![]() ![]() And where we can, we are called to follow that prayer with appropriate action. The horizon of our concern is to embrace the whole of humanity and indeed for the whole of creation. We are called to have in mind all who suffer from lack of food or bread in any sense for the coming day. Here and in all our prayer we can easily tend to narrow its character by praying for our particular needs rather than those of the whole community. The Lord’s Prayer is for us as individuals to say, but this is a prayer for the community, from us, as members of that community. And equally Lent is a time when we make ourselves newly aware and responsive to those who lack basic gifts for their wellbeing, or even gifts to sustain their lives at all.Īnother key word here is us. To remember the gifts we have been given and to be thankful for them is an important part of our observance of Lent. But in the last few weeks the people of Ukraine have suddenly found themselves without many of the gifts they previously enjoyed in their normal life. The gospels call us to give these things to others. We are all here because of what we have been given: we may think of love, food, warmth, protection, homes, families, friends, teaching, freedom. The act of giving begins at our beginning: we have been given life every day from our conception. ![]() Nevertheless, we need to bear in mind that God may know much better than we ourselves about our real needs. Indeed, Luke’s version of the Lord’s prayer is all requests. These all suggest that we are to take an active initiative in prayer and to present our needs. The first word “Give” reminds us that Jesus’ instruction about prayer here and elsewhere is expressed in active verbs: “give”, “ask”, “seek”, “find”. A sermon preached by Graham Low on 20 March 2022. ![]()
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