In this chapter the truths of the Lord's Prayer are made to shine
forth. This is done by the use of a number of common candles.
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet," says the old true Book. We will
turn on the light of the Lord's Prayer and let it shine into our
hearts so that we may see God's truth.
1. "Our Father." Here introduce a tall _white_ candle. Let this stand
for the words "Our Father." Highest and tallest of them all. "The
Higher Light." God is light. The Light of the World and the ages.
Have this light burning before the meeting opens. Don't light it as a
part of the exercise. This light never had a beginning. How dark this
world would be if this light should grow dim or go out! But God is
_Our Father_ and he has promised he will never leave us alone, and in
this prayer we are told to ask him for the things we need. A little
chap was busy with his lessons, and they proved so hard for him to
study that the tears began to flow down his little cheeks. His father
noticed this and came over and sat by his side and helped him through
with the hard part of the lesson. The father said, "Now crying did
not help you, my son, did it?" The little fellow replied, "No, it did
not help me, but it brought to my side some one who did." Prayer
brings to our side "Our Father in heaven," and he can and will help
us.
2. "Who art in heaven." For this sentence secure a _blue_ candle
which reminds us of the blue heavens above us. God is beyond the
blue, but by his light is everywhere, and from his throne in heaven
is ever watching us. My own dear mother was a little old-fashioned
mother, and from her window watched her children play in the
backyard. Her watchful eye was ever on us, and if some wild boy of
the street jumped over the fence and annoyed us, Mother saw him
first, and came down-stairs into the yard, and the bad boy soon
disappeared. My little brothers and myself were always glad for
mother's watchful eye from the upper window. So our Father looks down
from his window in heaven, and we are safe and happy because Father
is looking down upon us.
3. "Hallowed be thy name." For this sentence secure a _green_ candle.
Green is the most enduring of colors. The cedar and pine are green
all the year. Winter and summer it shows forth its green just the
same. Green is the everlasting color. The name of God is the name
"Everlasting." It will endure forever; so long as this old earth
shall stand his name will be spoken, and by human hearts be supremely
loved. When this world has passed away in the life of the ages his
name will also be the highest and best of all. In this prayer we are
taught to reverence this eternal name. This is the only part of the
prayer where God seems to be thinking about himself, and asks his
followers to protect and revere his name. A little girl, one night,
closed her little prayer by saying, "and please, dear God, take good
care of yourself." She was thinking of God, so this prayer wants us
to think of his name and keep it holy.
4. "Thy kingdom come." These words are represented by a _purple_
candle. Purple is the royal color. The robes of the king are in
purple. The decorations of the throne are all in this majestic color.
Purple is the kingdom color. May God hasten the coming of the Royal
Purple Day. You can help God to answer this prayer by trying to bring
in his kingdom. Whenever you help one another, and are kind to each
other, whenever you are truthful and faithful to God, whenever you
let your light shine, then you are helping God to bring in his
kingdom.
5. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This sentence can
be represented by a _brown_ candle representing the color of the
earth, the brown ground of the world. If so desired, another blue
candle may be introduced to represent, as in a former instance, the
blue of the heavens. It would be best, if possible, to get a
candlestick holding two candles to represent this truth. This should
be done so the two blue candles may not be confused one with the
other. The truth of God's will being done on earth as perfectly as in
heaven is the cardinal truth of this sentence. A little boy who
wanted to go out to the park with his mother, noticed it had begun to
rain, and soon it was raining very hard. He turned to his mother and
said, "Do you suppose God wanted it to rain?" His mother replied,
"God knew best, and so sent the rain." The little boy replied, "I
think it would be safe to let him have his own way." I think the
little fellow was right. God knows best. His will must be done.
6. "Give us this day our daily bread." Represent these words by a
_yellow_ candle, yellow standing for the color of the golden grain
from which we make our bread. This is a prayer for physical needs.
The Greek word for bread means "food," so this is a prayer for all
our temporal needs to sustain this present body, which is the present
home of the soul. God wants to feed the world. He likes to give
because he loves us. God also gave us the spiritual bread, the bread
of life, which is his Son, and so supplies all our spiritual needs.
Trust God, live simply, work honestly, and verily thou shalt be fed;
so pray daily, "Give us this day our daily bread."
7. "Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors." This sentence is
represented by a _silver_ candle, which is the color of the coin by
which we pay our debts. This is a hard prayer for some of us to say,
when we remember how some evil people have hurt us. This prayer tells
us to forgive, because that is what God does when people by their
wicked deeds hurt him. Put down the number 490, and as you look at
it, what do you think it means? It contains a commandment of Jesus.
This is just what Jesus means by that figure. It tells us how many
times we are to forgive one another. He says we are to forgive
seventy times seven. That gives us the figure 490. This prayer
teaches us to forgive our enemy four hundred and ninety times, and by
that time God will soften the heart of our foe, and he will no longer
be an enemy.
8. "Lead us not into temptation." Here we introduce a _red_ candle,
red standing for sin, into which temptation, if we yield to it, is
sure to lead us. In this prayer we are to pray to be delivered from
sin. We must all have some kind of temptation, God had one Son
without sin, but he never had a Son without temptation. He says,
"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he
shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them
that love him." So temptation resisted is blessed. How can we resist
temptation? By going to God in prayer. When tempted pray the prayer
of Jesus, "Bring us not into temptation," as a revised edition of
this prayer puts it. You can resist temptation by keeping on God's
side of the fence. An old minister said to a little boy who was
trying to serve God, and he a Christian: "When tempted, my boy, kneel
down and pray for God's help, but never climb over the fence into the
devil's grounds, and then kneel down and pray for God's help. Pray
from God's side of the fence." That was good advice. Do not run into
temptation, never go on the devil's side of the fence.
9. "But deliver us from evil." The _black_ candle is produced which
represents the dark deeds from which we pray that we may be
delivered. Black deeds are dead black, because the wages of sin is
death. Keep the black out of our life. Evil thoughts are seeds from
which black fruits of sin are raised. Think white thoughts, that will
make our lives right, and we will not do evil things.
10. "For thine is the kingdom." Produce another double candlestick,
holding first a _purple_ candle standing for the words, "Thine is the
kingdom," and a _white_ candle representing the great white throne,
the seat of God's power, God has power to do all the things we ask of
him in this prayer. We have asked the Father Allpowerful to help us.
He can, and he will. History tells us of Hudson, the navigator, who
was exploring in the arctic regions when his crew mutinied, and they
put him and his son, and one or two sailors into a little boat, and
left them to drift on the cold northern waters until death came and
released them from all their hardships. The boat was found, months
later, floating among the icebergs of the frozen Arctic Ocean. The
father was in an upright position, as if steering the boat, with his
little son between his knees, both frozen to death. You could see, by
the tightened hand, how he had grasped the handle of the rudder, and
by the terrible stare in his frozen eyes, what a determined man he
was, but his face was full of despair and woe. He had not been able
to save his son. Our Father has power to save all that come unto him,
and power to keep them until the end.
11. "And the glory forever and ever." This sentence is represented by
the _orange_ candle. The _orange_ color stands for the glory of God,
as it is the dominant color in the glorious sunset from which shines
forth the glory of God. The great painters of the Middle Ages
represented the flame in the "burning bush" as being orange in color,
which in their day was understood to stand for Jehovah. This last
sentence is like a great doxology sung at the close of the prayer. It
is like a grand organ chanting a loud "Amen." And now here we have
the truth of the Lord's Prayer shining. No prayer is so full of
divine radium as The Lord's Prayer. It is composed of sixty-six
words, but this congress of words contains might and glory that have
never before appeared in so many words. These sixty-six words are
Holy Chapel Bells which call the world to prayer.
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