I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with the ‘Our Father’ (except when it’s called the ‘Lord’s Prayer’, ie given by a ‘Lord’ we don’t accept) but it’s somebody else’s prayer. We do have enough of our own, you know.
My old evangelical church certainly did. Though it was called the “Lord’s Prayer” rather than the “Our Father”.
Doesn’t matter. Our Father, the Lord’s prayer, I guess the wording is the same.
. Now for that matter I am curious on whether a muslim would be able in good faith to recite this particular prayer-not that they don’t have enough of their own as well already. Blessings and Shalom.That’s kind of a non-specific question. I would think that it would depend on the denomination. For example Episcopalians include it as part of their mass just as Catholics do, with the added lines of the doxology of course.Doesn’t matter. Our Father, the Lord’s prayer, I guess the wording is the same.
**How do they pray it? **
We have this inter-churches fellowship at our work place, and when a Protestant member lead or say a prayer, the Lord’s Prayer was never being part of this. It seemed an unwritten rule, perhaps out of courtesy, that when a Catholic said a prayer, opening or closing prayer, he/she would not include the Lord’s Prayer, which would be the case in a normal all Catholics gathering.
Edit: Majority of the Protestant members were either Baptists, I think, and others non-denominational.
I sometimes get critical too when listening to someone pray, then I try to remember that prayer is talking to God and it is not for me to judge someone else’s conversation to God.Some Evangelicals don’t say it, not because they see anything wrong with it (it’s in the Bible spoken by Jesus, after all), but because they view it as only a model prayer. To them, when Jesus said, “this is how you should pray”, he wasn’t saying “this is what you should pray”
Baptists/Evangelicals place much emphasis on personal sincerity and prayers coming from the heart. They tend to believe that reading or repeating something memorized doesn’t have this.
So you get long rambling prayers that they stumble through as they make them up on the spot.
Agreed.
I agree with what you wrote here. In defense of the Evangelical side of things in my church it is said “let us pray as Jesus taught us” not ok let’s say the Lord’s prayer.Hey, thanks for giving some insight on different Protestants usage of the Our Father as a prayer.
Mainline Protestants seem to be quite close to the Catholics in using it, while the Evangelicals do not.
I do not hear anyone using it as a personal prayer though, which Catholics do very much.
As for saying that there is no sincerity in using it, well, that is obviously wrong. It is like saying there is no sincerity if you prepare your prayer, which is wrong too. If one talks to God, preparing on what to say, would not make the conversation insincere. In fact it would be more earnest, more important and you are serious about it, not wanting to say something silly and foolish but wanting to say out what you really think in your heart.
It does not mean to say that spontaneous prayer does not have its importance or that it would be silly or make mistake but more importantly that recited prayer may not be insincere. There is a saying that, ‘make the Lord ’s Prayer be my prayer too’, spoken from the bottom of my heart.
Yes, and they (Protestants) add “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever” or some variant to the end, prayed by the whole congregation.