Reflection on the Lord’s Prayer (Pater Noster) visited me once again as I listened to two sermons on
the topic today. Both Matthew and Luke recorded the prayer, but in different
version (Matthew 6.9-13; Luke 11.2-4).
How far do we need to grasp the tension between the
communality and the individuality of a prayer? What does ‘the use of first
person plural’ signify? Is ‘our Father’ more correct than ‘my Father’? If we
pursue towards and push too much over the communality aspect of the Lord’s
prayer based on the use of first person plural personal pronouns (we, our, us),
I am afraid that somehow we lost the privacy and intimacy of a prayer. I think
God still maintains the principle of confidentiality. A prayer is indeed a sacred place where we can explore and share our most inner deepest secret and
burden to God – especially when it is no longer possible to share them with
even our closest companions. It is easy for us to share good news publicly, but no one seems to be happy with misery.
On the other hand, we all know that Christians are not
called to be an individualistic self-centered person. Believers are indeed a community
of sharing. How do we solve the tension? Shall we focus on self or others or
God in our prayers? I suggest that the relationship among the parties is fluid, dynamic and
contextual. Prayer is both private and public, it is also both individual and communal. Prayer is not simply an exploration of self, but a transformation of self towards God's image and likeness. The self factor is highly appreciated, the focus of the verb however points to the growing self towards God rather than the status quo of self and ego. Yet, it is not possible to elaborate the identity of self without selves (a community). In other words, our transforming personal private prayers should positively strengthen both our self identity and our community.
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