(adapted from “The Lord’s Prayer: An Illustrated Curriculum” from Illustrated Children’s Ministry, 2019. Used with permission.)
Think and Learn
This summer we are going to look at the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer is one that we share with Christians all over the world. It is a prayer that Jesus taught his followers and has been translated into many languages. Because it is an ancient prayer, the words might seem a bit strange to our modern ears so, each week we will look at a new phrase and think about what it meant to the people in Jesus’ time and what it means for us today.
This week we begin at the beginning!
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
The very first word of the Lord’s Prayer, “Our” teaches us something really important. Each of us is God’s child, making us a family. Starting with “OUR Father” instead of “MY Father” immediately reminds us of that. We may have different skin, speak different languages, live in different places, and have different grown-up, moms or dads, but we are all one family. This means we belong to God, to each other, and to the earth God made.
God is bigger and more mysterious than we can imagine. No matter how many names or pictures we could think of for God, there are still more!
When Jesus taught his disciples this prayer, he chose to say, “Our Father” because in that time the father in a family was always the head of the family. They also called Kings, and other leaders, “father”. Today we might use different words because we know that families come in many different forms. We might say, “Our loving God”, or “Creator God”, or “Holy Mystery” instead – and that’s perfectly ok!
Using many different names for God keeps us from getting stuck in who we believe God to be and how we picture God. For example, if we always use male (or boy) names and pronouns for God, we might start to think God is a man. Allowing ourselves to see God in different ways helps us grow and live more into God’s dream.
See the word “hallowed”? It means holy or sacred. God’s name deserves our deepest respect and love. By starting the prayer this way – sometimes called adoration – we remember anything we speak to God comes from this place of love and respect.
Wonder
1. What are your favourite names for God? Are there new names you can think of?
2. How do you imagine or picture God?
3. How does it feel to know we are all God’s children? How do we treat each other when we believe each person is a child of God?
Do
You will find 2 colouring pages attached to this lesson.
The first page is an oval surrounded by leaves. You can use this in two ways:
1. Put your name in the middle. Make it as fancy as you like! On each of the surrounding leaves write one of the ways you are known. Relationships are a good place to start - son/daughter, sister/brother, cousin… Or you might have a nickname or something that everyone knows about you – artist, athlete, reader, helper…
2. Put “God” in the middle oval and then all the names for God you can think of on the surrounding leaves.
Click to print PDF
The second page is a colouring poster of the first line of the Lord’s Prayer. We will be adding a new one each week through the summer. As you colour each picture, memorize the words. By the time summer is over you will know the Lord’s Prayer by heart and will be able to say it with everyone in our church or in other places you might gather with people who are followers of Jesus, or just when you want to pray and need some words to get started. Isn’t it cool to know that when you say this prayer you are joining Christians all over the world who also say this same prayer in many different languages?
Click to print PDF