Article December 10, 1966 Issue

"Our Father"

ETHEL GRIMES

Whatever one's religious background or the denomination one has accepted, most Christian parents teach their children little prayers; in fact, the children themselves often ask to be taught what to pray before being tucked into bed at night. In countless homes one of the first prayers to be learned and accepted is the Lord's Prayer, the prayer our great Master, Christ Jesus, taught his disciples. Luke records that when one of the disciples, as a little child in spiritual understanding, made the request, "Lord, teach us to pray," Jesus' answer began with, "When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven."^{Luke 11:1,2;}

What a wonderful appeal there is in those first two words, "Our Father! They give one a deep feeling of parental love, of comfort and spiritual strength—reality which bases all that follows and is the substance of the whole prayer. When one comes to the last part as given in Matthew's Gospel, "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever,"^{Matt. 6:13;} there is a great, heartfelt desire to know and understand more of "our Father" and the reality of His kingdom.

This prayer has gone through the ages, accepted by people who unite on no other ground of Christian teaching, and it has probably done more good to more people than any other one thing has ever done, because "our Father" has been found dwelling in the heart when something more than what the human thought could give was needed.

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