by Steven Norris
Prayer is at the heart of most forms of spiritual practice. We long for connection to some reality that is greater than ourselves — a transcendent power or force that we often refer to as God. Prayer is the vehicle for such connection.
If you were to ask ten friends about the state of their prayer life, my hunch is that at least eight of them would confess that they do not pray enough. As a pastor, I regularly meet people who feel deep guilt and embarrassment over the lack of vitality in their prayer life. Maybe this was true for the followers of Jesus as well. In the eleventh chapter of Luke’s Gospel, the disciples observe Jesus praying. One of the disciples comes to him with a simple request: “Jesus, teach us to pray.”
It was a simple request. In fact, it may the most important lesson that a pastor might teach a congregation. Eugene Peterson once said that the pastor’s job description has only two items: (1) to learn to pray and (2) to teach others to pray. By “learning to pray,” Peterson isn’t talking about memorizing an incantation to repeat on command. Rather, he is referring to the practice of discerning the Holy in our day-to-day lives. He is talking about an awareness of God’s ongoing revelation in the world.
Prayer is about waking up to the reality of God’s presence and learning to follow the voice of God’s Spirit. Pastoral ministry, then, is about teaching others to pay attention to invitations of God in our daily journey and helping others discern the voice of the Spirit amidst all the different “voices” calling out for our attention.
Jesus responds to the request by teaching the disciples what we now call “The Lord’s Prayer” (though I would recommend the fuller version in Matthew 6:9-13). In 67 or so words (depending on the English translation you use), it is a perfect summary of the gospel message. The prayer models what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and implies an invitation to follow him. It is a blueprint for spiritual formation, for we are called to live the prayer, not just speak it.
Despite common wisdom, familiarity should never breed contempt and The Lord’s Prayer should never lull us into a kind of spiritual auto-pilot in our praying. Rather, Jesus invites his followers into a fresh vision for humanity — a new community built on interdependence and deep trust in God’s ongoing provision. He invites us into a new way of seeing ourselves and seeing others in this world. He invites us to join him as fellow citizens in the Kingdom of the Heavens (more on that later).
Over the next few weeks, I hope you will allow me to be a “pastor” for you in Eugene Peterson’s sense of the term. For more than 30 years now, I have been learning from Jesus how to pray, and I’d like to share what I’ve learned. I invite you to join me as we listen to Jesus and allow his intimate walk with God to be our model and guide.