A deep encounter with the Lord’s Prayer through words and photography, to help young children learn the words for the first time and their parents to learn them anew.

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A little over a week ago, we began teaching our three-year-old twins the Lord’s Prayer. I said a phrase and they repeated it, and three phrases in I realized something. How was I supposed to explain what the word “hallowed” means? I stumbled through an explanation using more words my kids don’t know, and then I stopped and realized something else.

I’m a trained Godly Play storyteller, and I was going about this all wrong. I was trying to tell my children about the Lord’s Prayer, trying to educate them as to its meaning. What I should have been doing was inviting them into an experience of the prayer on their own terms, trusting that over time its words will become a part of their language system, woven into the fabric of their faith.

So the next day, I wrote a picture book for my children. On the left side of each page is a phrase of the Lord’s Prayer. On the right side is a short commentary – not a translation, but a sentence about what the phrases mean to me as their father, as a priest, and as a follower of Jesus.

I illustrated the book using photographs from a great website called unsplash.com. I matched each phrase with an image that illumined the words for me. And then I used Amazon’s createspace.com to publish the book, mostly so I could print a copy for my kids. We’ve used it the last two nights with them, and they love it!

I am so happy to be able to pray in this way with my children, and I offer this opportunity to you. Below you can see the full book.

You can also purchase a physical copy of the book on Amazon by clicking here.