“Harold be thy name:” Making the Lord’s Prayer An Actual Part of Our Lives
I know almost everyone has heard the funny quote where a little girl tells her dad that God’s name is Harold because in the prayer they often say, they begin by intoning “Our Father, who art in Heaven, Harold be thy name…”
It’s a cute story but it highlights how kids—and adults—often don’t understand or fully hear the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray when they asked. We recite it before meals, in the middle of services, as a way to close a special time, or before bed. I had never thought of it as a living prayer we can use to focus and deepen our conversation with God until I had read about the hexagon life shape from Building a Discipling Culture by Mike Breen.
The premise of the hexagon is that we can remember the six parts of the Lord’s prayer as six themes: The Father’s character (Holy is Your name), The Father’s kingdom (Thy kingdom come…), The Father’s provision (Give us this day, thy daily bread…), The Father’s forgiveness (Forgive us our trespasses), The Father’s guidance (Lead us not into temptation…), and the Father’s protection (Deliver us from evil).
Far from just a memory device, the hexagon is something we can use in our personal, family, and corporate prayer lives.
I’ve used or experienced it in two ways: general prayers organized or specific prayers focused.
You can use the six themes to pray for all the requests on your mind or on the hearts of a group: Lord, we pray for your provision for Kathy who needs a new job, for Peter whose bike got stolen, for the children in refugee camps who are hungry tonight… Lord, we pray for your forgiveness, for the times we reacted in anger, for the person who stole Ezra’s bike, for those in the other political party we don’t understand,” and so on.
We’ve used this in preparing prayer newsletters for friends serving overseas, as a way to organize the variety of requests needing prayer, as headings more or less (Join us as we ask for The Father’s Guidance: Pray for us to decide which school is best for our children, pray for our friends who need to decide whether to move or stay, pray for Brother Sam who’s leading a Bible study,” etc…
I’ve found it helpful to write out or speak out each phrase before writing or speaking aloud the names/situations.
You can also use the hexagon/six themes of the Lord’s prayer to deeply and specifically pray for a person or heavy situation, for a nation or people group, for an enemy or kid’s friend at school.
I’ve hosted a prayer night for one of my parents where we took time praying for each theme in depth…”Lord, may this parent know your character as loving Father. May this parent know you are there, supportive and kind. Lord, may this parent experience your protection, release from addiction and depression, etc…”
A family might choose a friend from school and pray briefly for that child with the six statements: “Lord, we pray for Anya, that she’d know you’re a strong God (God’s character), that her family would be welcomed to this country better (God’s kingdom), that her dad would find a new job (God’s provision), that she and her siblings would forgive each other when they fuss and fight like we do :) (God’s forgiveness), that you’d help her family decide where to live in town (God’s guidance) and that you’d keep her from bad dreams or fears (God’s protection). Amen”
It can be simple or in depth, take a few minutes or an hour, taken one day for each theme or done all at once.
Here are some of the ways we’ve experienced the Lord’s prayer/hexagon:
To organize a prayer newsletter
With an accountability group for our time together
For a specific person who had overwhelming needs (with a group of friends)
In my car after hearing horrible news on the radio and feeling sick, as a way to give structure to groaning prayers
On a prayer walk around a neighborhood
As a weekly prayer time as a couple, trying a new rhythm of remembering who we said we’d pray for together
With a group at prayer stations, one theme at each table where you could silently reflect on written requests
I like how this shape makes the prayer more than something we just recite, even if the recitation is beautiful. I like how you can start with any of the sides and circle around, focusing on the themes Jesus highlighted instead of worrying if we got the words correct.
How have you experienced the Lord’s prayer as an individual, family, or faith community? How could you use the hexagon as a way to teach us (and those we love) how to pray?
