Sunday 27th July 2025 – The Sixth Sunday after Trinity

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Merciful God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as pass our understanding: pour into our hearts such love toward you that we, loving you in and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

The Collect for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity

We have two versions of the Lord’s Prayer today – one in our readings and one later on in our service. The first thing that perhaps comes into our minds is the fact that they are different and the question arises, why? As I have explained recently as we travel through the Gospel according to St. Luke, St. Luke writes his Gospel because his circumstances were completely different from those of Matthew, Mark and John. Luke was not one of the Twelve or one of Jesus’ followers during his ministry. St. Luke had become a Christian years after these times, and as he collected stories about Jesus, not every detail and fact was clear. Also, it’s possible for us to forget how different the world was at that time. If we want to know something today, it is possible for us to search the web with the mobile phone immediately. Just a few decades ago, if we wanted to know something, we would need to go to the library or look through books at home, hoping that we would find the answers.

That’s how someone like St. Luke wrote his Gospel. Today, we immediately see written details online, and while people were writing things during the time of Jesus, a lot of things were transmitted by word of mouth, as we say. Quickly, people began to collect the words of Jesus, and as we look at each Gospel, it is clear that collections of Jesus’ teachings were present in the lives of the first disciples. Perhaps two versions of the Lord’s Prayer reflect the development of Church life from the beginning, where the first believers in Jesus found their way as they tried to walk along the way as People of the Way, as the Acts of the Apostles describe them. The first believers had a way or manner of looking at things, and as we think about the Lord’s Prayer, we see how what is mentioned in the Lord’s Prayer describes the way we see life and not just ask for a variety of things. The way we see life shapes what is in our prayers as a result.

Something else that may seem very strange to us, on top of seeing two versions of the Lord’s Prayer and not just one in the Gospels, is the fact that the disciples ask to learn how to pray. They were faithful Jews, very familiar with prayer and how to pray as faithful Jews. Again, we could ask, ‘what’s going on here?’ We have some sort of answer because the disciples have noticed that the followers of St. John the Baptist have been taught about how to pray by him. Here, we return to what I said about the first believers finding their way along a new way of life. There was something different about what St. John the Baptist said; there was something different with Jesus’ teaching. John’s followers and followers of Jesus may have seen that they needed pray now in a way that was different from the past.

The first Christians had same question in the life of the Early Church in the years after the time of Jesus. By the time St. Luke wrote his Gospel, Jesus had returned to Heaven for many years. During his ministry, his disciples had prayed for the coming of the Kingdom. Jesus had died on the Cross and been resurrected, and had gone to heaven in order for the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit to come true. They are waiting for Jesus to return. What does praying for the coming of the Kingdom mean to them? What does praying for the coming of the Kingdom mean for the first Christians who faced persecution? We could ask the same kind of question as we look at the things that have happened in the lives of Christians and in the history of the world through the centuries and even today, when we see what is happening in the world.

Many people would say that when we see the needs that are around us, we should pray. No one would disagree with this in itself, but sometimes, those who say we should pray say this because they feel no one has talked about praying as we think about the needs that are around us. In turn, others would say, yes, we pray, we pray faithfully, but the question that hasn’t been asked or answered is, pray for what and for what kind of reasons? Beyond us saying that there is  praying and praying, some would say that there is praying and praying as Christians. For what do Christians pray? For what kind of reasons do Christians pray for the things they pray for?

As Christians today, we come to Jesus with the same request: ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’ There are different ways for us to see the Lord’s Prayer apart from us saying that Jesus himself taught us how to pray. The Lord’s Prayer causes us to ask questions about what kind of things are in our prayers. Do our prayers seek the coming of God’s Kingdom or our desires? In our prayers are we trying to treat others in the way we would like to be treated when we think about forgiveness for example? Do we pray only for the things that are necessary for daily life or for much more thinking about our daily bread? We usually divide the Lord’s Prayer into several lessons concerning prayer thinking about each line of prayer.

Yet the Lord’s Prayer teaches us to pray in a different way if we are able to see the idea that runs through all prayer, whether in the words of St. Luke in our reading today or in the prayer that is recited later in our service. I can see an idea that runs through all of the prayer. There may be a number of ideas, if we were to share our thoughts about the Lord’s Prayer. The idea that is in my mind is the idea of relationship: How the Lord’s Prayer asks us to think about the relationship between people and things and how different people and different things relate to each other. In a way, this is obvious, because the Lord’s Prayer begins by talking about God as our Father, a relationship that is unique. Then, later, we pray for forgiveness, something else that belongs to relationships. While these are obvious, the idea of a relationship may not be so obvious in the other things in the prayer, but they are there.

For example, we pray for daily bread. Bread is something that is simple, that speaks about basic needs. Yet, in itself, bread symbolizes how different things relate to each other. You have to have things like flour, water, yeast, salt and maybe other things working together. Bread symbolizes how it is impossible for us to have one thing without other things playing their part as well. As we pray for people who are starving in our world today, we see that we need to think about and pray for things like peace and justice and freedom apart from bread. When we pray for something in particular, or someone in particular, do we think about how one thing relates to many other things, about how an individual relates to many other people? If we were to do this, we would learn how to pray in a way that Jesus taught us to pray.

In the power of the Spirit, and in union with Christ Jesus, let us pray to the Father.

Merciful Father, we pray for ourselves and all Christians, that we may be a royal priesthood, a holy people, to the praise of Jesus Christ our Redeemer. In the Anglican Communion, we pray for the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

We pray for John our bishop and for all bishops and other ministers, that they may remain faithful to their calling and rightly proclaim the word of truth. In our Diocese, we pray for the Lay Reader in Penderi Ministry Area.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

We pray for children and young people and for all who are new in the Faith. Direct and guide them in the way that leads to you. We pray for those preparing for Confirmation in the months ahead. Give your grace to all who are learning to pray and to those who find feelings hard to voice.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

We pray for Charles our King, and for those who bear the responsibility of government in this and every nation, that your people may rejoice in your gifts of true justice and peace. We remember the people of Ukraine. May those who hold positions of responsibility and influence work for the good of everyone.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

We pray for the people of this nation, asking that you will show your mercy to them all. We thank you for the opportunity to enjoy holidays and time with friends and family, for us all to be renewed in physical, mental and spiritual strength.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

We pray for all who are sick or in any other kind of trouble, that you will deliver them and keep them in our love. We pray for hospitals in our area and for those who provide social care.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

We pray for the victims of sin and those who minister to them, that you will be their help and defence. We pray for charities working with those in greatest need in our world today because of human cruelty and conflict.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

We pray that we may all be strengthened in our faith, our love and our service. Help us to remember how we can make a difference to our world whether locally or internationally, whether in the small things in life or on a far greater scale through our personal choices.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

We pray for the departed, commending them to your eternal love. We give thanks for those who helped us to see how life is eternal and how your love never ends.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

We commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to you, Lord God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Merciful Father,

Accept these prayers for the sake of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ.