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Liturgy in the Wilderness: How the Lord's Prayer Shapes the Imagination of the Church in a Secular Age
What you pray . . . shapes what you believe . . . shapes how you live.
The Lord’s Prayer is a beautiful, subversive passage of words given to the church by Jesus. It forms our imaginations and—given time—transforms us. And today, we are in desperate need of renewed imaginations. Christians are living in a wilderness of secularism. The historic Christian faith is seen as absurd at best and dangerously oppressive at worst. Followers of Jesus must begin to imagine life as a faithful minority who are ever seeking to subvert what is evil with good, what is hateful with love, what is corrosive with nurture.
In Liturgy in the Wilderness, Anglican priest D. J. Marotta shows how the Lord’s Prayer provides a framework in our secular age for understanding, believing, and living in light of Jesus Christ. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we’re planting seeds that can split concrete. We’re dripping water that can wear away granite. We’re shifting spiritual tectonic plates that lie deep beneath culture, society, and the depths of our own hearts. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, our imaginations are stirred, moved, and transformed. We’re taken apart and put back together. We’re stripped of our idols, addictions, and false hopes. We’re offered new words of trust and mission. And we begin to see the world differently—the way Jesus saw it.
With this book, Marotta awakens our hearts to the beauty, sustaining power, and bounty of the Lord’s Prayer and shows us how to live faithfully in the wilderness.
The Lord’s Prayer is a beautiful, subversive passage of words given to the church by Jesus. It forms our imaginations and—given time—transforms us. And today, we are in desperate need of renewed imaginations. Christians are living in a wilderness of secularism. The historic Christian faith is seen as absurd at best and dangerously oppressive at worst. Followers of Jesus must begin to imagine life as a faithful minority who are ever seeking to subvert what is evil with good, what is hateful with love, what is corrosive with nurture.
In Liturgy in the Wilderness, Anglican priest D. J. Marotta shows how the Lord’s Prayer provides a framework in our secular age for understanding, believing, and living in light of Jesus Christ. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we’re planting seeds that can split concrete. We’re dripping water that can wear away granite. We’re shifting spiritual tectonic plates that lie deep beneath culture, society, and the depths of our own hearts. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, our imaginations are stirred, moved, and transformed. We’re taken apart and put back together. We’re stripped of our idols, addictions, and false hopes. We’re offered new words of trust and mission. And we begin to see the world differently—the way Jesus saw it.
With this book, Marotta awakens our hearts to the beauty, sustaining power, and bounty of the Lord’s Prayer and shows us how to live faithfully in the wilderness.
192 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 4, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 4, 2022
4.5. My endorsement: “Having known and respected Dan for most of my life, I wasn’t surprised to find beauty and wisdom in these pages. With vivid illustration and potent application, he patiently exposes us to the searching glare of history’s most famous prayer, enabling us to see how we might be living, despite our professed beliefs, upside-down in a world made for God. ‘Liturgy in the Wilderness’ brims with the kind of humor and insight that comes from a pastor who’s spent considerable time with people. And in a frenetic age, this book offers a rare gift: the chance to slow down enough to envision what a gospel-orbiting life could look like, for the good of our neighbors and the glory of our Father, who art in heaven.”
February 28, 2023
(4.5)
Thoughtful. Practical. Approachable.
Most books on prayer that I have read do one of two things:
They either swim to deep in the theology of prayer and miss out dissecting how prayer plays out in day to day life OR they focus too much of examples of prayer that the text looses the weight and depth of prayer.
This book is different. Without spending too much time in the deep end or in the kiddy pool, DJ offers practical advice for how the Lord’s Prayer can be prayed while simultaneously engaging in the theological depth and beauty of the gospel.
Read this book and be blessed.
Thoughtful. Practical. Approachable.
Most books on prayer that I have read do one of two things:
They either swim to deep in the theology of prayer and miss out dissecting how prayer plays out in day to day life OR they focus too much of examples of prayer that the text looses the weight and depth of prayer.
This book is different. Without spending too much time in the deep end or in the kiddy pool, DJ offers practical advice for how the Lord’s Prayer can be prayed while simultaneously engaging in the theological depth and beauty of the gospel.
Read this book and be blessed.
September 13, 2025
I’ve read other books about the Lord’s Prayer and have studied it, but this book has been the best one so far.
This book focused on how the Lord’s Prayer is subversive in what it teaches about who God is and who we are. It’s so much more than a bunch of words, but this book shows how it changes how we think about God. Marotta’s writing was serious but gentle, convicting but not condemning. I really liked this book and would recommend for anyone seeking to learn and grow deeper in the Lord’s Prayer.
This book focused on how the Lord’s Prayer is subversive in what it teaches about who God is and who we are. It’s so much more than a bunch of words, but this book shows how it changes how we think about God. Marotta’s writing was serious but gentle, convicting but not condemning. I really liked this book and would recommend for anyone seeking to learn and grow deeper in the Lord’s Prayer.
April 10, 2023
Dan Marotta consistently spells out how each phrase of the Lord's Prayer has played out throughout Scripture and finds it's ultimate expression in the life, death, and resurrection if Jesus. My favorite chapters were the ones on the phrases "give us this day our daily bread" (ch. 6), "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" (ch. 8), and "for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory" (ch. 9).
April 2, 2023
I read this book as a Lenten study and enjoyed the insight Marotta offers on the Lord's Prayer. It made me pause to reflect on how often it is said in a rote way, but if we really consider the words we are saying, there is a sense of comfort in the essence of it all.
November 30, 2022
Thoughtful and nuanced companion to studying the Lord’s Prayer. I will return to this for sure.
September 19, 2025
Beautiful book of hope and truth.
March 4, 2023
I really enjoy listening to Dan Marotta's sermons, so I was excited to see that he had written a book and that my church was selling it as a resource for Lent. It didn't disappoint, either. Liturgy in the Wilderness packs a lot into such a short book. Marotta shows how the Lord's Prayer can be formative in the life of the church, especially as we walk through seasons of wilderness - which, he argues, is the norm in life rather than the exception. He emphasizes that praying this prayer has the power to subvert secular culture's hold on us and reform us into the image of Christ.
Excellent book for Lent, for difficult seasons of life, or really just for reading any time.
Excellent book for Lent, for difficult seasons of life, or really just for reading any time.
July 8, 2023
Dan Marotta has tried to raise the relevance of the Lord's Prayer to a younger generation of Christians by focusing on what he calls is its "subversive nature" against today's secular age. While he writes a lot of useful things, in my view his effort to force the Lord's Prayer as something "subversive" oversimplifies the Prayer and requires him in my opinion to misstate some of its, and more generally the Bible's, key principles. In doing so, I believe the book is both misleading (at least in part), and insufficiently bold in what it promises. I would in contrast recommend Darrell Johnson's Fifty Seven Words is significantly more complete and authentic.
While there is much good Marotta writes (especially in the first half of the book), Marotta takes as given that Christians are in fact living in "the wilderness", and that we should understand the Lord's Prayer as "subverting" today's secular culture. We should accept our weakness and minority status. While Christians in the USA and elsewhere are certainly not universally admired or respected, Marotta's focus on today as being different misses the fact that Jesus was "subversive" in his time as well, and that the Prayer more generally has always been a call against prioritizing the secular over the divine, by calling us to humility, to forgiving others if we would hope to be forgiven, to identify with all people as made in God's image (equality) and to give thans for what God provides ("our daily bread".)
In that sense, Marotta seems to believe today's secular age is different from the past ages when in fact the Prayer has always been relevant. Maybe that is because each of us will tend to believe the age we live in is the most unusual or the most dangerous--possibly because we are all somewhat narcissistic. But these claims of radical subversiveness should not be taken out of context more generally of man's existence in a fallen world.
There are at least two major areas where I believe Marotta seriously overstates his case:
First, he seeks to portray Jesus as "a blue collar, working class, brown-skinned man who made His living doing manual labor" and his being a member of an "oppressed racial and religious minority." We can certainly look at Rome as an occupying force, but within Israel to categorize Jesus as a religious OR even racial minority seems to be a very novel theory. But characterizing Jesus in this way could be seen to support Marotta's efforts to cast Christians today as a victim class and perhaps distance Jesus from those "evangelical Christians" which one gets the feeling Marotta is not comfortable with identifying. This may have to do with his aversion to such evangelicals being involved in politics. Even though he writes that we should "take institutions, economics, politics, and education seriously", he warns that we should "[e]xtend the gospel, offering the gospel of Jesus as the answer to evil and not ourselves, our church, or goodness knows, not our politics!"
Secondly, he seeks to interpret the closing coda of the Prayer ("for Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever") as meaning the church---that is to say, Christians everywhere-- should be "powerless". While it is clear that everything a Christian should do should reflect on the glory of the Lord who has created and reconciled us to Him, the Bible is full of examples where believers are called to use the power God gives to them to do His will. Yet Marotta concludes that "[t]he church is, by definition, a powerless people." Should the church by this conclusion throw out the many hymns calling us to spread the Gospel, fight for what is right and to resist not only temptation but all evil? Isn't an important aspect of prayer that we have access to God our father to call down His help our daily lives, and to do "good works" that flow out of the Holy Spirit in us? Far from being powerless, it would seem we are encouraged in the Bible to step out in faith to do God's will--admittedly not for our personal glory, but for that of the Lord.
Perhaps this is only an issue of communication and of Marotta trying to emphasize a point rather than be mired in what could be a greater shade of gray than suits his purpose in authoring this book and making his argument. However, I am wary of his approach. His final chapter left me especially dissatisfied in his apparent willingness to sacrifice complexity for the sake of appearing to be powerless and in touch with the oppressed. He cites a Maori saying: "To walk into the future our eyes must be fixed on the past," or to show his command of Maori (?) he cites specifically the Maori" "Kia whakatomuri te haere ki mua"--perhaps he learned Maori in seminary along with Greek and Hebrew. He interprets this concept as follows: "The best possible way for us to move forward into the unknown is to allow our imaginations to be shaped by the most significant past--the surprising and subversive wonder of the gospel of Jesus."
Well, what about the Holy Spirit's inspiration and living presence in each of us? and what does it mean for us "to allow our imaginations to be shaped by the ....past"?
I would guess these are sloppy feel good comments which the editor let stand given the book was almost over, but I would call into question whether Jesus--who upon leaving his disciples promised them and all his followers the sending down of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit's continuing presence among us. This has no smack of the "imaginations" flowing from "the significant past" but seems to gird His believers for problems in the future.
I may be risking being a little too picky about all this, but believe this sloppiness came from the Rev Marotta's seeking to prove his theory and his perception of our victimhood and our "wilderness" status. Again, while Christians are certainly not universally popular, I do not think that the Lord's prayer--meant to be prayed "whenever you pray"--calls us to accepting such victimhood, but rather to accepting the central notion that God can guide and help us in our present adversities (political or medical), keep us out of temptation and evil, and help us to act so as to do His will. To the extent that Marotta's book is inconsistent with that, I would hope the reader would at least be aware that there are many other guides which are more in tune with the Prayer and the Bible--again, not the least of which is Darrell Johnson's excellent little book on the Fifty Seven Words.
So read this book but be careful not to accept the author's many conclusions, which do not in all cases appear to be based on the Bible or clear logic. a 2.8 star book in a constellation with brighter stars.
While there is much good Marotta writes (especially in the first half of the book), Marotta takes as given that Christians are in fact living in "the wilderness", and that we should understand the Lord's Prayer as "subverting" today's secular culture. We should accept our weakness and minority status. While Christians in the USA and elsewhere are certainly not universally admired or respected, Marotta's focus on today as being different misses the fact that Jesus was "subversive" in his time as well, and that the Prayer more generally has always been a call against prioritizing the secular over the divine, by calling us to humility, to forgiving others if we would hope to be forgiven, to identify with all people as made in God's image (equality) and to give thans for what God provides ("our daily bread".)
In that sense, Marotta seems to believe today's secular age is different from the past ages when in fact the Prayer has always been relevant. Maybe that is because each of us will tend to believe the age we live in is the most unusual or the most dangerous--possibly because we are all somewhat narcissistic. But these claims of radical subversiveness should not be taken out of context more generally of man's existence in a fallen world.
There are at least two major areas where I believe Marotta seriously overstates his case:
First, he seeks to portray Jesus as "a blue collar, working class, brown-skinned man who made His living doing manual labor" and his being a member of an "oppressed racial and religious minority." We can certainly look at Rome as an occupying force, but within Israel to categorize Jesus as a religious OR even racial minority seems to be a very novel theory. But characterizing Jesus in this way could be seen to support Marotta's efforts to cast Christians today as a victim class and perhaps distance Jesus from those "evangelical Christians" which one gets the feeling Marotta is not comfortable with identifying. This may have to do with his aversion to such evangelicals being involved in politics. Even though he writes that we should "take institutions, economics, politics, and education seriously", he warns that we should "[e]xtend the gospel, offering the gospel of Jesus as the answer to evil and not ourselves, our church, or goodness knows, not our politics!"
Secondly, he seeks to interpret the closing coda of the Prayer ("for Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever") as meaning the church---that is to say, Christians everywhere-- should be "powerless". While it is clear that everything a Christian should do should reflect on the glory of the Lord who has created and reconciled us to Him, the Bible is full of examples where believers are called to use the power God gives to them to do His will. Yet Marotta concludes that "[t]he church is, by definition, a powerless people." Should the church by this conclusion throw out the many hymns calling us to spread the Gospel, fight for what is right and to resist not only temptation but all evil? Isn't an important aspect of prayer that we have access to God our father to call down His help our daily lives, and to do "good works" that flow out of the Holy Spirit in us? Far from being powerless, it would seem we are encouraged in the Bible to step out in faith to do God's will--admittedly not for our personal glory, but for that of the Lord.
Perhaps this is only an issue of communication and of Marotta trying to emphasize a point rather than be mired in what could be a greater shade of gray than suits his purpose in authoring this book and making his argument. However, I am wary of his approach. His final chapter left me especially dissatisfied in his apparent willingness to sacrifice complexity for the sake of appearing to be powerless and in touch with the oppressed. He cites a Maori saying: "To walk into the future our eyes must be fixed on the past," or to show his command of Maori (?) he cites specifically the Maori" "Kia whakatomuri te haere ki mua"--perhaps he learned Maori in seminary along with Greek and Hebrew. He interprets this concept as follows: "The best possible way for us to move forward into the unknown is to allow our imaginations to be shaped by the most significant past--the surprising and subversive wonder of the gospel of Jesus."
Well, what about the Holy Spirit's inspiration and living presence in each of us? and what does it mean for us "to allow our imaginations to be shaped by the ....past"?
I would guess these are sloppy feel good comments which the editor let stand given the book was almost over, but I would call into question whether Jesus--who upon leaving his disciples promised them and all his followers the sending down of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit's continuing presence among us. This has no smack of the "imaginations" flowing from "the significant past" but seems to gird His believers for problems in the future.
I may be risking being a little too picky about all this, but believe this sloppiness came from the Rev Marotta's seeking to prove his theory and his perception of our victimhood and our "wilderness" status. Again, while Christians are certainly not universally popular, I do not think that the Lord's prayer--meant to be prayed "whenever you pray"--calls us to accepting such victimhood, but rather to accepting the central notion that God can guide and help us in our present adversities (political or medical), keep us out of temptation and evil, and help us to act so as to do His will. To the extent that Marotta's book is inconsistent with that, I would hope the reader would at least be aware that there are many other guides which are more in tune with the Prayer and the Bible--again, not the least of which is Darrell Johnson's excellent little book on the Fifty Seven Words.
So read this book but be careful not to accept the author's many conclusions, which do not in all cases appear to be based on the Bible or clear logic. a 2.8 star book in a constellation with brighter stars.
February 18, 2023
I had a hard time getting into it at first, the idea of "imagination" or reimagining (each chapter has this idea) in the Lord's Prayer didn't sit well. It sounded more like a fantasy, and the Lord's Prayer like magic. But I persevered through the first chapters that in my opinion stretch the meaning of the Lord's Prayer. I finished it and I can say that there is some good content to explain the Lord's Prayer. At the end Marotta says that the Lord's Prayer is about living it out and when we do we subversively bring in the kingdom of God (a theme word throughout).
The missing part is how it's done in practice. Marotta (an Anglican priest) believes it's liturgical and this if done will stir imagination as we make it part of our lives. I pray this prayer often in the context of the my whole time before the Lord (which includes thanking, confession, Scriptural prayers and reading/praying the Psalms). It does help me align my will to his will. It is the scaffolding that I need as I pray. Not always do I get to the 4th petition because I get caught up with the first three.
I do recommend the book though. Worth the time. The last chapter which deals with the doxology was the best for me and not because I was done. It has some good thoughts of our power as believers.
The missing part is how it's done in practice. Marotta (an Anglican priest) believes it's liturgical and this if done will stir imagination as we make it part of our lives. I pray this prayer often in the context of the my whole time before the Lord (which includes thanking, confession, Scriptural prayers and reading/praying the Psalms). It does help me align my will to his will. It is the scaffolding that I need as I pray. Not always do I get to the 4th petition because I get caught up with the first three.
I do recommend the book though. Worth the time. The last chapter which deals with the doxology was the best for me and not because I was done. It has some good thoughts of our power as believers.
September 28, 2023
Liturgy in the Wilderness: How the Lord's Prayer Shapes the Imagination of the Church in a Secular Age D.J. Marotta
I downloaded the sample of this book because Paul Zach, a musician whose songs I adore, recommended it.
I bought it because of the first two sentences:
"You will never get out of the wilderness. Stop trying."
Boom! Sold!
This is a book I'm going to return to frequently. The Lord's Prayer is an important part of my religious tradition, and I was looking for something to read to help me understand it more and sing it better (the Malotte). Thank you, Rev. Marotta.
I could return to any number of my highlights, but I'll leave you with this one, which I've shared with many people:
"Faith in the God who was led into temptation and who was not delivered from evil."
Amen.
Imagination
calls us to reimagine–
"beauty is subversive"
I downloaded the sample of this book because Paul Zach, a musician whose songs I adore, recommended it.
I bought it because of the first two sentences:
"You will never get out of the wilderness. Stop trying."
Boom! Sold!
This is a book I'm going to return to frequently. The Lord's Prayer is an important part of my religious tradition, and I was looking for something to read to help me understand it more and sing it better (the Malotte). Thank you, Rev. Marotta.
I could return to any number of my highlights, but I'll leave you with this one, which I've shared with many people:
"Faith in the God who was led into temptation and who was not delivered from evil."
Amen.
Imagination
calls us to reimagine–
"beauty is subversive"
March 11, 2025
I chose to read this book because I am a big fan of Justin Earley’s Habits of the Household book, but it’s not great. It’s a great personal lesson to learn, that Justin’s name was probably used to help sell this book.
I do agree with parts of the authors book but he is an Anglican priest and writes as one. The author loves the word subvert or subversion and repeatedly uses it in every chapter. He also puts mankind but more specifically Christians into a box, labeling us as one of two different types of people, even if you fit neither. My favorite (heavy sarcasm) was the box he put us in for addressing God the Father. I do believe there are other options for people who address God as the Father. But this author loves to label people as one of two options in every chapter.
The author can be witty at times but otherwise this book seems a little dry and borders on legalistic.
My guess is that being that the author too is from the Richmond VA area, that Justin and him are likely friends and that is why his name is on the book with a foreword. So if you’re thinking of getting this book because Justin’s name is on it, don’t be duped. They are not the same.
I do agree with parts of the authors book but he is an Anglican priest and writes as one. The author loves the word subvert or subversion and repeatedly uses it in every chapter. He also puts mankind but more specifically Christians into a box, labeling us as one of two different types of people, even if you fit neither. My favorite (heavy sarcasm) was the box he put us in for addressing God the Father. I do believe there are other options for people who address God as the Father. But this author loves to label people as one of two options in every chapter.
The author can be witty at times but otherwise this book seems a little dry and borders on legalistic.
My guess is that being that the author too is from the Richmond VA area, that Justin and him are likely friends and that is why his name is on the book with a foreword. So if you’re thinking of getting this book because Justin’s name is on it, don’t be duped. They are not the same.
November 12, 2022
Loved this book! The author did a tremendous job synthesizing and democratizing some of the most prominent and helpful “Christian high theory” out there, bringing the Lord’s Prayer to life through story and metaphor.
May it find wide readership and help the church become the subversive judo masters we are called to be!
May it find wide readership and help the church become the subversive judo masters we are called to be!
November 13, 2023
This is a light but effective toolkit to approach the Lord’s Prayer with! Great book. I didn’t find it groundbreaking, rather a helpful reminder of the treasure that the Lord’s Prayer is and it’s constant relevance.
September 13, 2024
This book was a warm encouragement to continually go back to the habit of prayer, specifically the Lord’s prayer in every day circumstances. I found it very encouraging and informative, based in scripture, and well considered for contemporary times.
June 16, 2023
An insightful and provoking reflection on the formative power of liturgy and the meaning of The Lord's Prayer in a time of wilderness.
July 30, 2023
I do not often write reviews for books. Just trust me and buy this book. It will be 100% worth it.
October 22, 2023
A lovely read about the helpfully subversive nature of the Lord’s Prayer in the life of the Christian.
November 22, 2025
A timely and important reminder that the Lord’s Prayer is “given by the God and prayed to the God who refuses to get on board with my agenda, but lovingly, and persistently, invites me into His.”
July 8, 2023
Dan Marotta has written a persuasive little book to encourage a new generation to pray The Lord’s Prayer as part of their daily liturgy. His language and examples will appeal to the under 40s.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews