In church this morning we were given a new version of The Lord's Prayer. My church, St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Pennsylvania has (like much of the rest of The Episcopal Church) been running away from its traditions at full speed - especially the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (which is now forbidden to be used in the Diocese of Pennsylvania).
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Aside
- here is The Lord's Prayer in Old English as it would have been recited prior to the Norman invasion of 1066, before the influx of French words into our language -
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum si þin nama gehalgod tobecume þin rice gewurþe þin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg and forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge ac alys us of yfele soþlice
Hear this recited in Olde Englisc below
- here is the Lord's prayer in Middle English - as it would have been spoken in England before the Church of England, but after the Norman invasion:
Oure fadir þat art in heuenes halwid be þi name;
þi reume or kyngdom come to be.
Be þi wille don in herþe as it is doun in heuene.
yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred.
And foryeue to us oure dettis þat is oure synnys as we foryeuen to oure dettouris þat is to men þat han synned in us.
And lede us not into temptacion but delyuere us from euyl.
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The traditional 1928 BCP version of the Lord's Prayer is this:
OUR Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it
is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive
us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against
us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from
evil. Amen.
Today our rector, Fr. Paul Harris, gave us this which he called The Lord's Prayer, and asked us to recite this during the season of Epiphany. I have not heard this before.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
an earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever. Amen.
Although the modern language is vulgar - and I dislike addressing the Father as though He were a good buddy ("your" instead of "Thy") all of these updates could be explained by a desire to modernize the text. The real problem however is with "Save us from the time of trial."
What does "Save us from the time of trial" mean? And why have they removed "lead us not into temptation?"
Are they so totally against the doctrine of original sin now that even the notion of temptation must be removed from worship?
If any of my millions :-) of faithful readers can help me with this one I'd really appreciate hearing from you.
thanks,
..tom
2 comments:
Thank you Tom for noticing a slant toward the casual address of the Almighty. Otherwise, the modernization is not too bad, but still, disturbing - why change a solid tradition with good standing?
Appreciate your observations and history notes.
How does your rector account for the change ?
It may be worse than you think. My 85 year old uncle notes that one change from the 1928 prayerbook is "Thy kingdom come." (emphasis on the period) versus
"Thy kingdom come," (emphasis on the comma) ... on earth as it is in heaven. In other words heaven on earth following being born again versus heaven after life on earth. I'm no Biblical scholar, so I'm looking for help on this as well, but I don't believe that the change is accidental.
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