IS it any wonder that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, when they saw the many healing works of their great Teacher? They knew that he spent many hours in prayer to God, rising early in the morning for that purpose, and often turning to Him in prayer throughout the day. In answer to their request he gave them the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13), which begins, "Our Father which art in heaven." It is interesting that he did not begin this prayer my Father, or your Father, but "Our Father," the Father of us all. To acknowledge God as our Father in this prayer is to unite us with the youth and men and women of all lands in the affirmation of spiritual oneness which acknowledges man as the son of God, His image and likeness.
Mary Baker Eddy discerned the healing power of Jesus' prayers, and she began to practice and to prove this divine power. To impart it to others she wrote the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," in which she devotes the first chapter to prayer. In this chapter (pp. 16, 17) is found her spiritual interpretation of the Lord's Prayer, the first line of which reads: "Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious." This book has healed multitudes who have read it, and, together with the Bible, it has served as guide and inspiration for students of Christian Science throughout the world. Regarding the Lord's Prayer, Mrs. Eddy says (ibid., p. 16): "Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick."
An instance of healing in the experience of a young Sunday School lad who learned this prayer came under the observation of the writer. The boy's class in school was called out for a prize drill on a cold rainy day. The drill field being muddy and slippery, the boys were uneasy about their ability to drill satisfactorily.
