Saying our means you are with someone. You belong to a group. That group may be as large as the earth (our planet) or as small as just two (our marriage.) Size doesn’t matter; our means you are not alone.
Loneliness plagues our planet, and, as we are hearing now, may be more devastating than our current viral plague. Even before COVID-19 Great Britain saw a need to have a Minister of Loneliness to fight the pandemic of feeling isolated and lonely.
God, himself, told us from the start, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” (Genesis 2:18)
Take a look now at the prayer Jesus taught his disciples. Read it and then count the first person plural pronouns us and we.
Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored,
may your kingdom come,
may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
God does not desire us to live alone and lonely. Jesus in many ways and in this prayer invites you to be with him and all his followers.
There are Christians all over the world right this minute praying this prayer. Some are parents teaching it to their little ones. Some are followers in empty churches or prison cells. Some are in full churches. Some are soldiers and sailors far from home. Some are at weddings. Some are at funerals. Some are nurses holding the hand of a dying grandfather. All are praying it together. All are praying it with you. You are not alone.
True story: During World War II my father was on a Navy vessel half a world away from my mother in New Jersey, They had always prayed this prayer together before they went to sleep. Then thousands of miles of land and ocean separated them. One night my mother awoke from a vivid dream. She had dreamt she was kneeling by her bed with my father praying the Lord’s Prayer. The dream was so real she wrote to him about it. He wrote back that the very hour she dreamed, he was leading a service on deck and praying the prayer.
I hope you will go back now and pray this slowly, thinking about every our and we, and who is praying with you. You are family. You are not alone.
Hope Walking 