The disciples saw Jesus praying, and asked him to teach them how to do the same (Luke 11:1). I’ve often pondered on the back story to that verse. What was it about Jesus praying that made them say that?

The disciples would have heard various rabbis praying in synagogue, from week to week, throughout their lives; they had probably had the chance to listen to other prayer leaders in the community; maybe their own parents or grandparents as well. Probably some of the prayers they had listened to had been pretty boring, and some of them had been more interesting; and perhaps there had been one or two individuals where it was deeply moving, when you got a chance to listen to them pray.

But it seems there must have been something different when Jesus was praying. There was this directness, this simplicity: and there was this intimacy with the Father that they had not encountered anywhere else. John taught his disciples to pray, they said: Jesus, teach us to pray, too. They wanted to know the Father, the way Jesus did: and they wanted to learn to pray to the Father, the way he did.

You probably noticed that the prayer that comes next doesn’t quite match “the Lord’s Prayer” the way you learned it. And the version we saw in Matthew a couple weeks ago doesn’t quite match either one. What’s up with that? Several things. First, that neither Matthew nor Luke were concerned to make sure we prayed with an exact pattern of words (if that had been what they wanted, they would have insisted we must pray in Aramaic). Second, that arguments in the church today about the “correct” way to say the Lord’s prayer are missing the point. And third, the Lord’s prayer is a vehicle for expressing our hearts’ yearning for our Lord – like singing a love song, rather than reciting a chemical formula.

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Lord, teach us to pray. We’ve all of us tried, from time to time. We’ve never been much good at it. It’s a little scary, actually. But we want to learn. Give us the readiness and the diligence, so that we can learn from you.