Does the grammar of the Lord’s Prayer matter? How do you say these words when you pray them?
“Your kingdom come; Your will be done
On earth as in heaven.”
We usually say,
Your kingdom come, (pause)
Your will be done, (pause)
because “come” and “d0ne” rhyme (technically half-rhyme), we connect “kingdom come” with “will be done.”
Grammatically the phrase should connect “Your will be done” with “on earth.” “Your will be done on earth.” We ask for the kingdom and the will of God to be “done on earth.” (Sorry for the grammar lesson–former English teacher)
That’s the way we treat Christmas, as a rhyme, not a request or a hope. The kingdom does not come with a forced rhyme, but by receiving the kingdom of heaven that is already coming. . The kingdom of heaven is coming, but it is not here and will not be here as long as we attempt to bring it in with frenzied activity. We have to say the prayer “your will be done on earth” and mean it.
We obstruct the kingdom with endless responsibilities and anxieties: Christmas shopping for the perfect gift, preparing the most magnificent feast ever, attending as many Christmas celebrations as possible, getting out the annual Christmas letter (my specialty), taking on the burden of peace in the Middle East. Rounding up the spirit of Christmas on time and in the right place.
It’s all in the Christmas spirit, but it’s taken to excess, because we gravitate to responsibility like lemmings swarming toward the cliff. We believe the harder we work, the more likely the kingdom will come, whatever we consider the kingdom to be. We are hurrying toward the best, the utmost, the utterly rewarding and forgetting the kingdom is coming without human fanfare.
It’s no news to anyone who’s watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” yet we stumble into the same trap of excess every year; we run toward same treacherous cliff of responsibility. We believe we will bring the kingdom by our earnest insanity.
“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What if this prayer was answered without our intervention?
The irony of the Lord’s Prayer is that we are asking for God’s presence, but acting as if we were bringing it by our intensity. We could leave room for the coming kingdom, whatever that kingdom may be. It could be the innocent baby in the manger, the community of a stressed-out family, or peace in Syria. It comes because we make room for it, not because we try to handle more than humanly possible.
“Your will be done on earth, as in heaven.” Let us pray. And wait. The kingdom is coming.