Old Prayer, New Words
Photo by Olivia Snow on Unsplash
It has been a part of my life
For as long
As I can remember.
I imagine
That I first learned the words
As a child
Around our family dinner table
When we had family devotions
At the end of every day.
But I also remember
Hearing these words
Over
And over
And over
Again
In Sunday school,
Sunday worship,
Bible camp,
Confirmation –
Regularly and often –
Petitions offered
Amid all of the chances
And changes
Of life.
These words
Are known
By several different names
Or phrases
Within the family
Of the Christian faith –
The “Our Father,”
The “Lord’s Prayer,”
“The words that Jesus taught us to pray.”
They have been prayed
Millions,
And millions,
And millions of times.
I remember the first time
That I heard someone
Use different words
Amid the Lord’s Prayer
Than those
That I had memorized.
It was jarring,
Unsettling,
Uncomfortable.
I was at Bible camp,
And in our cabins
At the close of each day,
We gathered
For what we called
“Candle power.”
In our pajamas,
Sitting together
As cabin groups
After a day of Bible study,
Games,
Swimming,
Canoeing,
Worship,
Silly songs,
Campfire,
And everything else
“Camp” that you can imagine –
We would –
Lay on our bellies
On our cabin floor,
Propped up on our elbows –
Candle burning in the center –
And talk about the day –
Or anything else
That was on our minds.
We would laugh together,
and sometimes cry together,
And we would always –
Always –
Conclude this time
At the end of the day
With a circle prayer
that concluded
With the Lord’s Prayer.
As I child,
I learned to pray
“Forgive us our trespasses,”
And there at camp,
In the dark of night
Around a candle
In a cabin,
One of the girls prayed
“Forgive us our debts.”
Debts.
That was new.
It startled me.
Caught me.
Stopped me.
Her voice –
This girl who said this new word –
Was clear
And crisp
And confident
As she prayed,
And as the unfamiliar word
Rolled off of her tongue,
Many of the rest of us
Fell silent
As she soldiered on in prayer.
I can still recall my reaction.
“What is she saying?”
I asked my internal self.
“She’s saying the wrong words,”
my internal self
responded in protest.
Needless to say,
The day was not done
When we came
To end of the prayer,
As our wise
And astute counselor --
Her name was Julianne –
Used our late-night prayer
As a teaching moment,
A moment of care,
A moment of grace,
A moment to expand
Our understanding
Of ourselves,
Of one another,
The Bible,
Our faith,
The Church,
Our prayers,
And God.
As soon as the “amen” was spoken,
Julianne said something like this:
“Wasn’t that great?
How cool is it
That there is
More than one version
Of the Lord’s Prayer?
Isn’t it neat
That we can learn
New words
To pray
An old prayer?”
Old prayer.
New words.
As a cabin,
We talked
Until late into that night
About different translations
And different traditions
And different words
And how God’s faithful people
Can learn from each other
About what God’s Word says
And how God’s Word speaks
Into
And through
Our lives.
I think it was my first
Truly ecumenical experience –
My first experience
Of the Church
In its
Width
And breadth
And height –
My first glimpse
Of the ways
That we need
Each other –
And each other’s words
And perspectives
And experiences of God
To help us
Grow
In our own
Understanding
And faith.
I was 12,
And the Lord’s Prayer
As it was known to me,
Became
Something
New –
Living,
Dynamic,
And in-spiring
In a Holy Spirit
In-dwelling
Kind-of-way.
Since that late night
At camp
So many years ago,
I have come
To appreciate
More and more
The words of faith
That grow
Out of different traditions,
Different experiences,
And different cultures.
I have come
To appreciate
The various
Translations of the Bible
As I have learned
That every translation
Is –
indeed –
An interpretation,
And with various translations
We can,
In fact,
Gain a deeper
And richer
And more alive
Understanding
Of what the Bible
Has to say
To God’s people
Across time,
And places,
And experiences.
I have especially
Come to appreciate
The various translations
Of the “Our Father,”
And I love
Gathering in worship
And hearing
Many different voices
Praying
At the same time
In different languages
And translations –
Each one
Having chosen
At that moment
To pray
In the language
Or translation their own heart.
As my spouse and I
Continue
To pray Compline
At the close of each day,
We have chosen
To use the version
From A New Zealand Prayer Book.
It is familiar,
And yet
It is new.
It follows the rhythm
That grounds us
And roots us
In that which we know,
And at the same time,
It uses words,
Phrases,
And nuances of language
That to our ears
And our hearts
Are new.
This is especially true for
“Lord’s Prayer”
And,
Truth be told –
That is why
We chose
This version of Compline
For this particular season
In our own lives,
And in the life of the world.
It is,
For us,
The essence of
Old Prayer.
New Words.
It seems to capture,
The depth
And the pain
And the sorrow
Of our own
Yearning and need
And God’s unshakeable grace
In ways that
Allow us to
Sleep at night
And rise
To meet the new day.
“Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
Sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and testing, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen.”
May these new words
Of this old prayer
Breathe inspiration
Into your own heart
And mind
As you lift
The burdens of the world,
The cares of your hearts,
And the joys of your lives
Before the One who is indeed –
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver
Trusting that this same One
Does indeed,
Reign
In the glory
Of the power
That is Love.
Now.
And forever.
Old Prayer.
New Words.
Immeasurable grace.
