Mat 6:9 (TEV) - Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honored;

We celebrate the omnipotent power and ever-presence of God, our mutual, loving Father/Mother. ^[2]

Mat 6:10 ^[3] (TEV) - may your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We celebrate that God’s kingdom is the only kingdom and that He alone rules:

• We (even if only silently) acknowledge, reject, and rebuke all sin in ourselves and in others, including thoughts and acts of terrorism and revenge (recognizing that God requires honest confession and repentance for all sin, in order truly to understand that divine Love, God, is the only real power and the only real Life);
• We gratefully recognize the brotherhood of all mankind;
• We earnestly feel and tangibly reach out in charitableness to all mankind; and
• We bless and forgive all those who have committed acts of terrorism, revenge, and all other wrongs against any of us -- against any family member, any friend, any group, any nation, any part of humanity.

Mat 6:11 (TEV) - Give us today the food we need.

We celebrate that God eternally continues to give sustenance, life, love, and wisdom to all, including: those in the four planes; those in the destroyed buildings; all rescue workers and others who did not walk away from the attack scenes; all who have been physically or emotionally injured by the attacks; and all who still are threatened by any form of terrorism or revenge.

Mat 6:12 (TEV) - Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.

We celebrate that we have forgiven others -- and that we ourselves can be forgiven -- on the basis that man in God’s image ^[4] can’t be a victim, because he/she is subject to, dependent upon, and sustained by only God.

Mat 6:13 (TEV) - Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.

We celebrate that as God’s children, in the image ^[4] of God, we cannot succumb to temptation -- to hatred, revenge, fear, apathy, or any evil influences; rather, we only can express and experience God's love, care, wisdom, and omnipotent rule, all to the glory of God!

In the verses of the Lord's Prayer above (from the Today's English Version), the bold words represent the words that were in the original texts of Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer. Many biblical scholars have concluded that Luke's version more nearly represents the original Lord's Prayer that Jesus first taught his disciples in Aramaic.

¹ References supporting each of the statements made above may be found in a detailed study of the Lord's Prayer at http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/prayer.htm and in the web links there that further explore each of the five parts of the Lord’s Prayer.

² To explore references to God as both Father and Mother, browse http://www.bibletexts.com/topics/father-mother-god.htm.

³ Also consistent with Mary Baker Eddy’s “A Rule for Motives and Acts,” Church Manual 40:7-11.

⁴ To explore the biblical teaching that man is the image/likeness of God, browse http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/image.htm.

* To read Robert Nguyen Cramer's account of and response to his having been about 1000 feet from the World Trade Center when the first airliner hit the first tower on September 11, 2001, see http://www.bibletexts.com/issues/response2attacks.htm.

To explore other relevant links, browse "Overcoming terrorism and revenge" at

http://www.bibletexts.com/topics/overcomingviolence.htm