Overcoming the familiarity

 

During Lent we gathered as a group on Wednesday evenings to share a simple meal and to reflect on the most familiar of Christian prayers.  We took this Lord’s Prayer line by line and reflected on what each petition means to us and how we might better incorporate the words into our lives.  The conversations were rich and flowed easily. 

Our curriculum was one provided by the Society of St John the Evangelist in Cambridge MA.  Each week one of the brothers offered a reflection from which we would begin.  Unexpectedly, in one reflection there was a rendering of the Lord’s Prayer that really resonated with us.  Br Sean Glenn, SSJE wrote, “…as with anything we hold in close proximity, the very familiarity of these words can sometimes obscure the prayer’s true power to transform us, and can dull the challenge by which it seeks to summon us beyond our illusory sense of self-dependence…” 

Familiarity can be the death knell for creativity unless we stop and really consider what we are saying.  One way that resonated with us we changing the wording of the prayer.  Now if experience has taught me anything it is that the liturgist can mess with anything on Sunday morning EXCEPT the Lord’s Prayer.  So it is with great trepidation that I agreed with the group to use a new version of the prayer during the Easter season.  So heads up St Patrick’s there is uncharted road ahead.  Here’s a sneak peak…

Holy One, our only home,
Blessed be your name,
May your day dawn,
Your will be done,
Here, as in heaven,
 Feed us today and forgive us,
As we forgive each other,
Do not forsake us at the test,
But deliver us from evil,
For the glory, the power,
And the mercy are yours
Now and forever.  Amen

 Buen Camino

Mother Jane