Our Father
(I am not alone. I have many siblings.)
Who is in heaven
(You’re not fully Here. More on that later.)
Hallowed be Your Name
(You are I AM THAT AM, the First Cause Uncaused, the only complete Being, fully manifesting love in Your Persons.)
Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
(Your kingdom is not here. Things aren’t done Your way here. That explains so much. I want Your kingdom and Your ways here. You support that request. How that comes about is unclear, though. Do You do it? Do we do it? This is one of those and-not-or things, right?)
Give us this day, our daily bread.
(What’s to give? Food’s in the pantry. This is ritual. Or is it? How did food come to be in the pantry? Mine is an uncommon pantry in this world. I am not in the center of my siblings. I’ll adapt the prayer then. Gratitude instead of petition. And I will pass some along.)
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
(No one owes me anything, or do they? Other people did something and my peace of mind is mostly gone. They didn’t give me an IOU. I’m not surprised. I could write one for them, and wait for them to pay me back, but that’s just dumb. You don’t write them for me, and I know You could. And when I give You one, You calmly write Paid In Full in human blood. Yours. It’s embarrassing, but I’m sure not going to stop bringing those IOUs to You when I run across them, or have to write You a new one. Your Kingdom does justice, but it doesn’t do debt. Huh.)
Lead us not into temptation
(We find temptation well enough on our own that You could put it all on us and we couldn’t prove otherwise. But You own up to leading us into hard places. At the same time, You approve of our asking You not to do that. So, Your ways are always good, and if we Really Had Faith(tm) we would never pray this prayer, but You tell us to go ahead and ask. It’s OK to ask!)
But deliver us from evil
(I’m so grateful for what it’s OK to ask for. I don’t have to ask for strength to stand when evil comes, although that’s an approved prayer, too. I have permission to ask to opt out. Evil over there, me over here. Deliverance! Not a promise, but it’s OK to ask. Thank You!)
For Yours is the Kingdom
(The One who made it all and chose to keep it all going even though it’s a mess is clearly the only legitimate claimant to the throne)
And the Power
(Imagine a usurper shouting, “You abandoned it. Finders Keepers!”
And the Glory
(You might not thank anyone in Your acceptance speech, and no one will find that the least bit tacky. Our you might thank people and angels, probably ones no one has ever heard of, for several hundred years, and no one will find it boring or humble-braggy.)
Forever.
(It all started with You, and it lasts as long as You say it lasts. Makes sense.)
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