What it is
Our Father in the Wilderness is a project to say the Lord’s Prayer in the wildest and most desolate places in the world. Christians from all countries can participate, regardless whether they are protestant, orthodox, catholic or evangelical. The idea is simple. While you are in nature you record yourself with your mobile phone. You say the Lord’s Prayer and turn your mobile phone halfway through the prayer to show the nature you are in. You say the prayer alone or together with your travel companion(s). Then send it to this website and post it on your social media with hashtag
#ourfatherinthewilderness. Always add your name and email and give info on the place where you’ve recorded your prayer.
Recordings from less extreme and less exotic places in nature are also welcome. But only if there are no sign of human development in it, so no roads, houses, fences, power lines or whatever.
Why?
God is present in not only churches and human communities, but also in nature of course. Christian outdoor enthusiasts often go out into the wilderness to feel small in majestic and overwhelming nature and to feel closer to God.
Some Christians want to make that feeling more concrete and feel the urge to pray. Because He is with us and he is our travel companion. Whether we’re climbing the Abruzzi Spur on K2, sailing through the Drake Passage, trying to reach the Tibesti Mountains in the Sahara, are caught in a storm during hiking in Iceland or climb Devils Tower in Wyoming – He’s there.
Theological background
By saying the Lord’s Prayer in nature, when no one is listening and you are alone, you put yourself in the tradition of the desert monks who retreated to the Egyptian desert from the third century AD on. In later centuries, from an estimated AD 800 on, the lesser-known ‘Papar monks’ did the same in colder climates. On uninhabited islands in the North Atlantic they prayed in the wind and in the storm. All these Christians were inspired by the example of Christ, who, after his baptism in the Jordan, withdrew forty days into the wilderness and, in preparation for his mission in the world, went there to fast and pray.
JOIN WITH YOUR PRAYER
Would you like to add your ‘Our Father’ prayer to the map? Send us your information.