Prayer is the lifting up of heart and mind to God. In prayer we adore him, we confess our sins and ask to be forgiven, we thank him, we pray for others and for ourselves, we listen to him and seek to know his will. The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, when they asked him how they should pray.

Most Christians know the prayer by heart in their own language, and it is used today by every Christian tradition, though there are sometimes minor variations in the wording. It has a place in every Anglican act of worship, and forms a pattern for prayer for Christians:

• We bless God and pray for our world, our communities and our lives to be shaped by God’s will;
• We pray for daily needs to be met,
• For forgiveness for wrongdoings, strength to resist temptation and protection from danger.

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.

The text is found in two slightly different versions in the New Testament – Matthew 6.9–13 and Luke 11.1–4. The prayer as we use it today is a version that was adapted by the early Christian communities from the two Gospel texts, and it was taught in this form to new converts. The final sentence, giving glory to God, is called the doxology. It is not part of the New Testament text, but was added very early on. The Lord’s Prayer is occasionally said without it.