It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place,
after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him,
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”
“This is how you are to pray:
“Our Father who art in heaven,
Oh you seem so far away, safe ensconced in your heavens,
away from the dirt and misery of your people,
let us see your face.
“hallowed be thy name,
many people have your name on their lips,
but their hearts are far away from you,
change our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.
“thy Kingdom come,
you promised your Kingdom will be a new creation
where there will no more mourning, no more tears,
seeing all the pain and sorrow around me,
could You have misspoken?
“thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
there is so much division among us
and people are lonely,
this is not your will for us, is it?
or, is your will done only in heaven?
“Give us this day our daily bread;
you have given us a bountiful earth,
yet millions go hungry everyday
because of men’s greed and selfishness.
“and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
we find it hard to forgive
yet we expect infinite mercy from you for ourselves
why have you created a people so obstinate and hard-hearted?
“and lead us not into temptation,
often, we need not temptation for us to do evil,
and worse even lead others astray.
“but deliver us from evil.
when you feel so distant, how can you deliver us?
when you are so silent, how can we hear your voice?
when we feel so lost and alone,
how can we fell you in our lives?
yes, Lord, please deliver us from evil?
Amen!”
sometimes I wished you would be the almighty and angry God
who flooded the earth and burned Sodom to the ground,
or the awesome and fearful Presence you revealed to Moses,
rather than the loving, all-forgiving and merciful Lord,
I have been talking to all these years.