-7). But because we instinctively think about ourselves before the glory of God, we are all too prone to pray in a manner something like this: "Our Father in heaven, give us this day our daily bread" (!) We can easily skip the place in which our prayers should begin, namely, in adoration of the Father and petition for his kingdom. We need help in ordering our priorities as we approach the sovereign God of eternity.

Praying the Lord's Prayer in corporate worship regularly helps us to that end. When we become very familiar with this prayer that Jesus taught his disciples and apply it to our own praying, our praying will more naturally be structured and shaped with a focus upon the glory of God. The Lord's Prayer orders and prioritizes our own personal communication with our Father in heaven so that it does not become scattered and disorganized in thought. Each petition of the Lord's Prayer is like a box that can be unpacked in adoration, thanksgiving, confession, petition and intercession.  

Many Reformed and Presbyterian churches today include in their liturgies a corporate prayer known as the "Lord’s Prayer" - that prayer which Jesus taught his disciples to pray as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Both the Heidelberg Catechism and Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms teach the Lord's Prayer as God's prescribed direction for our prayers:

Heidelberg Catechism Q.118: What has God commanded us to ask of him? A: All things necessary for soul and body, which our Christ our Lord comprised in the prayer which He Himself taught us.

Westminster Larger Catechism Q.186: What rule hath God given for direction in the duty of prayer? A: The whole word of God is of use to direct us in the duty of prayer; but the special rule of direction is that form of prayer which our Saviour Christ taught his disciples, commonly called 'The Lord's prayer'.

Some confessional churches even make this a regular part of worship every week. It may be, however, that you have wondered why Protestant churches pray these same words so often. If prayer is to be genuine communication with God our Father, can we really say that praying the Lord’s Prayer every week qualifies as genuine prayer? Won’t this practice lead to a form of cold, dead religion?

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Whether or not prayer is a means of grace is matter that is sometimes debated in Reformed circles, often along so-called "Continental" and "British" lines. On the one hand, there is the Heidelberg Catechism (HC) with its clear statement about prayer being the "chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us" in Q.116. The HC defines prayer as part of our gratitude to God, not a means of sanctifying grace for our faith. For earlier in the Catechism, in Q.65, it specifically asks about the means of grace: "Since, then, we are made partakers of Christ and all His benefits by faith only, where does this faith come from?" A: "The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts by the preaching of the Holy Gospel, and confirms it by the use of the holy sacraments."

There is nothing about prayer in Q.65. The HC deliberately locates prayer in the "gratitude" section of the Catechism (QQ.86-129), which follows the "guilt" (QQ.3-11) and "grace" (QQ.12-85) sections. Now, this should in no way give us the impression that the HC takes prayer lightly or regards it as unimportant for the Christian.

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