Simple

Luke 11:1-4 (The Message)

One day he was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, "Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."

So he said, "When you pray, say,

Father,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil."

Maybe life really is simple.

When Jesus' disciples asked him to pray, this was his simple answer.

I know that "The Message" version of the Lord's Prayer isn't the version we're most familiar with. It's certainly not the version that we are used to reciting on Sunday morning.

But maybe that's why it's especially good for us to read right now. It's different. And truly striking in its simplicity.

Somehow this prayer reminds me of a child.

When we ask our older boys to pray before a meal, they often say, "Thank You for our friends, our family, our food, our house, our church and our school. Amen."

What a wonderful prayer.

"Father, reveal who you are."

"Set the world right."

"Keep us alive."

"Keep us forgiven and forgiving."

"Keep us safe."

Simplicity is beautiful. To think that God among us, Emmanuel, chose to pray in this simple way may be one of the greatest spiritual lessons which we could ever learn.

Henry David Thoreau said that, "a man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone" ("Where I Lived and What I Lived For," Walden).

May we all inherit this sort of affluence from Our Father.

Prayer: Our Father, we pray for hearts that can revel in the beauty of simplicity. Reveal who you are. Set the world right. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.