Recently I was asked to sing the Lord’s Prayer at an interfaith wedding. I didn’t know too much about the prayer except that my girlfriend recited it every day growing up in her church and that it is a central and revered prayer in Christianity. Well, I certainly wanted to sing it with the reverence it deserved so I began learning it.
I didn’t get too far though and stopped after the first line. A beautiful sacred Presence had entered the room.
Wow, I thought! Does this prayer have the same power as many of the Hebrew prayers I sing? They are meant to connect us with the Divine which can come in many energetic variations. Or was it my intention to sing the prayer with reverence that called this Divine Presence? Yes, our intentions can be that powerful!
Intrigued, I went on a YouTube search and listened to several videos of people singing the prayer. Hmmm.. most of the videos invoked the Presence.
The next day, my Catholic neighbor posted the prayer on her facebook page and wrote: “I hope everyone who reads it answers Amen and sticks it on their page. Prayer chain for world peace and end of the pandemic. Amen.”
Gina’s Facebook Post
This certainly caught my attention. I mean, what are the chances my neighbor would post this the day after my experience with the prayer! I knew this was a message to me to explore further. Intrigued again, I went on a google search and discovered what is probably just basic knowledge for most Christians. That Jesus taught this is a prayer in how to pray and that it covers everything.
Well that made sense why so much of the wording seemed familiar to me. The same concepts are in the Jewish prayers. And Jesus after all, was Jewish.
A week later as I sang the prayer during the wedding I could see how touched the Christian family members were that their tradition was honored. This filled me with such Joy! Even in these days, it isn’t always so easy for everyone when there is an interfaith marriage.
Two months later as I finished my preparations for the Jewish holidays I realized I never formally added my Amen to my neighbor’s post!
So now, just before Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people, I offer my prayer. “May ALL our Sacred Prayers from ALL Hearts come together bringing World Peace and an End to the Pandemic. Amen!”
The Divine Presence that has come in now certainly seems happy with this! I feel a smile in the midst of all the Love that is present!
Love,
Lee
What a beautiful story I loved reading about it I am so happy that I found this page that you have been writing on I love it mainly because we share a like feelings about the universe spirituality love and light
So glad you found it too Abbey! xxxx
Wow! as a Christian, I can’t tell you what a blessing your article was to me. Your statement “… a beautiful sacred Presence had entered the room” filled me with joy.
Immediately it reminded me of a chorus we often sing in Church, “Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me…” How often I have experienced that Presence as I open the Bible each morning and read from both the Old and New Testaments and I am led often from one Scripture to another and find that Presence.
I was first reminded of Psalm 51:
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Then that led me, oddly enough, to a song we sometimes sing in Church called “Beulah Land” which is based on Isaiah 62:4 “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.”
The first verse of this four-verse song sets the tone of those verses that follow:
“Far away the noise of strife upon my ear is falling;”
But it is the refrain that calms my soul so often while in this “noise of strife” and contains several not so veiled references to Old Testament Scriptures and their significance:
“I’m living on the mountain, underneath a cloudless sky,
I’m drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry;
Oh, yes! I’m feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply,
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land.”
Your comments also led me to further study of this prayer a.k.a “The Disciples Prayer” because it was given in response to their request, “teach us to pray.”
My internet search resulted in a story by a certain Joseph Wollff, DD., LL.D of the 19th century, too long to quote here, but which begins with these words:
“When at Jerusalem I read this prayer to one of the rabbis, he said, ‘There is not one single prayer, not one single demand, which is not already contained in the Old Testament.’” The rabbi goes on in great detail to site each Old Testament reference. I was so blessed by what he said.
Please permit me one more Scripture.
Ezekiel 39:29 “And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”
May the Blessed Presence continue to be yours forever.
Thank you for your beautiful reply John! We are so blessed we can all learn from each other! And may we all be Blessed with the Divine Presence!