Phrases for meditative prayer, based upon the Lord’s prayer:

Our Father

To pray "Our Father" is to know whose we are.
Every time I pray "Our Father," and another does the same,
my family grows as my brothers and sisters multiply.

Who art in heaven

Not a slum in sight. All God's rooms are penthouses!
Our Father, who's always home.

Hallowed be thy name

Your name is not only a name—it is power and love on the move.
You are wherever your name is spoken, and all places in between,
and all places in between those spaces,
and in between those spaces….

Thy kingdom come

There cannot be a kingdom without a king.
Amazing place! All the king's subjects are the king's children.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Your will for us was a garden unequaled for joy.
And God says: "You cannot and shall not be happy until you trust me with everything."

Give us this day our daily bread

We have been taught to pray for bread.
Our physical needs are as holy as our spiritual needs.
Our bread is as holy as our prayers because
Our bread is God’s answering gift.

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us

To forgive someone who did not know they hurt you is love.
To forgive someone who is not sorry
is to love without reward…but not for long.

And lead us not into temptation

The complaint: What's the use, Lord, we're nothing anyway you look at it. One scorching breath from your mouth and all we amount to is a wisp of smoke.
The Gardener: Relax, at ease. I'll make you bloom when I'm ready. Don't try to force the flower. I know where you best fit into my bouquet.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory

ABOUT THE KINGDOM:
It's all God’s.
We may borrow or steal from God for a lifetime,
but it all goes back to Christ.
It's his kingdom, his world, not ours.
Pretending to own it all, or even a little,
is less fun than playing like a child in Our Father's yard.

Forever and ever. Amen

One forever is not enough to describe the length of God's rule.
Amen, it is true, you are Lord and we are family.