Our Father

This song of prayer and worship is based on the Lord’s Prayer, often simply referred to as, ‘Our Father’.

To me the phrase, ‘Our Father’, captures something essential… a familiarity, a feeling of being known, the confidence of belonging, the sense of talking to someone whom we relate to, in the same way a child would relate to their parent. It is a prayer that highlights the wonder of our relationship with God.

Jesus probably used the Aramaic word “Abba” (Father) to address God in this prayer. This is a term of personal intimacy and would have been unusually informal for a prayer at the time.

In contrast to the image of the harsh, religious world in which Jesus grew up in, this prayer is a sign of a new way of being, of living, of relating to God. Not surprisingly, this prayer has been taught and spoken in churches, in schools and in communities around the world ever since the time of Christ.

The Lord’s Prayer can be found in the Bible in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4.

Our Father in heaven
Hallowed be your name
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
   on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our debts
    as we also have forgiven our debtors
And lead us not into temptation
    but deliver us from evil. Amen.

English Standard Version

E tō mātou Matua i te rangi
Kia tapu tōu Ingoa
Kia tae mai tōu rangatiratanga
Kia meatia tāu e pai ai
ki runga i te whenua
kia rite anō ki tō te rangi
Hōmai ki a mātou āianei
he taro mā mātou mo tēnei ra
Murua ō mātou hara
me mātou hoki e muru nei
i o te hunga e hara ana ki a mātou
Aua hoki mātou e kawea kia whakawaia
engari whakaorangia mātou, i te kino

Te Reo Māori