Confessions Fifth Petition Lord’s Prayer 1

WORSHIP LHoly God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, Chave mercy and hear us. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen 2

Worship - 2 C. I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the ◦Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen 3

Worship - 3 LShow us your mercy, O Lord, Cand grant us your salvation. LClothe your ministers with righteousness. CLet your people sing with joy. LGive peace, O Lord, in all the world; Cfor only in you can we live in safety. LLord, keep this nation under your care, Cand guide us in the way of justice and truth. LLet your way be known upon earth; Cyour saving health among all nations. LLet not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten, Cnor the hope of the poor be taken away. LCreate in us clean hearts, O God, Cand sustain us with your Holy Spirit. LThe Lord be with you. CAnd also with you. 4

Worship - 4 LWe give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have this day so graciously protected us. We beg you to forgive us all our sins and the wrong which we have done. By your great mercy defend us from all the perils and dangers of this night. Into your hands we commend our bodies and souls, and all that is ours. Let your holy angels have charge of us, that the wicked one have no power over us. CAmen LLet us bless the Lord. CThanks be to God. LThe + Lord bless us, defend us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life. CAmen 5

Experience 6 What do you do when you are under stress? Rank order your 10 best stress busters so that #1 helps you the most. Do your stress busters bring you closer to God?

Discussion & reflection: The Lord’s Prayer Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Q. What is this? A. We ask in this prayer that our heavenly Father would not regard our sins or deny these petitions on their account, for we are worthy of nothing for which we ask, nor have we earned it. Instead we ask that God would give us all things by grace, for we sin daily and indeed earn only punishment. So, on the other hand, we, too, truly want to forgive heartily and do good gladly to those who sin against us. 7

Discussion & reflection: Luke 6:27 But I say to you that hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you…34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. What does this passage mean? Origen ( ) “If any one has already become a friend of Jesus so as to be taught by His spirit... he might know the true meaning … in regard to these things...but we who fall short of the greatness of the friendship of Jesus must be content if we can babble a little about the passage. 8

Discussion & reflection: Cyril of Alexandria ( ) He requires his disciples to be gentle and slow to anger, so that they may be able to say blamelessly in their prayers, “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted unto us.” …By forgiving the brothers what they do to us, we will then certainly find Christ, the Savior of all, gentle and ready to show us mercy.” On a scale of 1 (low) to 10 high: ◦Are you gentle? ◦Are you slow to anger? ◦Are you eager to forgive? ◦Are you eager to show mercy? ◦Total your scores (between 4 and 40) ◦Where do you need help most? 9

Discussion & reflection: Origen ( ) The person inspired by Jesus and known by his fruits as the apostles were, has received the Holy Spirit. There used to be a bumper sticker which read, “Vietnam: never forgive, never forget” What do you think about this? You are running for a political office. Your opponent, telling really big lies about you, wins the election. In your concession speech, what do you say? You have a child in school, when a man, who lost his job and can’t afford his medicine, starts acting strangely, comes to the school, shoots and kills several students including yours. What is your response? 10

Discussion & reflection: Augustine ( ) Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” Is this necessary except in this life? For in the other we shall have no debts. For what are debts but sins? See, ye are on the point of being baptized; then all your sins will be blotted out: none whatever will remain. Whatever evil ye have done, in deed, or word, or desire, or thought, all will be blotted out. And yet if in the life which is after baptism there were security from sin, we should not learn such a prayer as this, “Forgive us our debts.” Only let us by all means do what comes next, “As we forgive our debtors.” Are you baptized? When? Where? By whom? When you are forgiven, are you forgiven only as much as you deserve or completely and forever forgiven? How are we to forgive others? 11

Discussion & reflection: Does saying, “My side is better than your side” put you in the proper mood to forgive? When we make jokes about other people are we more or less likely to forgive them? When we complain about other people, are we more or less likely to forgive them? After God tells us we are forgiven, do we also forgive ourselves, or hold on to the memory of our own sin? If we can’t forgive, do we still expect to be forgiven? 12