Open-Ended Prayer

How do we Protestants close the Lord’s Prayer? With a doxology of course!

   For thine is the kingdom,

   and the power,

   and the glory,

   forever.

   Amen.

The problem is that, in this respect, the Catholics have been right all along, and the Reformation got it wrong. This doxology was never part of the original prayer. The “traditional” doxology first appeared several centuries later! Here is the list of some similar doxologies. Some are very old, some quite recent. Interestingly, the oldest example, which predates even the Hebrew Bible by many centuries, is probably the closest to our current traditional doxology.

Closing Petition from Rapiu Psalm	1 Chronicles 29:11	Lord’s Prayer Doxology from Didache
Cuneiform text from Ugarit  around 1200 B.C.E.	Hellenistic period cca 4th  Century B.C.E.	Early 2nd Century C.E.
May your strength, your help, your power, your rule, your splendor, be in the midst of Ugarit, for all the days of Sun and Moon, for all the years of El.	Yours, O LORD, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.	For your is the power and glory, forever.
Traditional Doxology of the Lord’s Prayer	Alternative Doxology of the Lord’s Prayer
Eastern (Antiochian) tradition from 4th Century	Medieval Greek manuscript
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.	For your is the kingdom of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, forever. Amen.

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We know for certain that the traditional doxology or any other doxology was never part of the original Biblical text of the Gospel of Matthew. We can also be quite certain that Jesus never taught his disciples any such doxology with this prayer, even though such doxologies traditionally belonged at the end of similar prayers. Thus I am convinced that Jesus left this part of his prayer intentionally out. His prayer was intentionally open-ended and unfinished. People felt this tension and started to fill it with words, which they soon started to solemnize and codify. This Sunday we will try to uncover, understand and start practicing Jesus’ original intention behind the missing doxology, behind his radical, avant-garde, open-ended prayer ...