Hear our prayer
We are your children and we're gathered here today
We're gathered here to pray
Hear our cry
Lord we need your mercy and we need you peace today
Hear us as we pray
Chorus
Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Our Father hear us from heaven
Forgive our sins we pray
Hear our song, as it rises to heaven
May your glory fill the earth like waters in the seas
Clean our hearts and remove anything
That is standing in your way
Of loving us today!
REPEAT CHORUS
And though we are few
We're surrounded by many who have crossed that river before
And this is the song we'll be singing forever
Holy is the Lord x2
REPEAT FIRST VERSE AND CHORUS
Our Father
Our Father Song Meaning, Biblical Reference and Inspiration
Don Moen's song "Our Father," released on June 21, 2017, is a worship piece centered on corporate prayer and the foundational relationship believers have with God as their Father. The song opens with a collective appeal, expressing the gathering of God's children with a unified purpose: to pray, to seek divine attention ("Hear our prayer," "Hear our cry"), and to acknowledge a profound need for God's mercy and peace in the present moment. This initial section establishes a tone of humility and dependence on the divine.
The core of the song features a chorus that directly invokes the language and structure of the prayer taught by Jesus. Addressing God as "Our Father, who art in heaven," it honors His name as "Hallowed." The chorus then transitions into a specific plea, asking the Father to hear from heaven and, importantly, to "Forgive our sins we pray." This reflects the essential request for reconciliation and cleansing found within the Lord's Prayer, emphasizing a communal confession and desire for forgiveness.
Following the chorus, the song expands on the theme of worship and transformation. It speaks of the corporate song rising to heaven, indicating that the collective voice of the worshippers is directed towards God's dwelling place. This verse articulates a desire for God's magnificent presence and influence to spread across the globe, wishing for His "glory [to] fill the earth like waters in the seas," echoing prophetic promises found in scripture about God's universal knowledge and presence. It also includes a very personal and corporate request for inner renewal: to "Clean our hearts and remove anything that is standing in your way of loving us today!" This highlights the understanding that internal barriers can hinder the reception of God's perfect love and grace.
A section of the song adds a dimension of faith community that transcends the immediate gathering. It acknowledges that even if the visible assembly is "few," they are connected to a vast company of believers who have gone before, those who have "crossed that river before," suggesting a link to the "great cloud of witnesses" mentioned in the book of Hebrews. This connection reinforces the enduring nature of faith and worship. It declares that the song they sing in this earthly assembly is the same eternal song sung by those in God's presence: "Holy is the Lord." This links present worship to the eternal worship found in heaven, emphasizing the holiness of God as a central theme. The song structure then loops back to the initial verses and chorus, reinforcing the foundational message of prayer, forgiveness, and God's fatherhood.
Overall, "Our Father" functions as a communal prayer set to music, drawing heavily from the pattern established by Jesus in the New Testament (Matthew 6:9-13). It articulates the collective posture of believers approaching God as their loving parent, seeking His attention, expressing dependence on His mercy and peace, asking for forgiveness, desiring personal and global manifestation of His glory, requesting inner cleansing to fully receive His love (referenced implicitly in verses like John 3:16), and finding connection and strength in the broader, eternal community of faith. The song serves as both an act of worship and a reminder of fundamental biblical truths about prayer, God's character, and the believer's relationship with Him.
