Goal
The goal of this Edge Night is to examine the Our Father and see where it comes from and for the youth to understand the meaning of the words we pray each time we say it.
Edge Night At A Glance
The Our Father is the perfect prayer given to us directly by Christ. The disciples asked Jesus, “Teach us how to pray,” and thus Jesus gave us the words. In the Gospel of Matthew, prior to giving us the words of the Our Father, Jesus also discusses the posture of our heart in prayer. Read and pray through Matthew 6:5-8 and reflect on what Jesus is saying concerning prayer. Although most of us have memorized the Our Father, we can often forget the deeper meaning of the words we are saying. This night is designed to help the Core Team and the youth examine the words more closely so as to allow the words to become a prayer. The Our Father gives us the way in which we should approach God in our prayer. We begin by acknowledging Him as Father and that He is holy (hallowed). As we pray, we acknowledge that we desire for God’s will be done and then ask Him for those things we need. Hardest of all, we ask the Lord to help us love our enemies and those who have hurt us. Finally, we complete our prayer by asking God to help us when we are tempted.
The night will begin with a skit of someone praying the Our Father in an all-too-familiar fashion. He will be interrupted by God, and the remainder of the prayer is a conversation between God and the person praying. God teaches the person about the Our Father and challenges the person praying to fulfill their promises. The Proclaim explains more components of the Our Father and challenges the youth to pray the prayer and not simply say it. In small groups the youth will re-write the Our Father prayer into words that they might normally use on an everyday basis – to help them decipher some of the language used. The night will close with a challenge and an invitation to look deeper at what we pray in the Our Father.