Lord's Prayer
- THE LORD’S PRAYER
Objectives:
- Students should identify the Lord’s Prayer, or “Our Father”, as the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples.
- Students should memorize the Lord’s Prayer.
Possible Lesson Plan:
- Open with prayer. Use the Lord’s Prayer.
“Our Father”: What’s a father like? Who is your father on earth? How is God like/different from your father on earth? St. Cyril of Alexandria points out that, by calling God "our father” we are placed in a relationship to God like that of Jesus, both a privilege and a responsibility.
“Who art in Heaven”: Where does God live? What’s heaven like?
“Hallowed be Thy name”: “Hallowed” means “holy”; what does holy mean?
“Thy kingdom come”: What is God’s kingdom? Who desires the coming of the kingdom of heaven to come, the saints or the wicked?
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”: Why do things happen to us? Who is in charge?
“Give us this day our daily bread”: Remember the Sermon on the Mount? God even feeds us and takes care of us. Review the feeding of the 5000. St. Ephraim the Syrian points out that Jesus may mean here both physical bread for our bodies and the spiritual “bread” of His body in communion.
“Forgive us our trespasses”: Do we ever do anything wrong? Do we need forgiveness?
“As we forgive those who trespass against us”: Has anyone ever done anything unkind to you? Have you forgiven that person?
“And lead us not into temptation”: Remember Jesus’s temptations? Is it hard to always obey God?
“But deliver us from evil”: Who is the source of evil? Did Jesus win even over the devil?
- Scripture Reference: Matthew 6:5-15. The disciples asked Jesus how to pray the right way. This is the prayer Jesus gave them. Go through the prayer line by line with the students:
- Discussion: When and where do we pray? Ask the students how prayer is done in their homes. Do they pray before meals? Do they pray in the morning or the evening? Do they have an icon corner? Do they pray at bedtime? Remind them to say the Lord’s Prayer every morning and evening.
- Play a learning game: Verse Scramble. Write each line of the prayer on a separate piece of paper. Give each player a piece. They must line up in order, then read the whole prayer in order with each player reading his own card.
- Add to your time line as usual. Go back to the Sermon on the Mount and add it if you didn’t include it then!
- Close with the Lord’s Prayer.