FROM THE ARCHIVES: DELIVER US:

The most powerful words in Christianity (K. CONNIE KANG, 4/08/07, Los Angeles Times)

Today, as 2 billion Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, many will read, recite and sing the Lord's Prayer in hundreds of languages in houses of worship both modest and grand.

They may be Catholics or Protestants or Eastern Orthodox, theologically conservative or liberal or in between, but in this short prayer, Christians come together.

"The Lord's Prayer really is the 'Creed' that most connects the world's Christians," said theologian Frederick Dale Bruner, author of an acclaimed two-volume commentary on the Gospel of Matthew and an expert on the Lord's Prayer.

"There is a sense of solidarity in knowing that Christians around the globe are praying together the prayer that was taught us by Christ himself," said the Rev. Clayton Schmit, a professor of preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., who has worshiped in many places around the world. "Even when Protestants and Catholics worship together, though much divides us theologically, these words always unite us."

Also called the "Pater Noster" in Latin or the "Our Father," the Lord's Prayer is found in two gospels: Matthew 6: 9-13 and Luke 11: 2-4.

[originally posted: 4/08/07]