The Lord's prayer as a paradigm for restorative justice in brokenness

Abstract

The Lord's Prayer has a collective and an individual sense. In a pastoral context it can lead the individual believer to inner healing, transformation, faith and redemption; with the result of a collective sense of merciful, sacrificing, restorative justice that forms a paradigm for restorative justice in a broken society. Ultimately the Lord's Prayer ripples outwards from the supplicant's own needs to the fulfilment of the love commandment towards God and other people. With the use of the Lord's Prayer in the pastoral guidance process, the counselee's attention can shift from a problem-focused attitude to a life of justice, peace and joy. The research question under investigation asks if the Lord's Prayer can really form a paradigm for restorative justice within a situation of brokenness when it forms part of the pastoral guidance process to give structure to the mixture of emotions that the counselee experiences. The pastoral challenge lies in not limiting newly-found healing to the counselling room, but letting it result in a responsible way of life. Two main themes of the Lord's Prayer are discussed, namely, human beings' relationship with God, and their dependence on God for life. The main themes are related to the love commandment, which in itself aims to guide the believer to the realisation of a wider responsibility towards society in respect of merciful, sacrificing, restorative justice that heals brokenness.