The fact that Luke and Matthew gave different settings for the Lord’s Prayer suggests that Jesus taught this prayer to his followers often, not just on one dramatic occasion. (Many scholars believe that was the case with most of the material that we call “The Sermon on the
Mount.”) Jesus didn’t mean the Lord’s Prayer to be a museum piece, framed and placed on a mantel or in a display case. It was a prayer for God’s people to weave into their lives. That makes it most fitting that at Resurrection we pray this prayer every week in worship.

• The existing manuscripts of Matthew and Luke seem to show that neither Jesus, Luke nor Matthew used the “doxology” (“For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever”) with which we usually end the Lord’s Prayer. Instead, it appears, one or more devout scribes added it later, probably based on the ending of David’s prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:10-11. But it’s a valuable addition. We often use the phrase “nothing is forever,” but the Bible tells us that Someone is forever, and calls us to live our life in the light of that reality. What steps will you take to detach your life and affections from this seen but temporary world, and to not only pray but live out Jesus’ prayer as a citizen of God’s Kingdom?