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The Early Church Teaches Us…How To Pray! Instructions on the Lord’s Prayer from the 300’s


not for itching ears It's Old but it still goodIt’s old….But it is still GOOD!

Quite good as a matter of fact.

Recently I read through perhaps the earliest Catechism of the church, St Cyril of Jerusalem’s Catechism c. 350ad. The only possible earlier one still in existence today is the Didache, though some people dispute that being a Catechism.

Reading through that was simply amazing. I will be sharing a lot on this in upcoming posts. Today, I wanted to give you a taste. Enjoy Cyril’s instruction on what the Lord’s Prayer means. You might be a little surprised! Read the rest of this entry

An Interesting Take on The Lord’s Prayer


prayerlordsI found it rummaging through a rack of used books. Rather surprised to see it there, I quickly picked it up. I thought to myself, “How often will one run across an obscure book like this?” After perusing through it for a few moments, I turned to The Lord’s Prayer, and the deal was closed.

This unique and thought-provoking version of The Lord’s Prayer is found in “A New Zealand Prayer Book”. We hope Read the rest of this entry

Teach Us How to…Live? The Early Churches Take on “The Lord’s Prayer” Part 2


“Lord, teach us to pray…”

You would have reacted the same way, I suppose. The disciples had seen Jesus do incredible miracles. They also watched him pray a lot. They put two and two together and surmised that Jesus’ power was a result of his prayer. Now, every first century Jew knew how to pray. But nobody could do the miracles that Jesus was doing. The disciples wanted to know how to do that!

So they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. That inquiry resulted in what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.” A short lesson on how to pray that the church has held dear ever since.

But is it a lesson on how one should pray?

“Yes, but”, is how I think I would answer that.

Yes, Jesus taught the disciples how to pray here. But if you look closer at what Jesus taught, I think He was actually Read the rest of this entry

Teach Us How To…Live? an Early Church Fathers Take on The Lord’s Prayer


“Lord, teach us to pray…”

You would have reacted the same way, I suppose.  The disciples had seen Jesus do incredible miracles.  They also watched him pray a lot.  They put two and two together and surmised that Jesus’ power was a result of his prayer.  Now, every first century Jew knew how to pray.  But nobody could do the miracles that Jesus was doing.  The disciples wanted to know how to do that!

So they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.  That inquiry resulted in what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.”  A short lesson on how to pray that the church has held dear ever since.

But is it a lesson on how one should pray?

“Yes, but”, is how I think I would answer that.

Yes, Jesus taught the disciples how to pray here.  But if you look closer at what Jesus taught, I think He was actually Read the rest of this entry