I’m teaching a course called Creative Preaching and Communication for the next few weeks. It’s one of the reasons I needed to take a break for a couple days.

One of the texts we’re using is Preaching as Reminding: Stirring Memory in an Age of Forgetfulness.  Often, preachers look for originality and novelty and flash in our preaching. Given that some of us can’t remember how many scoops of coffee we just put in the basket, there a place for review. For retelling. For repeating the stories.

In a couple weeks (starting March 25), the church will be walking through the core story of Jesus, the death and resurrection. Between now and then, I decided that it would be fine to do some reviewing and retelling here.

When I started this blog, I wrote through the Gospel of Matthew. As part of that, I wrote through what we know as the Lord’s Prayer.

Every Sunday, in the prayer at the end of our chapel service, I say something like, “and God, because we often can’t figure out what to say to you, you even gave us words to pray, training wheels for our hearts and thoughts.”

And then we pray this prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

For you and for me, during the next few days, I’m going to reshare my reflections on this prayer.

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These are included in the book, Learning a New Routine: Reading the Sermon on the Mount a little bit at a time (I wrote about it a little a few months ago).

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For another reason for the break, check out Finding Words in Hard Times – the podcast. On YouTube and Apple Podcasts.