Jesus Teaches About Prayer

Jesus was sitting on a mountainside, with his disciples and friends gathered around.

They were talking, and Jesus taught them about prayer. "When you pray, keep it simple," Jesus told them. "Your prayers don't have to be long or fancy. God listens to the simplest prayers. Here is an example of how you can pray."

Our Father in heaven: your name is wonderful and holy.

May your kingdom come into being, here on earth and in heaven.

May things be the way you, God, hope and dream.

We thank you for good food. We pray that we continue to have good food from you.

We thank you for friends and family. We pray that we can forgive each other when things go wrong.

We thank you for the good things in our lives that keep us safe and happy.

Help us to stay away from things that are wrong for us and focus on things that are good.

You are God, and you will always be God. Amen.

Background/Discussion: This is a simple translation of the prayer that Jesus told his disciples. In church we use a traditional translation that begins "Our Father, Who Art in Heaven." This prayer was originally in Jesus's language, and has been translated into hundreds of different languages.

Prayer is just talking to God. When we talk to God we can say anything, such as:

Thank you.
Please help me.
I wonder about something.
You, God, are amazing.

We can use words that are pre-written or we can use our own words. You can pray silently in your mind, or out loud. Alone or in a group.

Craft: Make a booklet out of paper and write or draw things you can pray about on each page. (Example: draw a sunset (thank you!) A broken leg (help!) A garden (God, you are amazing).

J.M.L.
February 2014