Matthew 6: 1-14

“Take care not to flaunt your religion in public to be noticed by others. Otherwise, you will have no recognition from your Father in the heavens….And when you pray, don’t act like phonies. They love to stand up and pray in houses of worship and on street corners, so they can show off in public. I swear to you, their prayers have been answered! When you pray, go into a room by yourself and shut the door behind you. Then pray to your Father, the hidden one. And your Father, with his eye for the hidden, will applaud you. And when you pray, you should not babble on as the pagans do. They imagine that the length of their prayers will command attention. So don’t imitate them. After all, your Father knows what you need before you ask. Instead, you should pray like this:

Our Father in the heavens,

your name be revered.

Impose your imperial rule,

enact your rule on earth as you have in heaven.

Provide us with the bread we need for the day.

Forgive us our debts

to the extent that we have forgiven those in debt to us.

And please don’t subject us to test after test,

but rescue us from the evil one.

For if you forgive others their failures and offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive yours. And if you don’t forgive the failures and mistakes of others, your Father won’t forgive yours.”

from The Scholars Version – Funk, Hoover & The Jesus Seminar (Polebridge: 1993.)

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