THE LORD'S PRAYER
David Maxwell
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 trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory.
For ever and ever. Amen
Holy Bible, (compilation from) Mathew 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-4
Many Bahá'ís throughout the world began their worship of God at the
knees of their parents, and no doubt among the first prayers they
learned (after “Now I lay me down to sleep…”) was “The Lord’s Prayer.”
Thus, this prayer became to many of us, almost a conditioned reflex,
recited in our heads from time to time for many, many years throughout
our lives, perhaps on a daily basis, until we met the Bahá'í
Teachings.
Actually, the Lord’s Prayer is a sort of prelude to the Bahá'í
Revelation, invoked by countless millions, acknowledging God’s
presence in the world, and that He would one day bring the bounties of
His Kingdom to humankind. In fact, Christians continue to invoke this
Prayer in their worship with a certainty that His Kingdom will
manifest in this world.
As Bahá'ís we are conditioned by our individual backgrounds, even
though we now better understand the fulfillment and promise of that
prayer. I wonder if we continue to savor its words, and remind
ourselves that we as individuals have responsibilities to Him, as we
go about our daily lives. The prayer is not a one-way street. The
first half of it summarizes our certainty that His Kingdom will
manifest in this world, while its second half provides some pretty
specific requests that we would like His protection from, in those
less-than-desirable qualities that we all recognize in ourselves.
Even though we now more fully understand that Prayer, its implications
and promises, through the teachings of The Bahá'í Revelation, we find
that more than ever we are expected to follow the direction it first
taught us. We are most fortunate to have the wisdom and life of
`Abdu'l-Bahá to guide us along the pathways of life in this day of
extreme calamities throughout the world on a daily basis.
`Abdu'l-Bahá provided the example for us to follow as we fulfill the
requirements of the Covenant that Bahá'u'lláh presented to us. We now
have the fulfillment of the message that the Lord’s Prayer promised,
and we should ask ourselves every day whether we do our part as we
interact with our fellow human beings.
David