As Jesus is the cornerstone upon which the Church is built, so are his teachings the unifying cornerstone of Christian doctrine.

The audacious Lord’s prayer

We often see the Our Father (Luke 11:1-13) as a pious prayer, a begging prayer, but it is not. It is a bold and audacious prayer. We can see that intent in the parable of the midnight visitor which follows. Here we see two men in typical male trash-talk style yelling at each other through a locked door. This is not a religious sounding conversation, but a guy who wants to just go to sleep and his neighbor yelling to borrow three loaves of bread with shameless persistence. It is an audacious request and that is the type of prayer that Luke is portraying as the Lord’s prayer. We too brazenly ask that God gives us bread, our daily needs. We boldly ask that God brings his kingdom, forgives us and does not allow wrong things to entice us.

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