A New Lord's Prayer for Awakening

You first heard about this new Lord's Prayer on the More Love Podcast in episode 19

Now we're delighted that the following article about the prayer has been published in the Embrace Newsletter from A Course of Love

 A New Lord’s Prayer for Awakening

By James Willis and Helen Reynolds

The time has come for a new Lord’s Prayer.  A prayer that reminds us of what we have forgotten.  A prayer that helps create a relationship so close, so strong, so comforting that harmony becomes normal and love becomes evident in all situations. A prayer that brings us closer to God, to the source of miracles, the great I AM.

The prayer that we would like to introduce you to is a new Lord’s Prayer. It came by revelation through James Willis, a long-time student of A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love.

Many people are familiar with the Lord’s Prayer, or the Our Father: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Have you noticed that the words suggest a separation between heaven and earth? Between God and ourselves? Between the Kingdom and everyday life? But the Second Coming of Christ is upon us, and the time has arrived to replace all ideas of separation with a willingness to sustain our divine relationship in everyday life.

The biblical foundation for understanding the familiar Lord’s Prayer is stated in John 4:24: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. While the classic Lord’s Prayer is true, it requires a spiritual re-interpretation to close the gap in our divine relationship.

We need a prayer that directly overcomes separation.  A Course of Love redefines prayer as “the act of consciously choosing union.” It goes on to say, “With this definition, you can see how your life can become a prayer. This does not negate the fact that a prayer is also a constant dialogue of asking, being answered, and responding. This is the aspect of prayer that makes of it an act of creation. (T1:4.3, 6.3)

Let’s discuss the prayers.

“Our Father who art in heaven” suggests that God is in heaven, a separate location from us on earth. Consider a prayer that from the very first line rekindles a comforting divine relationship: “Our Father, my constant friend and guide.” Instantly making the prayer personal and reassuring.

The second line in the prayer James received does not have an equivalent in the familiar version, but it activates our choice for unity by saying: “Help me to see Your Light in every brother and sister I meet.” Seeing beyond separation is utterly fundamental for living in truth.

Next: “Hallowed be Thy name.” What is the name of the Father of the Kingdom of Heaven? After centuries of religious dogma, even tyranny, in “thy name,” God isn’t always associated with love. Yet ACOL confirms “the content of God is love” (C:P.34.1). The new Lord’s Prayer reminds us of the truth: And to live in the knowing that Thy name is Love.

Next: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Literally interpreted, this suggests heaven will come to earth sometime in the future. The words James received “Thy kingdom is within in me, and Thy Creation is unfolding, here and now as I speak.” bring heaven into our current reality as our state of being.  In truth, we are co- creating heaven on earth with every moment of divine relationship.

The next line of the familiar prayer is also prone to literal interpretation: “Give us this day our daily bread . . .” What James received encourages miracle-mindedness and an active participation in divine relationship: “Consciously living in the flow of Loving Creation fulfils all needs to perfection . . .

Next: “. . . and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass  against us.” What forgiveness is required? Our perceived separation from our Creator. Despite being made in the image and likeness of Spirit, we can perceive separation from Spirit and experience life in the illusion of isolation, fear, and confusion. ACIM says, “As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself.” (L 46) James received these truthful words: “. . . And the only forgiveness required is by me, of myself. And then I can know who I truly AM.”

Next: “Lead us not into temptation. . .” God cannot lead us into temptation, only we can! Temptation is acceptance of the illusory “reality”, which only “exists” in the perceived separation from and denial of Spirit, Love. Instead, James received: “Living as who I truly AM I know not of temptation . . .

And asking to “Deliver us from evil” makes evil real! Evil is not real. It is part of the illusion. The new prayer says, “what I once saw as evil is a call for love that I can help to answer.” Reminding us that in truth, temptation and evil are only evidence of the denial of love, which is also a call for love.

And finally: “For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen.” The words ‘for ever and ever’ reinforce the idea of time, which is also part of the illusion. There really is only this divine moment of NOW.

The new prayer reinforces who we truly are—individuations of Love: “For in reality, You and I, Father, are One, and OURS is the Kingdom, and WE are the Power and the Glory. In this eternal moment of Now, I AM one with Thee. Amen.”

The words of this new Lord’s Prayer are so active that they effortlessly elevate us into divine relationship by affirming our desire to live in spiritual truth and to do the creative work required of us to live in the Kingdom of Heaven, the House of Truth.

Altogether, then, here is the new Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father, my constant friend and guide,

Help me to see Your Light in every brother and sister I meet,

And to live in the knowing that Thy name is Love.

Thy Kingdom is within me, and Thy Creation is unfolding, here and now, as I speak.

Consciously living in the flow of Loving Creation fulfils all needs to perfection,

And the only forgiveness required is by me, of myself,

And then I can know who I truly AM.

Living as who I truly AM, I know not of temptation,

And what I once saw as evil, is a call for love that I can help to answer.

For in reality, You and I, Father, are One, and OURS is the Kingdom,

And WE are the Power and the Glory.

In this eternal moment of NOW,

I AM one with Thee. Amen!

The words of this new Lord’s Prayer nurture our relationship with the Kingdom of God by activating our divine memory. As ACOL so eloquently says, Prayer is but reproducing and recollecting a divine memory and divine memory cannot help but produce a divine outcome. Said in another way, prayer reproduces the truth and allows the truth to exist as it is. Prayer does this because it is the act of consciously choosing union. Choosing union moves you into the real state of “all” from the unreal state of the in-between. Only from within a state that is real can anything happen in truth. (T1:6.2)

The new Lord’s Prayer returns us to a direct relationship with Love, and thus returns us to the power of our true being.

James shared more of his experience receiving this prayer on the More Love Podcast, www.livetruetoyou.com/jameswillis