Lord’s Prayer Event

On Friday 2nd October we were delighted to welcome Archbishop Stephen as part of his Lord’s Prayer Tour around the North of England.

A packed evening began with a showing of the Then as Now film which explores the prayer through the eyes of the Northern Saints. Bishop Barry then reflected on the Lord’s Prayer. He particularly focused on the Line ‘Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’. He rooted his thoughts in the challenges Middlesbrough faces, which have made national news recently, and the way Jesus’ prayer encourages the Church to pray and work towards this place becoming more like the place God longs for it to be. We then heard from some more local voices; Sam from BiG Kids and Chris (St Martin’s Churchwarden). Sam shared how the Lord’s Prayer plays an important role in their work in schools across the town. Chris spoke of how the Lord’s prayer has impacted his own faith, shared a powerful story from 9/11 and finished by reading a great translation of the Lord’s Prayer from the Diary of a Disciple which he uses at Scout services. A final local contribution came from the St Martin’s Choir, who were joined by friends from other churches across the Deanery to sing a new setting of the Lord’s Prayer to aid our reflection.

Finally Archbishop Stephen offered helpful reflections on the Lord’s Prayer. He spoke about how the Lord’s Prayer is not just a form of words to pray, but a guide for how to live as followers of Jesus. He spent a good deal of time on the opening words, which in Aramaic would have been ‘Father of Ours’. The Archbishop highlighted the beauty of Jesus encouraging his followers to address God as our parent, ‘dad’ or even ‘daddy’. He also drew out the corporate nature of the prayer, we pray ‘Our’ Father, not ‘my’, which draws us into community and challenges our increasingly fractured world. In the closing Q&A time Archbishop Stephen was asked about forgiveness, and the ‘give us today our daily bread’ line, which he suggested in our consumerist society should be seen as learning what it means to have ‘enough’.

We are grateful to the Archbishop and the Faith in the North team for bringing the Lord’s Prayer tour to Middlesbrough, and to all those who came out on a Friday night to attend the event.