We live in a fortress society where neighbors often do not know each other. This is partly fostered by the fear of crime and partly by commercialism which incessantly entices us to spend our money greedily on ourselves. We are often unaware and unconcerned about the needs of others in our own communities. The first statement of the Lord’s Prayer is OUR Father in heaven, not my Father. The model prayer then shifted to requests for everyone. Beginning with the fourth petition the model prayer shifts to back to a focus on community using the word US. No part of the prayer is selfish, but always includes others. That is not to say that an individual request is wrong. It is just not the prayer modeled in the Matthew 6. We were taught to pray, give US our daily bread.
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