I know and have experienced within my very being that the basis of Christ-Jesus’ teachings and the expression of “the Gospel” is fully found with and in the “Prayer Jesus Taught us.” I firmly believe that this prayer is the foundation and summary of the “Gospel” - also known as - “good news” and the teachings of Jesus.  I also know and have experienced within my very being that the understanding of the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ commands are expressly satisfied in living with and in unconditional love, which is the life-giving truth of Jesus’ prayer.  

A couple of notes: The experiential rendering of the Lord's Prayer is a poetic expression that I have compiled based on the work of Mark Hathaway (www.visioncraft.org) and Neil Douglas-Klotz (www.abwoon.com). Their translations are from the Aramaic wording of the prayer rather than from the Greek or Latin, as most Bible translations do. Jesus spoke Aramaic.

Traditional Modern Version:

Our Creator in the heavens, hallowed be your names, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in the heavens.  Give us today our daily bread.  Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the times of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.

Experiential Version: 

O creative breath, of all radiance and vibration! Soften the ground of our being and carve out a space with and in us where your presence can abide. Fill us, with and in your creativity and love, so we may be empowered to bear the fruit of our mission. Let each of our actions sync with the heartbeat of your purpose, making us the embodiment of your compassion. Endow us with and in your wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish. Untie the tangled threads of shame that bind us, as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes. Do not allow us to be consumed by anything that would divert us from our true purpose, and illuminate the opportunities for unconditional love, in the present moment. For from you springs forth the rhythm, the melody, and the harmony of love, light, and life, which restores balance with and in all of creation. Blessed be! Let it be! Amen!

Explanation of Christ-Jesus’ prayer: 

O creative breath, of all radiance and vibration! Soften the ground of our being and carve out a space with and in us where your presence can abide.  

— Our Creator in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come,

What does this mean?  

We collectively ask GOD, the breath, radiance, and vibration of all creation,  to create with and in us a space where we can experience GOD’s presence. Of course, this request is redundant, as GOD is always present with and in us, and yet we are too busy and sometimes unwilling to accept, to receive the Creator’s presence.   

One of my favorite Hebrew Scriptures comes from Proverbs, which summarizes all GOD is asking from us, and I paraphrase: 

Trust GOD with all your heart and don’t lean solely on your own intellect, and allow yourself to experience GOD in everything you do and say, for GOD will assure you, and feel GOD’s presence with and in you.  

Jesus is reminding us to trust! GOD is present and will flow through you and flow from within you.  Trust is what “faith” truly means.  And yes, we are on a lifelong journey to learn to trust.

Fill us, with and in your creativity and love, so that we may be empowered to bear the fruit of our mission. 

— your will be done,

What does this mean?  

We ask for something very simple, yet profound.  We are asking GOD to fill us with the same creativity and love that filled the universe when GOD’s breath created and continues to create.  We are asking to be open to co-creating with the same passion and excitement with and in how we are created.  We are asking to be love, light, life, with and in creation.  

So what is our mission?  Our mission is to use our divine gifts, talents, and treasures to the best of our ability to empower ourselves and those around us (our neighbors) with and in our collective journey.  GOD knows we can’t do this journey alone, and has gathered us into community, into communion — together. 

Let each of our actions sync with the heartbeat of your purpose, making us the embodiment of your compassion. 

— on earth as in heaven.

What does this mean?  

We ask GOD to allow us to feel, understand, and experience the very heartbeat of the Source of all creation.  This heartbeat is the beating rhythm of creation, the harmony of all that is seen and unseen.  We are asking to be in complete sync with the full expression and purpose of Source so that we can be compassion for the world around us.  

Endow us with and in your wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish. 

— Give us today our daily bread.  

What does this mean?  

We are asking GOD to help us, guide us, allow us to see, empower us to listen and enable us to use our gifts, talents, and treasures - all this to BE the compassion, to be love, light, and life.

Jesus has a parable that truly exemplifies this for us, from the Christian Bible, Matthew 25.  This is a paraphrase from the Common English Bible that I have rendered, based on reading the passage in context.  

“…the Human One will say to those who lived in love and compassion, ‘Come now! Receive the oneness prepared for you with and in the foundation of all creation. For I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’

‘Then those who lived in love and compassion will reply to him, ‘Human One, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and give you clothes to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

‘Then the Human One will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done these things for anyone and all creation, you have done it for me.’”

We are asked by Jesus, GOD asks us… to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  This section of the prayer truly asks each of us, “What types of life-giving and positive effects am I releasing with and in the community around me and all of creation?” 

Untie the tangled threads of shame that bind us, as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes. 

— Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

What does this mean?  

How many times in your life have you felt shame, ridicule, anger over things that you have done? I guess another word is — guilt.  Guilt can be a dehumanizing force that makes us feel like we are shackled to our past mistakes.  A similar question can then be asked: How often have you made someone feel shame, ridicule, and anger over mistakes that they have made?

Our mistakes, our “sins” may make us feel as if they are not deserving of forgiveness.  Some may see themselves as a “horrible person” because of the mistakes made in our lives.  We remember that Jesus said that we are forgiven for past mistakes, and yet others may remind us over and over of what we have done.  So, Jesus is saying here… “Stop allowing yourself to be bound by the past and engage with GOD today, now — in love and forgiveness.”  

I paraphrase the writer of 1st John 1:19 in Christian Scriptures: If we say to ourselves and to others, that we don’t make any mistakes (sin), then we are not being honest with ourselves and others.  When we acknowledge that we do make mistakes, and we learn from those mistakes, we know that GOD already forgives us and makes us whole — so forgive yourself, forgive others, and move on.  In forgiving yourself, and others, you are following the command of Jesus to love yourself and love your neighbor, and in this, you are allowing GOD, Source, to make you whole.  

A quick definition of “sin” — immaturity.  The Rev Patrick S. Cheng, in his book “From Sin to Amazing Grace” writes: 

We need to move away from this traditional crime-based model and towards a Christ-centered, or christological, model of sin and grace. Instead of understanding sin as a crime that needs to be punished, we need to understand sin as immaturity or incomplete growth, much in the same way that children and adolescents—and even adults!—make mistakes in the course of growing up. Simply put, we mess up because we are human beings who have not yet arrived at our final state of maturity. This view of sin and grace is a Christ-centered model because our ultimate goal, or telos, is to be made divine in the image of Christ.  (Cheng, Patrick S.. From Sin to Amazing Grace: Discovering the Queer Christ . Church Publishing Inc.. Kindle Edition.)

Yes, we make mistakes, we “sin” because we have not learned the life-giving response to a particular situation and life-giving interaction with another being.  When we make a mistake, we are to learn from it and move on.  When someone harms us, they are to learn from their mistake and move on.  And when someone keeps making the same mistakes over and over again, bringing harm to another being — we as a community acknowledge that there are consequences for actions and refusal to learn.  This is why we have laws that govern proper engagement and a process where one is forced to engage and learn from harming another being. The key to forgiveness and forgiving is learning from the mistake and moving on.  Learning to recognize when we have harmed another with our words or actions.  Let's be real, this is hard!  This is a life-long journey of faith!

Jesus is asking us to remember to forgive and to receive forgiveness, to love and to be the Divine Light we already are. In loving and forgiving, we are acknowledging GOD with and in us and all creation. We shake off the binds and entanglements of past mistakes and enjoy our realized oneness with and in our higher selves and with and in GOD, the Source of our radiant light.  

Do not allow us to be consumed by anything that would divert us from our true purpose, and illuminate the opportunities for unconditional love, in the present moment 

— Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

What does this mean?  

Since this phrase follows the asking and giving of love and forgiveness — Jesus is asking us to recognize those things that consume our thoughts and our actions and dim our light.  Guilt is consuming.  Anger is consuming.  Hatred is consuming.  All things that “consume” us, divert our experience of love, light, life and stop us from being compassion.  

To be consumed means to be used up — to be absorbed, engrossed in something that may not be life-giving.  If someone says something to you that hurts you, many choices can be made in the situation.  One option is to be consumed with anger for this person, thinking of ways that you can get back at them. Another option is to think of a possible reason why this person acted or spoke in this way — maybe they just got some bad news, and they were not thinking about their actions. Then you may be able to act in love for this person and bring their thinking back to life-giving.  

Of course, there are those we must simply love and let go from our lives.  If there is someone in our life who refuses be life-giving towards us in body, mind, and spirit, then we may have to let them go.  We will still love them as a child of GOD, but we cannot allow them to bring trauma to our lives.  We are commanded to love everyone, but we don’t have to like everyone. 

Jesus and many other teachers in life have asked that we seek how we can be of service to one another — in what ways can we be love, light, and life for all around us?  And when we are having difficulty seeing the opportunities for love, we ask GOD to light them up to see the current opportunity more clearly. Then, as part of our seeking love, we ask for help in bringing forth an “attitude of gratitude” at each moment of our journey and learning with and in love, light, and life. 

For from you springs forth the rhythm, the melody, and the harmony of love, light, and life, which restores balance with and in all of creation. Let it be! Amen! 

— For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.

 What does this mean?  

In this final part of the prayer, we acknowledge that everything we are asking for, all we are praying for, is already with and in us.  How?  Because we are with and in GOD, we are part of the oneness of GOD.  GOD, Source, is the rhythm, the melody, and the harmony of love — GOD is love — so we are love.  Everything we are asking for is already with and in each being, each part of the radiant light — we are born into love — we are created in oneness — we are oneness with Source, and GOD is oneness with us.  We are all with and in the Dance of Love! 

Then — let it be — we don’t have to have all the answers, we can allow mystery, we can allow GOD to be GOD, we can allow love to be love, we can allow ourselves to be as we are.  Let it be — allow your meditation to be free and explore all the possibilities and wonders of your light.  Let it be — allow your light soar, ebb, flow, and blend with and in the light of the Source, GOD. Let it be — and Amen.