You are such a lawyer, FK! :) Do you really think I am going to "forget" the rest of the Lord's Prayer? But you seem to have selectively done just that!
Well, let me remind you: "Give us this day...and Forgive us...because we have forgiven...And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One.
What we see in the first part of the Lord's Prayer are the usual platitudes given to those in power. We also recognize that His will is universal. He is the absolute Sovereign of all that exists (in heaven and on earth).
But, once the platitudes are made, supplications follow. We ask God to give us, to forgive us conditionally (because we have forgiven), we implore Him not to lead us into temptation (why would God do that?), and to deliver, that is, to rescue us from the evil one.
The "meat" of the Lord's Prayer is not telling Him how great God is (the platitudes are considered a required introduction when addressing someone superior even though that someone knows he is superior), but to supplicate Him to feed/sustain us, to forgive us, to lead us in the right direction and to save us.
FK, people pray because, one way or another, they ask for mercy. They pray in hopes and desires that God would hear their prayers and grant them their hopes. People don't pray to God to tell Him what happened at work.
I will never forget that song of old "Oh Lord, won't you give me a Mercedes Benz..."
Even if you pray for no other reason but for God to hear you, you still want to get His attention, FK. You don't pray to a wall. You pray so that you may be heard. You want God to acknowledge your prayer. To say otherwise is to make your prayer meaningless repetitions. So, the motive and the purpose of your prayer is to get something, even if it is no more than His ear.
You are such a lawyer, FK! :)
Well thank you! :)
Do you really think I am going to "forget" the rest of the Lord's Prayer? But you seem to have selectively done just that!
Nope, I'm just talking about these lines.
What we see in the first part of the Lord's Prayer are the usual platitudes given to those in power. We also recognize that His will is universal. He is the absolute Sovereign of all that exists (in heaven and on earth).
OK, but what you appear to comparatively dismiss as platitudes I call legitimate praise through prayer. I would imagine that many of your Church's standard prayers include such praises. I was just trying to show that "prayer" is more than just asking for stuff.
The "meat" of the Lord's Prayer is not telling Him how great God is (the platitudes are considered a required introduction when addressing someone superior even though that someone knows he is superior), but to supplicate Him to feed/sustain us, to forgive us, to lead us in the right direction and to save us.
Forgetting any notion of "need", God either "wants" to be given glory or He does not. These parts of prayer that you do not seem to think are very important are a very real way in which we give Him glory. There are lots of these passages in scriptures, and I do not see them as fluff. I think they are important.