“Our Father…give us…forgive us…as we forgive…lead us…deliver us.” Matthew 6:9-13
“Generation Me describes anyone born in the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s…These are today's young people, those who take it for granted that the self comes first.”1 An article in Wickipedia describes another age group as the “Me Generation”… baby boomers.2 So what does this discussion of “me” have to do with prayer? When I think about it, a very large percentage of my time in prayer over the years is about me. Jesus when teaching us to pray, teaches us to talk to God in terms of “our”, “us” and “we”. The “Lord’s Prayer” is a “we” prayer not a “me” prayer.
A “we” prayer includes “me”. A “we” prayer makes me conscious that I am part of a large family with the same Father. A “we” prayer reminds me that before our Father we come with the same dependence, the same flaws, the same responsibilities, the same vulnerabilities and the same need of a deliverer. A “we” prayer tends to keep an exalted notion of myself subdued.
Are “me” prayers wrong or sinful? Of course not…the Psalms are full of such prayers. Psalm 103 says “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name.” Personally, I find these prayers more natural. I need to be taught about “we” prayers to broaden my prayer life along the lines of God’s desires.
1 http://www.generationme.org/aboutbook.html - a website that discusses the book “The Me Generation”
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