Lord Teach us to Pray
Prayer is a challenge for all of us, but in our current circumstances, we need more than ever to turn our focus to God, who is our strength, and our hope.
As our lives are turned upside down, and our hearts and minds churn with the consequences of COVID-19, perhaps a solid and reassuring starting place for our prayer is to begin with what we do know and can do.
Jesus’ response to the disciples’ cry, “Lord, teach us to pray” was to give them the words and model of the Lord’s Prayer.
So, take a moment. Take a calming breath. And pray what you know.
Pray the familiar words alone or together with others in your home. Pray it over the phone as you connect with wider family and friends. Recite it, read it out, write it down, and reflect on its meaning. It is meaningful, not meaningless. So say what you mean and mean what you pray!
Then try another step, expanding with specific concerns. For example, add your personal petitions after each phrase. Or try modelling your own words on Jesus’ pattern as we see Eugene Petersen has done here in The Message:
Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what's best— as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You're in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
The Lord’s Prayer “can be like a Christmas tree, on which we hang our own “decorations”, our own prayers.
Or it can be like a map: The directions are there, but we must take the trouble to travel, to pray them. (Peter Kreeft, Fundamentals of Faith. Ignatius Press 1988)
Blessings, Karen
COMBINED CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
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A prayer following the Bondi Beach attack
15 December 2025
by Bishop Paul SmithPrint Friendly, PDF & Email
‘O Lord, God of my salvation, when, at night, I cry out in your presence, let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry’ (Psalm 88:1,2).
This ‘season of joy’ has also become a season of sorrow, as we have been confronted by the horrific news of the mass shooting of families gathered for a festival of their Jewish faith in Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
The Lord’s command, ‘You shall not kill’, teaches us that we should ‘fear and love God, and so we should not endanger our neighbour’s life, nor cause our neighbour any harm, but help and befriend our neighbour in every necessity of life’. The Scriptures teach us that each of us is a beloved creature of a loving creator, and we reject violence that destroys God’s gift of life.
Please pray for the families who have lost loved ones in the Sydney attack. Please pray for those who grieve; for those who are suffering; for those who serve them.
In this season of ‘Peace on Earth’, please also pray that the preaching of the gospel message of the birth, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus for our salvation would bring light into dark places, that we would live as people of hope, welcoming one another just as Christ Jesus has welcomed us (Romans 15).
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
‘Though your tears be rivers running,
though your tears be an ocean full,
though you cry with the hurt of living:
comfort, comfort.
Every valley shall be lifted,
every mountain shall be low,
every rough place will be smoother:
comfort, comfort.
Comfort, comfort all my people
with the comfort of my Word.
Speak it tender to my people:
All your sins are taken away.’
From the song: ‘Comfort, comfort all my people’
Words based on Isaiah 40:1–5
Robin Mann 1949– (1975): LHS 732
Your fellow in Christ,
Pastor Paul Smith
Bishop, Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand
