Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it [to] you. (Jas1:22)
This fifth Sunday after Easter is called Rogation Sunday: The word "Rogation" comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning "to ask," and was applied to this time of the liturgical year because the Gospel reading for the previous Sunday included the passage "Ask and ye shall receive" (John 16:24). Rogation Sunday along with the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday which follow appear in the Prayer Book as Rogation Days. These, the days leading up to Ascension Day. are days when the God-given privilege of prayer is celebrated, with special services of prayer, and with taking the prayers of the church out into the community.
Historically there were processions held to pray for the fruitfulness of the spring planting, which eventually became a solemn procession around the boundaries of the parish, (called "beating the bounds") so that all people would be participants in the prayers of thanksgiving and blessing. This is still a common practice in England and is done in many parishes around the world. This morning we have a time of prayer in the memorial garden.
Prayer is central to the Christian life. But prayer, like riding a bicycle, or learning to swim, it is not something that comes naturally. We must be taught how to pray.
In our Gospel this morning we hear one of the accounts of the giving of the Lord's Prayer. The disciples ask Jesus: Lord, teach us to pray. He then gives them that brief outline that we recite every time we gather for worship – so often and so gladly – that prayer which is the template, or model for our own private prayers as well as the Church's corporate prayers. This is the Lord's Prayer, also known as the "Our Father" or the "Pater Noster".
It is the most universal prayer in the Christian faith. Regularly said by something like two billion Christians.
Two versions of it occur in the New Testament, one in the Gospel of Matthew 6:9-13 as part of the discourse on vanity and ostentation, in a section of the Sermon on the Mount, and the other in the Gospel of Luke 11:2-4.
The context of the prayer in Matthew is as part of a discourse deploring people who pray simply for the purpose of being seen to pray. Matthew describes Jesus as instructing people to pray after the manner of this prayer. If we examine the prayer's structure and emphases, we will see it as a guideline on how we are to pray as well as being a prayer for specific use.
There have been minor differences in how this prayer is translated into English.
Though Matthew 6:12 uses the term debts, the older English versions of the Lord's Prayer uses the term trespasses, while ecumenical versions often use the term sins. As early as the third century, Origen of Alexandria used the word trespasses in the prayer and most English-speaking Christians (except Presbyterians and others of the Reformed tradition), use trespasses1. Authorized Version (known also as the King James Version), which in the prayer uses the words "debts" and "debtors".
Additionally, the doxology (for thine is the kingdom, etc) is generally not used in the Roman Church, but has appeared in the Mass since the 1970's.
All these versions are based on the text in Matthew, rather than Luke, of the prayer given by Jesus. Clearly this prayer has always had a prominent place in Christian devotional life. Anglicans never worship without repeating it. The Lord's Prayer, as taught by Jesus, in a few simple lines gives us solid assurance that His Father, who is also our Father would hear and answer prayer, if we pray as He taught us.
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
First things first. All prayer begins by acknowledging the glory of God, and is never simply to satisfy our desires.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
All prayer is within the framework of asking that the Lord's will be done, and with recognition that what we want may indeed not be in accordance with His will, and that His knowledge of what is best for us always works to further His plan for our lives.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
Notice we do not have license to simply pray for piles of stuff, and more stuff, but rather for our genuine needs. Prayer is never a Santa Claus wish list.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
This is the difficult one, isn't it? When we seek forgiveness do we ourselves forgive? If we hold back our forgiveness, we are not able to be forgiven.
And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
Lord, if it isn't good for me, if it's going to tempt me in way I can't handle, if it might lead me into evil, please, no matter how hard I ask, don't give it to me.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Our prayers begin and end with the sovereign majesty glory and authority of Almighty God. It is His will and not our will that we seek for our lives. That is where true joy is to be found – and apart from that kind of relationship the things of this world cannot bring happiness.
If we come to Our Father, in the way his only-begotten Son has taught us, we have His oft-repeated promise found in the Rogation propers: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Would a father deny the request of his son for something he really needed? Maybe an earthly father will fail, but our Heavenly Father will not. Scripture reminds us that, we being fallen and sinful, still love our children and give them gifts. How much more does our Heavenly Father, who is perfect goodness, bestow His gift of love upon us?
In the propers used for the Rogation Days , the Prophet Ezekiel, writes of the relationship between the believer and the Father: ... I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, ... And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. ... Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 34)
Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it [to] you.
