The Lord's Prayer #1

Our Father who art in Heaven
      we pray so quickly,
without so much as a pause
      to catch our breath –
breath that originated
      from our Father in Heaven.
We move on with due haste,
      to other lines, other places;
elsewhere always more important
      than here, now, and these words.

Our Father in Heaven
      the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
the Father-God of your chosen people,
      and Father-God of every nation:
red and yellow, black and white,
      all of whom are precious in your sight;
all who share the same *Abba, Baba, Babbo,
      **Pai, Padre, Papa, Pater, Vader, Father.

Our Father in Heaven
      far above all your children;
and yet, intimately aware of our lives:
      counting the hairs on our heads.
From little league to business deals,
      nothing escapes your attention;
including our joys and our sorrows,
      you laugh with us and cry with us.

Our Father in Heaven,
      no remote, powerless being;
but God enthroned on heavenly cherubim:
      King of this universe and the next.
We sing, “This is our Father’s world,”
      the domain of your sovereign rule.
Though we don’t always understand
      your rule, your decisions, your absence.
but we pray to you as Our Father,
      who we love, we trust, and will always.

Amen

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*In order: Aramaic, Turkish, Italian;
**In order: Portugese, Spanish, Hindi, Greek (and Latin), Dutch (and Afrikaans)

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Limited permission is granted for reuse of this prayer in worship or other venues. If printed in any form attribution must be given as "Glenn Pemberton, mosaicsite.org/glennpemberton." Special permission is required to print three or more of these prayers at one time in any form, print, electronic, etc., and must be secured by request at gdp05b@acu.edu.