What does God's kingdom mean, and is asking for "daily bread" really all about bread? This week, the Green family have been sharing their thoughts as we have prayed parts of the Lord’s Prayer together. Today, Mal Calladine chats with them about what they have learned around the dinner table.
Dan Green writes:
A little insight into the way conversations in our household can go… today it took all of about 30 seconds for us to go from reading this verse, to exploring what the word ‘deliver’ conjured up in our minds, to discussing Deliveroo cyclists and then into a full on rendition of ‘Did somebody say, did somebody say, did somebody say JUST EEEAATTT’!!
Once we had calmed down a little bit and gathered our thoughts, we decided to think about what the word ‘evil’ conjured up in our minds instead, and thankfully this one didn’t get anyone started on any TV adverts!
Layla said the word immediately brought to mind ways that people are ruining this planet, conjuring up images of trees being chopped down and people being impacted by climate change. Someone else brought up the topic of modern day slavery, which we’ve been learning about through Slave Free Lent (a lent resource run by IJM – we highly recommend it!) and which we all agreed was evil.
As we discussed these ways that others around the world are suffering, and how they must be so much more aware of evil than we are, it made us really aware of just how fortunate we are as a family. But it also made us wonder if this line of the Lord’s Prayer is one that we can pray in solidarity with others, on behalf of humanity?
Our prayer today is: Deliver us from evil Lord, rescue us and set us free from all of the ways that we harm ourselves one another, and all of the ways in which we harm your creation.
Dan Green writes:
Karen and my girls love watching ‘kids temptation challenge’ videos on Youtube, so for something a bit different today we thought it would be fun to invite you to watch this hilarious video where children try to resist eating a marshmallow when they’ve been told not to!
The Marshmallow Test - YouTube
Which of those kids do you think you are most like?? What’s your approach and your track record when it comes to resisting things that you’re tempted by?
As we munched on our dinner (burgers and chips today!), we chatted about whether we think God leads us towards temptation or away from it (is he like the woman in the video who puts temptation in front of us and then leaves the room?) and also the way that many people see the Bible as a book of rules telling them what they can’t do (rather than seeing it as a way to get ‘the second marshmallow’!).
But our main take away point from this line in the Lord’s Prayer was that it reminds us of the need for humility – the need for us to recognise our own weakness, to recognise the fact that in the right circumstances and without God’s intervention we are all prone to make poor choices that will harm us or will cause us to miss out on what’s best.
So our prayer today is a simple one; that whichever of those kids we’re like, and whatever our ‘marshmallow’ might be today, that God would give us the wisdom, the strength and the grace to choose what’s best.
Dan Green writes:
Forgiveness is a topic that seems to keep popping up in our family (or perhaps more accurately, the ongoing need for it does!) so our discussion about this part of the Lord’s prayer threw up all kinds of questions… Is forgiving the same as forgetting? Can we forgive someone if they don’t apologise or say sorry? And can we forgive if we haven’t experienced forgiveness ourselves?
We talked about how difficult it must be to forgive if you’ve never received forgiveness yourself, from God or from others. Somehow the two are linked, which might be why Jesus instructed us to pray in this specific way. Similarly, it probably doesn’t make much sense to just be on the receiving end of forgiveness without also extending forgiveness to others. Again, the two seem to be very much connected.
We also agreed (in between our servings of macaroni cheese and glasses of blackcurrant squash) that forgiveness doesn’t just benefit the person who’s receiving it, but the person who is choosing to forgive as well. We know what it feels like to be upset with each other and to hold on to the frustration and resentment that can build up inside, and we know what it feels like to be free of those emotions once things have been talked about and we’ve chosen to forgive each other. Although it normally doesn’t feel easy to forgive, we’re so glad when we have done!
Our prayer today is that each of us would be fully aware of God’s forgiveness for us, and that we’d have the courage and strength to forgive even when it feels difficult.
Dan Green writes:
Bread is a source of some frustration in our household. No matter how much of it Karen seems to buy, it just seems to keep running out or going mouldy in the bread bin!
The regularity with which we need to buy bread should be a good reminder of just how much we depend on it. It’s so easy to forget this though, when a 5-minute walk from our front door can get us to the bread aisle in Aldi, Co-op, Tesco or a handful of other shops too! In Jesus’ day, and even today in many parts of the world, it’s a different story of course. People rely on bread to stay alive, and they don’t take its availability for granted in the way that we do.
So as we discussed this line in the Lord’s prayer over dinner together (which included bread of the naan variety by the way, alongside a delicious rice and daal special!), it reminded us of two things: to be grateful for the abundance that we have, and to keep depending on God for all the things we need, not just the ones we eat. As Noah pointed out to us, what if bread isn’t just physical or literal, but might be a picture of something else… like love? What if we read this prayer more like ‘give us today our daily dose of love’?
Let’s keep looking to God and depending on Him for all that we need today.
Dan Green writes:
Our discussion about this part of the Lord’s prayer centred on what God’s kingdom is, and on what it would look like for that kingdom to fully come to earth.
As a family we have lived in two kingdoms during our time… the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan! Both kingdoms have their monarchs, but the nature of their rule and their power looks very, very different. While Queen Elizabeth’s rule is largely symbolic, limited by the particular quirks of British history and by the will of the people (cue rolled eyes from the family as I even mention Magna Carta!), King Abdullah of Jordan enjoys more or less total control and what he wants to happen is pretty much what happens!
Following a brief discussion on which of these kingdoms God’s kingdom was most like, we managed to agree that we all think God’s kingdom is a place where everything that is good and beautiful in life exists, and where people are fully loved, fully healed, and fully at peace. By inviting us to pray for this kingdom to come to earth (and by declaring elsewhere that it was, in fact, near and available), Jesus was making it clear that the good things of God’s kingdom can be part of our lives today.
The other side to this coin is that God’s kingdom coming to earth also means an end to all suffering. This is very good news indeed, as we’ve been following Slave Free Lent with IJM (International Justice Mission) this month, and learning lots about modern day slavery and the ways that the products we buy have a real impact on the conditions people work in and live in around the world. So as we pray for God’s kingdom to come today, we invite you to join us in praying that every person who is caught up in slavery would be set free, and to pray for any other area of social justice that you care about.
This week’s thoughts are from the Green family - parents Dan and Karen, with children Jasmine (15), Layla (13) and Noah (10).
Dan Green writes:
‘Oh my gosh Dad, that is so predictable. I must have heard a hundred talks about that already!’
‘Can someone please go and get the sour cream from the fridge?’
‘Why do we call God our father anyway, it’s such a cliché.’
‘Noah, can you please stop kicking me under the table!’
It turns out that writing a reflection as a family isn’t always straightforward, and is definitely not a linear process. Instead, our conversations are full of interruptions, seemingly random contributions, somebody occasionally bursting into song… and every now and then an absolute gem of an insight from somebody who is looking at things from a completely different angle to me!
As we discussed today’s verse over our chicken fajita wraps, the question that we got most fixated on was why Jesus instructs us to pray to God the Father, rather than directly to himself (as Jesus) or to the Holy Spirit. We batted back and forth various possibilities that we could think of: that it would have seemed weird and egotistical for Jesus to invite people to pray to him (especially as they hadn’t yet realised who he was), and that he hadn’t yet explained that he would send the Holy Spirit (that would come later, before he ascended to heaven).
My mind drifted to reasons why some people can find it difficult relating to God as father, and I couldn’t help thinking that if Jesus is the best picture of God that we have (the image of the invisible God, as Colossians 1 puts it) then wouldn’t it make sense if we addressed our prayers to him?
It was Jasmine who cut through my wandering thoughts, and offered a different perspective. It was so good that I asked her to write it down and Whatsapp it to me! Here it is:
‘Why do we use this prayer as our template, and why do we follow Jesus’ example in addressing God as father? I think in the end it all comes down to how we think of Jesus, and what we know about his relationship with God. Why do we trust a teacher with what they teach us? It is because we know that they have had experiences and lessons that help them to know what’s right or what’s best. Therefore, when we are told things by people wiser in a subject than we are, we believe them and copy them. It’s the same with the Lord’s prayer: we can use these words ‘our father in heaven, hallowed be your name’ because those are the words of someone who has had the experiences and knowledge needed to declare those things accurate and right.’
So there it was. I could have spent all evening chewing over the pros and cons of different approaches and different language, but Jasmine had reminded me of the value of simple faith and that there’s a place for saying that we’ll follow Jesus, copy Jesus, take Jesus’ words at face value…. just because we trust him and trust that he knows best.
