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I'm sure it has been said and done in church services, but I don't think I've ever
come across this concept. The other day I was feeling down/anxious/worried, my typical humanness, and I decided to take a walk
around the block near my office where I work. My intention was to pray and talk with God to seek his counsel and solace. I
couldn't concentrate though and I couldn't find words. I thought about the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4) and
figured that if Jesus recommended it then it can't hurt. I've said the Lord's Prayer many, many times so it came out with ease…
Too much ease though. Though I wanted it to be authentic, it came out as rote and that increased any of the shame/guilt I was
already feeling because I feel like I didn't treat it with the sanctity and reverence it deserves.
Then I thought to myself why I would recite the Lord's Prayer verbatim by myself?
Why would I pray to God as if I was praying with a bunch of other people? I wasn't with a bunch of other people, I was by myself.
And so it led me to pray the Lord's Prayer for the first time in my life in the first person.
My Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give me today my daily bread.
Forgive me my debts,
as I also have forgiven my debtors.
And lead me not into temptation,
but deliver me from the evil one.
I don't know how to explain it exactly but when I said the Lord's Prayer in the first person like that, to God alone and honestly,
I felt a complete revitalization of not only the prayer itself but also my disposition, which changed positively almost immediately.
Sure there was conviction when I got to the "as I also have forgiven my debtors" (have i?) but the overall intercession brought
new meaning, peace, and intimacy with God to me. It no longer felt rote (the Lord's Prayer verbatim doesn't always feel rote…just
on occasion because it's so commonplace in Christian liturgy). It felt real and meaningful for the first time in a long
while. I highly recommend this alternate recitation the next time your still before God.
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