Dear Members of Christ Lutheran,
Pastor Measel and I pray that your Lenten experience with Christ and His word will deepen your faith and prayer life.
As each year passes I am moved to drink more deeply from the wellspring of life that is the Gospel of our Lord. I desire to know more of the depth of the riches and knowledge of God as revealed in Holy Scripture. Part of this journey is to learn more and more about prayer and conversation with God.
While it is true that even the simplest, sincere prayer of a Christian is heard such as in the cry of the ten lepers, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Luke 17:13), it is also true that as we grow and mature in the faith, there comes a time to grow a mature in our prayer life. One common misconception is the notion that if prayer is sincere and heartfelt then nothing more is to be gained in learning to pray. Of course this is not true.
Once years ago and again recently, I was confronted by people who believe that praying the Lord’s Prayer is an inadequate expression of our prayer life or an indication of thoughtlessness or carelessness in our prayers. However, Luther understood the priority of the Lord’s Prayer in Christian devotion. In the Catechism, he introduces both his Morning and Evening Prayers with these words:
In the morning when you get up, make the sign of the holy cross and say: “In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” Then, kneeling or standing, repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. If you choose, you may also say this little prayer:
One of these individuals declared, “Jesus only meant for the Lord’s Prayer to be a model prayer but not to be used word for word.” He then quoted Matthew 6:9 in which Jesus introduces the Lord’s Prayer with these words, “Pray then like this:” Unfortunately this individual (no matter how well meaning) had neglected to carefully read his Bible. In Matthew Jesus introduces the Lord’s Prayer to counteract heaping up “empty phrases as the Gentiles do” (Matt 6:7).
An even stronger indication that Jesus expects us to pray the Lord’s Prayer is found in Luke. In Luke 6:1 one of Jesus’ disciples recognizes his need to grow in his ability to pray and so he pleads with Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” In response to this appeal, Jesus says, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name…’” Here Jesus clearly expects that this disciple and all of us will say the words of the prayer He has taught us.
May our Lenten services and sermons along with this devotion booklet help you to grow in your appreciation of our Savior and His love for us through His cross and resurrection. May they also serve as a catalyst to a deeper and more fervent prayer life for us all.
God’s richest blessings in Christ,
Pastor Philip Quardokus
As you pray the prayers provided each day in this devotion booklet, please consider also praying the Lord’s Prayer.
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