Sketch on the Lord’s prayer
(Prayer is the person who prays!!)
Prayer: Our Father which art in heaven,
God: Yes?
Prayer: Don’t interrupt me. I’m praying
God: But you called me
Prayer: Called you? I didn’t call you. I’m praying. Our Father which art in heaven,
God: There you did it again
Prayer: Did what?"
God: Called me. You said, "Our Father which art in heaven." Here I am. What’s on your mind?
Prayer: But I didn’t mean anything by it. I was, you know, just saying my prayers for the day. I always say the Lord’s Prayer. It makes me feel good, kind of like getting a duty done."
God: All right. Go on.
Prayer: Hallowed be Thy name.
God: Hold it. What do you mean by that?
Prayer: "By what?"
God: By "Hallowed be Thy name?"
Prayer: It means. It means.... Good grief, I don’t know what it means. How should I know? It’s just a part of the prayer. By the way, what does it mean?"
God: It means honoured, holy, wonderful.
Prayer: Hey that makes sense. I never thought about what hallowed’ meant before. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
God: Do you really mean that?
Prayer: Sure, why not?
God: What are you doing about it?
Prayer: Doing? Nothing, I guess. I just think it would be kind of neat if you got control of everything down here like you have up there."
God: Have I got control of you?
Prayer: Well, I go to church.
God: That isn’t what I asked you. What about your temper? You’ve really got a problem there, you know. And then there’s the way you spend your money - all on yourself. And what about the kinds of books you read and what you watch on TV?
Prayer: Stop picking on me! I’m just as good as the rest of those people at church."
God: Excuse me. I thought you were praying for my will to be done. If that is to happen, it will have to start with the ones who are praying for it. Like you, for example.
Prayer: Oh, all right. I guess I do have some hang-ups. Now that you mention it, I could probably name some others."
God: So could I.
Prayer: I haven’t thought about it very much until now, but I’d really like to cut out some of those things. I would like to, you know, be really free."
God: Good. Now we’re getting somewhere. We’ll work together, you and I. Some victories can be truly won. I’m proud of you.
Prayer: Look, Lord, I need to finish this up here. This is taking a lot longer than it usually does ... Give us this day our daily bread."
God: You could cut out the bread. It would help you lose weight.
Prayer: "Hey, wait a minute! What is this, ’Criticize, ME day?’ Here I was doing my religious duty, and all of a sudden you break in and remind me of all my hang-ups. Praying is a dangerous thing. You could wind up changed, you know.
God: That’s what I’m trying to get across to you. Keep praying. I’m interested in the next part of your prayer.(Pause) Well, go on.
Prayer: I’m scared to."
God: Scared? Of what?
Prayer: I know what you’ll say.
God: Try me and see.
Prayer: Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
God: What about Susie?
Prayer: "See? I knew it! I knew you would bring her up! Why Lord she’s told lies about me, spread stories about my family. She never paid back the money she owes me. I’ve sworn to get even with her!"
God: But your prayer? What about your prayer?
Prayer: "I didn’t mean it."
God: Well, at least you’re honest. But it’s not much fun carrying that load of bitterness inside of you, is it?
Prayer: No. But, I’ll feel better as soon as I get even. Boy, have I got some plans for that neighbour. She’ll wish she had never moved into this neighbourhood."
God: You won’t feel any better. You’ll feel worse. Revenge isn’t sweet. Think of how unhappy you already are. But, I can change all that.
Prayer: You can? How?
God: Forgive Susie. Then I’ll forgive you. Then the hate and sin will be Susie’s problem and not yours. You will have settled your heart.
Prayer: Oh, you’re right. You always are. And, more than I want to get revenge against Susie, I want to be right with you. But ... (Pause) ... (Sigh) ... All right. I forgive her. Help her to find the right road in life, Lord. She’s bound to be awfully miserable now that I think about it. Anybody who goes around doing the things she does to others has to be out of it. Someway, somehow, show her the right way.
God: There now! Wonderful! How do you feel?
Prayer: "Hmmm. Well, not bad. Not bad at all. I feel pretty great. You know, I don’t think I’ll have to go to bed uptight tonight for the first time since I can remember. Maybe I won’t be so tired from now on because I’m not getting enough rest."
God: You’re not through with your prayers. Go on.
Prayer: "Oh, all right. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
God: Good! Good! I’ll do that. Just don’t put yourself in a place where you can be tempted.
Prayer: "What do you mean by that?"
God: Don’t turn the TV on when you know the laundry needs to be done and the house needs to be picked up. Also about the time you spend with your friends, if you can’t influence the conversation to positive things, perhaps you should rethink the value of those friendships. Another thing, your neighbours and friends shouldn’t be your standard for "keeping up." And please don’t use me as an escape hatch.
Prayer: "I don’t understand that last part."
God: Sure you do. You’ve done it a lot of times. You get caught in a bad situation. You get in trouble and then you come running to me: "Lord, help me out of this mess, and I promise you I’ll never do it again." You remember some of those bargains you tried to make with me?
Prayer: Yes, and I’m ashamed, Lord, I really am.
God: Which bargain are you remembering?
Prayer: Well, there was the night that my husband was gone and the children and I were home alone. The wind was blowing so hard I thought the roof would go any minute and tornado warnings were out. I remember saying, ’Oh God, if you spare us, I’ll never skip my devotions again."
God: I protected you, but you didn’t keep your promise, did you?
Prayer: "I’m sorry, Lord I really am. Up until now I thought that if I just prayed the Lord’s Prayer every day, then I could do what I liked. I didn’t expect anything to happen like this."
God: Go ahead and finish your prayer.
Prayer: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen
God: Do you know what would bring me glory? What would really make me happy?
Prayer: "No, but I’d like to know. I want to please you. I can see what a mess I’ve made of my life. And I can see how great it would be to really be one of your followers."
God: You just answered the question.
Prayer: I did?"
God: Yes. The thing that would bring me glory is to have people like you truly love me. And I see that happening between us. Now that some of these old sins are exposed and out of the way, there is no telling what we can do together.
Prayer: Lord, let’s see what we can make of me, OK?"
God: Yes, let’s see.
Prayer: The moral of this skit is when you say the Lord’s prayer, DON’T REPEAT it, pray it!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sermon:
You might wonder what the Lord’s Prayer has in common with our Gospel reading today, where Jesus said: I am the Good Shepherd
And the answer is that as Christians we have a relationship with God.
That is in my opinion the one huge difference between Christianity and other religions.
We know God our heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ and live in the power of the Holy Spirit.
As we considered in our sketch what the real meaning of the Lord’s Prayer is, we see something similar in the words of Jesus when he said: I am the Good Shepherd.
It is about how we interact with God – or rather how we should interact with God.
I would like therefore to offer you some reflections on Jesus’s words in our Gospel reading this morning when he said:
“I am the Good Shepherd.”
What a strange metaphor to use?
But I think very apposite in ways:
1. Firstly, because we have some “not too flattering” similarities to sheep.
If any of you have met our two sheep – Sooty and Sweep, you will not be surprised about the comments I am going to make
Story: One of the Readers in my last parishes, Malcolm Britton, who had handled sheep for many years once told me:
“Sheep have a tendency to find ingenious way to commit suicide.”
1. So what are those unflattering similarilities that we have to Sheep
1.1. Sheep follow the crowd and don’t think of the consequences.
If one leads off on a stampede the rest will follow
Story: I recall seeing a match between Inter Milan and AC Milan a few years ago.
What intrigued me was that it was only one or two people who started throwing burning rockets onto the field.
Why - because they were incensed with the referee disallowing an Inter goal.
Suddenly the field was ablaze with rockets being fired by Inter fans – so much that the match had to be abandoned.
With reckless abandon the Inter fans cost their side the match!
They followed the crowd.
2. Sheep can be pretty stubborn.
Story: Do any of you have children?
Do I need to say more?
3. When a sheep trusts the Shepherd, it follows him without thinking of the consequences.
So it is important that they find the right Shepherd – the Good Shepherd.
2. So what characteristics of the Shepherd can we see in Jesus
There are some wonderful characteristics that first century Jewish Shepherds had
2. 1. The Good Shepherd knows his sheep and cares for them individually
We see that well illustrated in the parable of the Lost Sheep
Story: A shepherd had 100 sheep and found that one of them was missing. What did he do?
Did he write that sheep of as a slight economic loss.
No he left the other 99 safely grazing and went off to find the one that was lost
And we read that when he found it he came home rejoicing!
2.2. Shepherds protect their sheep
David was a Shepherd before he became King.
It was as a shepherd that he killed Goliath.
He said this to King Saul as he went out to battle with Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:34
34But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
The Good Shepherd protects his sheep.
3. The shepherd wants the best for their sheep
Just a verse earlier than the passage of our Gospel reading today, Jesus said this in John 10:10: “I am come that you may have life and have it in abundance. (Jn 10:10)
The Good Shepherd wants the best for his sheep
God wants our very best.
He wants us to have a rich and full life.
He wants us to spend eternity with Him.
Easter reminds us that Christ the Good Shephard laid down His life for the sheep.
But to be safe, we like the sheep need to stay close to the Good Shepherd.
Which brings me to the connection between our Gospel reading and the Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer reminds us how we can stay close to our heavenly Father daily
i) We need to remain in daily contact with the Good Shepherd
ii) We need to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd
iii) We need to do what the Good Shepherd tells us to do.
Why - because like the Good Shepherd , Jesus has our best interests at heart.
3. The Sheep pen
May I leave you with a final thought
A first century Jewish sheep pen was a place with high walls to protect the sheep from wind and rain, but no roof or door.
And therefore the shepherd lay across the entrance to act as the door.
When Jesus said:” I am the door of the Sheepfold”, this is exactly what he was alluding to.
It was the Shepherd who regulated who came in and who went out.
There is safety in the sheep pen, when the Shepherd acted as the door.
The Church should be like the sheep pen – a place of safety – with the Lord as its keeper
When Jesus said: I am the Good Shepherd
He was telling us that it is only when we are in the presence of Christ – allowing him to be the door that regulates our lives – that we can be safe.
