The Lord's Prayer

Public domain, so these words can be printed in a ceremony script or an order of service.

In Matthew 6 the prayer comes in the Sermon on the Mount, introduced by Jesus with the words “After this manner therefore pray ye”. The prayer survives in two versions in the New Testament, one in Matthew and a shorter one in Luke.

It begins by honoring God’s name and asking for God’s kingdom and will on earth as in heaven. Then it turns to ordinary needs: bread for today, forgiveness in the same measure we forgive others, protection from temptation and evil. The King James form ends with the doxology, the line giving God the kingdom, the power and the glory. In a few lines it covers praise, daily life, wrongs done and wrongs suffered, which is why it suits a wedding and a funeral equally.

Say the first line alone, then let the room carry it. Warn them it is coming. Read at weddings and funerals alike. Themes: said together · everyone knows it · the congregation joins in · short · traditional.

Any Christian ceremony, Catholic or Protestant, and any room where most people learned it as children. At a funeral it gives people who cannot speak a way to join in; at a wedding it gathers both families into one voice. It is less fitting at a secular or interfaith ceremony where many guests would stand silent, and some couples or families would rather leave it out than have half the room mumble.

At a funeral, after the readings and eulogy, often at the end of the prayers before the commendation or committal. At a wedding, after the vows and rings, near the blessing. The officiant leads it and everyone joins in.

The text on this page is 66 words. At a ceremony pace of about 130 words a minute, which is slower than conversation, that comes to about 30 seconds of reading. The run-sheet allows about 40 seconds for the whole moment, which covers the introduction and the walk to and from the lectern.

• Announce it first: “Let us pray together in the words Jesus taught us.” Without a cue the room will not know to join.
• Say the first line alone, then let the room take over. Keep a steady pace; the slowest voices set the speed.
• Wordings differ: some say “trespasses”, some “debts”, and some stop before “For thine is the kingdom”. Ask the family or the venue which form they know, and use it.
• If the order of service prints it, print the exact wording you will say, so nobody stumbles at a different word.

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