 By Rev. Heather J. Blais, Rector
This Sunday we begin the Season of Creation, and in particular, we celebrate the Feast of Creation. During this season, which runs from September 1 - October 4, we will join with Christians around the world to celebrate in prayer and action our Gospel calling to protect the Earth that God has entrusted into our care. The theme this year is To Hope and Act with Creation. At the 80th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, we recognized that climate change is: “...an all-encompassing social crisis and moral emergency that impacts and interconnects every aspect of pastoral concern including health, poverty, employment, racism, social justice, and family life and that can only be addressed by a Great Work involving every sector of society, including the Church.”* Our church has recognized that the work of addressing climate change is not one of many things we are called to be doing, it is the work of the Church. In order to help us live into this reality, we need to continue growing in our theological understanding of God’s relationship with creation, in our communal worship and in private prayer. As we engage in this ongoing work of growing in faith and caring for creation, I want to share a new way of praying with the scriptures that I recently came across.** Dr Hilary Marlow, of the University of Cambridge, has encouraged folks to sit with the scriptures by considering an ecological trinity. The ecological trinity consists of God, non-human creation, and humanity. As we sit with a passage, she invites us to reflect on three questions:
Song of Solomon is often considered one of the most beautiful books within the holy scriptures.*** It is a story that boldly celebrates the passionate love between two people, employing stunning poetry to communicate their desire and longing for one another. Interestingly, God is never explicitly mentioned. Yet the abiding love that is in every single verse, is telling us a whole lot about the nature of God’s abiding love. The handful of verses we have today are a bit like watching a character in a play offer a soliloquy, speaking their thoughts aloud. They see their beloved in the distance and they are completely enamored. So as we sit with this text, the first question is: what understanding does it present of non-human creation? The speaker is drawing on every gorgeous inch of creation to convey just how much they are into their beloved - in body, mind, and spirit. This speaker describes their beloved as ‘leaping upon mountains, bounding over hills’, much like ‘a gazelle or young stag.’ The speaker goes on to celebrate the gift of springtime. From the gift of warmth and sunshine, in the absence of winter and rain; to the budding and fragrant flowers, the sound of bird calls, and the new life springing forth upon the fig tree. This speaker draws upon some of the very best sights, sounds, and smells of non-human creation to convey their love and desire for their partner. In doing so, the speaker is lifting up non-human creation as sacred, as one of the highest possible forms of good. The created world herself is recognized as an ultimate holy of holies. Shifting into our second question of the ecological trinity - what are the assumptions of the author about God’s relationship to the created world? While there is no explicit mention of God, there is an unspoken assumption from our author that God’s abiding love is the source of the created world. Not only the origin, but the ongoing, never ending source of abiding love. This intimate relationship between God and the created world lifts up God’s gift of creation as sacred, as the precious holy of holies. A gift the created world is meant to share and gently draw upon with intention, care, reverence, and love. Drawn upon in such a way that when we take from the created world, we barely leave any trace whatsoever, allowing the compound interest of love and the beauty of creation to continue to grow and grow. The final question in the ecological trinity is what effects do human actions have upon non-human creation in this text, and vice versa? In today’s text, humans have a deep reverence for non-human creation. They understand themselves as companions and students who revere creation, while also drawing upon creation’s wisdom and lived experience to convey their abiding love for one another. They consider humanity a very small piece of the created world, with no sense whatsoever that the created world is humanity’s to control or ours to consume. Rather humanity has the privilege of bearing witness to non-human creation and supporting the created world as a form of God’s incarnate holy of holies. Sitting with today’s text from Song of Solomon, through the lens of the ecological trinity, has prompted me to think a bit differently about Creation and Christ. With this lens, humanity understands the created world with such deep reverence, respect, and an enduring trust in creation’s capacity to hold God’s wisdom, truth, and abiding love. It recognizes that the created world, containing non-human creation and humanity, were birthed from God’s delight, joy, and ceaseless love. Affirming that the created world is the embodiment of God’s abiding love, and that the nature of God is love. Yet this understanding of God, has startling parallels to how we understand the incarnation, when God took on human flesh in the form of Christ. We regularly recognize that Christ was incarnate, that God took on human form to help humanity understand that the nature of God is love. Sometimes this act has even been talked about as though God hadn’t really tried to communicate this very effectively at first, and it was God’s chance at a do-over. I’ll admit, this never quite made sense to me. Why would God need a do-over? Instead, what if the Church were to fully embrace other teachings that have also floated around throughout the Church’s history. What if when God poured themself into the created world, bringing forth non-human creation and humanity, God marked the first of many, many, many, countless and never ending ways that God proclaimed their nature was, is, and always will be love. Meaning just as Christ is the incarnation, the embodiment of God’s love; the Created World is also incarnate, and the embodiment of God’s love. And God’s embodiment is an abiding, unstoppable, unconditional love that we have the great gift and pleasure of spending the rest of our lives trying to begin to grasp. As Christians, we largely are pretty faithful at revering Christ, at understanding his teachings and seeking to apply those teachings in our thoughts, words, and deeds. We know it’s not easy, but by choosing to walk in faith, we understand it’s a journey we will be on for the rest of our lives. That it’s not about perfection, it’s about presence. Yet I am not so sure we always have the same reverence for Creation, which if we believe Creation is God incarnate - why not? Sure, in theory we understand and appreciate God created the world out of love. But I wonder, do we embody that belief in the way we speak and think about God? Or in our actions and behaviors? Do we embrace the incarnational nature of God in Christ and Creation in the core values that shape and guide our lives? Wherever we may be on that journey, God is with us - quite literally - in every inch of the created world, non-human creation and humanity alike. We do not have to get everything right. Perfectionism is a lost cause - I encourage all of us (myself included) to let go of that ideal or any pressure we may receive from the outside world to do things perfectly. Instead, what if we focused on being present to God incarnate, both in Christ and in the Created World? As we prepare to head back into the world today, I invite us to do some wondering:
Readings - Proper 17, Year B RCL Song of Solomon 2:8-13 | Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10 | James 1:17-27 | Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Sources * https://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolution=2022-A088 ** https://www.salalandcedar.com/wildlectionary ***Information from this paragraph is taken from the Rt. Revd. Olivia Graham commentary at https://preachingforgodsworld.org/season-of-creation-week-one-2/
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 By Rev. Heather J. Blais, Rector
Today is an exciting day for our faith community. We will be baptizing sweet Emmalina. Every baptism is an invitation for us to recall the meaning of this ritual, examine why we chose this life of faith, and to reflect on how we are living into our baptismal promises. Baptism is a ritual bath that welcomes one into Christ’s Church. Sometimes referred to as simply the Church (capital C); the body of Christ; the household of God; the Jesus Movement; or the Way of Love. It represents our unity with Christ in this life and in resurrection life; and is a reminder of God’s forgiveness and ceaseless love. Baptism is also an affirmation of the Holy Spirit’s place amongst us. She guides and sustain us as a faith community and in our personal walks of faith. Unfortunately, throughout the Church’s history, there has been some harmful theology around baptism. In particular, teachings about what happens if someone dies without being baptized. I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had over the years, with folks who are anxious that a loved one, often a grandchild, is not baptized. Our family recently watched a pretty humorous depiction of this worry play out within a family on the show Young Sheldon. The parents were hounding their adult children to baptize their new granddaughter. When they finally became exasperated by their parents' relentless pushing, they informed their parents they would not be baptizing their little one. They didn’t practice the faiths they were raised in, and they wanted their daughter to make the choice for herself someday. Well, this answer did not fly with either grandmother. One was a devout Southern Baptist. She was terrified about what this might mean for her granddaughter’s soul. I think it’s fair to say she was equally terrified that the other grandmother, a practicing Roman Catholic, might convince the parents to baptize their daughter within the Roman Catholic church. In this comedy, even though Southern Baptists generally wait for baptism until adulthood, the pastor understood the grandmother’s sense of urgency. He actually agreed to a secret baptism in the family kitchen - a secret he and the grandmother were ready to take to the grave. Meanwhile, the following day, the Roman Catholic grandmother, encouraged her daughter to take some time to go buy herself something nice using her credit card, while she would take her granddaughter out for a walk in the stroller. Seems nice enough, right? Except it just so happened the Roman Catholic church was around the corner, and she stopped by for her own secret baptism. While these grandmothers were Southern Baptist and Roman Catholic, they could just as easily have been Episcopal and Methodist - the particular denominations are irrelevant to the story. Part of what made the unfolding dynamics so funny, was the stark reminder of our human capacity for catastrophizing and the lengths we will go to avoid exploring whether our fears hold any actual truth or not. It was irrelevant whether their granddaughter’s soul was actually in any kind of mortal danger, because like an alert for a tornado watch, these grandmothers could see the emergency that would soon unfold if they did not take action. The secret baptisms left both grandmothers feeling as though their granddaughter’s soul was saved, and maybe even more importantly baptized within the ‘right’ Christian denomination. Unfortunately, their comfort and peace of mind came at the cost of the autonomy of their adult children and granddaughter, as well as, the lack of a community promising to support this child on her faith journey. All the while perpetuating the harmful baptismal theology the institutional Church touted for centuries. Many of us were taught that should a child not be baptized, they would not get to experience resurrection life. But when we take a step back to examine how this teaching unfolded within the Church, it is helpful to remember that it arose from the institutional Church as it sought to ‘grow the church’ in numbers and resources, using fear as the motivaiton. These are the very behaviors and teachings that have left generations of folks questioning and rejecting the institutional Church. Every institution has its shadow side, and this is part of ours; as it does not reflect what we know about God’s nature throughout scripture. Scripture shows us, repeatedly, that our God is a God of transformative, unconditional love. Whether one has formally been marked in baptism, each and every person in this world is adopted, cherished, and loved by God. It can be hard to remember - about ourselves and others - but we are each beloved and beautiful children of God. And as we proclaim here each and every week - there is a place for all of us at God’s Table. No exceptions. Baptism is one of the many doorways or paths to God. At its best, baptism is an intentional act of love, a choice to walk this life in faith with the support of the community. A choice made in freedom, not to avoid an eternal ‘timeout’. The only real requirement or reason for baptism is a desire to be baptized. A desire to be part of this universal Church, that spans across time and space, and a desire to proclaim our intention to the world in thought, word, and deed. To say: I want to walk through this life with faith, hope, and love; to be a part of Christ’s Way of Love, that will help God’s dream for this world come into fruition; trusting in the knowledge that we are all children of God. And when infants are baptized, it is the parents or caregivers desire to raise their child this way. When we choose to baptize our child or to be baptized ourselves, we are choosing to acknowledge in a visible way, an inward truth of God’s grace. God’s grace that proclaims each and every person is a beloved and beautiful child of God. A truth that is there, with or without baptism, yet the act of the sacrament celebrates and lifts up this truth. The ritual bath and chrism oil symbolize it. The gathered community affirms God’s grace, the inherent goodness and worth of each and every person, while also promising to walk with the newly baptized in faith, now and always. Today, we baptize Emmalina. And her parents desire this sacrament for her for all the right reasons. We join them in celebrating the truth that Emmalina, and every child, is beloved and precious in God’s eyes. We wash and anoint her to make this truth visible, and to affirm her family’s choice to raise her to walk in the Way of Love with the support of her family, friends, and faith community. In a few minutes, we will all be invited to stand to reaffirm the promises of our baptism, what we refer to as the Baptismal Covenant. The Baptismal Covenant takes the shape of question and answer. We begin by affirming the Apostles’ Creed. The creed summarizes the basic teachings of our faith: that God created everything; that Jesus Christ lived; our faith in the Spirit, the universal Church, the communion of saints, that our sins are forgiven, and the promise of eternal life. Each of these three statements begins, I believe. In this instance, I believe, does not mean we are intellectually subscribing to something; rather it means, ‘I give my entire heart to this reality’. 1 We then make six specific promises, and these are big, bold, and beautiful ideals for us to strive to live into. We promise:
The only way we can really live into them is in the context of community, and by remembering the words we say when making these promises: I will, with God’s help. 2 Not I will; but, I will, with God’s help - which includes the help of our community. As we head back into the world later today, I wonder if we might explore:
 By Rev. Heather J. Blais, Rector
Last Sunday’s gospel lesson featured a handful of verses from John 6, generally known as ‘the bread of life discourse’. Our lesson today picks up with the provocative statement Jesus made at the end of that discourse: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Or as it says in the Message translation: …“I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever. I have told you this explicitly because even though you have seen me in action, you don’t really believe me. Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go. I came down from heaven not to follow my own agenda but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me (6:35-38).” Today’s passage dives into the implications of this claim. It can be helpful to remember who Jesus was speaking to in the crowd. Several disciples were present, many of whom would leave as a result of this discourse. Many more were his childhood neighbors, all of whom would have known him to be Mary and Joseph’s son. Jesus was a familiar face, a kid who grew up in the neighborhood, in a community where everyone knew one another’s business. Except now that kid has grown up. He is claiming to be divine; here to act as God’s agent in the world by teaching God’s Way of Love, and expecting folks to follow him on the Way. It probably would have been difficult to take him seriously. Especially given most folks would have taken his words literally, and imagined Jesus was promoting cannibalism. Awkward and not at all in keeping with their Jewish tradition. At best his kinder and non-judgmental neighbors would have been concerned about his overall health and wellbeing. While the more judgmental neighbors would have rolled their eyes at one another and said, “There goes Joseph’s son again, thinking he is God.” Deep sigh. That said, when we reflect on Jesus’ metaphor, it is incredibly spot on. In my own experience, the truth of this metaphor resonates more deeply each year. Here’s why. Jesus was speaking to folks who were intimately familiar with poverty and hunger, and were living in an empire where they had little to no power or say. They needed to be frugal with their meager food supply, and a bad harvest or moldy stores of grain could be disastrous for households. Their very real hunger and thirst instilled in them the need to be resourceful in finding ways to sustain themselves. We see this same kind of frugality and resourcefulness in many neighbors who make use of our community meals and essential’s pantry. Folks find a way to take a meal or two and stretch it across a few days or to feed multiple mouths. Hunger, poverty, and the resulting marginalization is still all too real, even in our own backyard. As a faith community, we have chosen to be aware of this deep rooted hunger that so many folks face, including our own parishioners. We have chosen to do our small part to ease that hunger by offering meals, essentials, and given the even greater gift of offering our respect and seeing each person’s dignity; remembering each person is made in the image and likeness of God. When Jesus tells the crowd then, and us today, that “I am the bread of life” he is offering us the liberating truth that we can and will be sustained in body, mind, and spirit by our life giving God. Many of us have experienced times when the money we had did not seem like it could possibly cover the essentials. In those moments, we pray for God to help us find a way forward, and somehow, things always come together in ways we never could have planned. To be clear - this does not mean prayer leads to magic money, the power of positive thinking, or easy answers. Prayer is the truth that when we rely on God, our prayers will be answered in one way or another. Often in surprising ways:
This is equally true when we shift from physical hunger to spiritual hunger. Since the very beginning of the Jesus Movement, communities of seekers and believers have gathered each week to worship God. Communities gather as a body in worship for several reasons:
In my own faith journey, it was the experience of receiving communion each week that hooked me into following Jesus and embracing the Episcopal Church. To this day, receiving communion continues to bring a peace and calm that sustains me, while also defying all logic. I mean, how could a stale, dissolvable wafer and some taylor tawny port sustain anyone through the challenges of this life? I don’t know how, but Christ is really present in this spiritual meal, and it is a truth Christians have discovered again and again and again. Yet it took living through covid for some of us to realize just how important it is to gather as a body of Christ. It turns out the communion we create when we gather as a worshiping community is just as essential for spiritual nourishment. Because following the Way of Love is not a solo pilgrimage through the wilderness. It is something that Christians have been doing together since the very beginning of the Jesus Movement. While I imagine none of this is news to those walking the Way of Love, it is helpful to to reflect on Jesus words’: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” His words are offered both as a fact and as an invitation. Where are we seeking out nourishment in our lives? We all have resources we tap into during times of challenge, hunger, and need. Yet instead of seeking nourishment through prayer and community worship, we often will seek nourishment any and everywhere else. In my own faith journey, even as an occupational pray-er, I will routinely seek sustenance in places that lack nourishment (hello, Netflix and BBC), before getting a loving memo from God that a life of faith means turning to God, not a screen. I embarrassingly share this because I imagine I’m not alone. There are so many other bright and shiny ways our world invites us to seek nourishment, when in reality, these ways tend to leave us feeling emptier and hungrier than we were in the first place. There are also seasons when we do seem to get it right, and remember to go to God first, but then somewhere along the way, not on purpose, we get distracted and start looking for our sustenance elsewhere. It’s a pretty human thing. God knows we are easily distracted, and that like our friend Peter, we are frequently a bit slow on the uptake. That’s why I hope this week we will receive Jesus' words as an invitation to reflect:
 By Rev. Heather J. Blais, Rector
Earlier this year, I promised to offer a teaching sermon on the Lord’s Prayer. Today we’ll focus on: how this prayer was introduced; its use within the service of Holy Eucharist; the evolution of the English translation; and finally, how the wider Church interprets this prayer today. And yes, there is a handout (see below), especially designed for the English geeks amongst us. Introducing the Lord’s Prayer Right out of the gate, there was no ‘original’ version of the Lord’s Prayer.* The prayer is presented in two different gospels: Matthew and Luke. The text of the prayer, as preserved in the gospels, is in Greek, and are themselves translations from Aramaic or Hebrew. The versions presented in Mathew and Luke are similar, but quite different. Luke’s version omits any reference to heaven or God’s will being done, and both versions omit the doxology we are familiar with. Liturgically, the Church has generally drawn upon Matthew's version. Fairly early in his gospel, as part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, he tells the disciples: “Pray like this” (CEB6:9). After teaching the Lord’s Prayer, he adds: “If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your sins” (CEB 6:14-15). This might lead us to speculate - is God’s forgiveness conditional? If we want to think in binary terms, sure, that’s one way to read it. But we know God is the original expansive thinker, always nudging us to open our hearts, minds, and souls to see a bigger vision; a deeper understanding of meaning. Our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry once preached: “Mutual forgiveness and repentance, healing and reconciliation are hard work and they often take time. Healing and reconciliation do not happen quickly. But it happens, if we are willing, to allow God’s grace to work in us, for God’s grace is sufficient. God is able.”** I think what Jesus was flagging for us is that the very act of seeking to engage in a process of forgiveness, repentance, healing, and reconciliation requires us to keep ourselves open and willing to receive God’s grace. To trust God is at work within us and within those we seek to forgive; that God’s grace is sufficient and able. Especially given forgiveness is often not a one time thing; it can be hard to give and sometimes, even harder to receive. Forgiveness is an ongoing journey of trust in God’s grace. If our hearts remain hardened, we end up closing ourselves off from God’s grace and forgiveness. Not because God is unwilling to forgive us, but because we have put up a ‘do not enter’ sign, closing ourselves off from God’s grace, of the possibility of giving and receiving forgiveness. Luke offers his version towards the middle of his gospel. “Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples’” (CEB 11:1). You might even say, they wanted a formula, and so he gave them one. But after teaching them to pray, he goes on to indicate God is always there. Jesus says: “And I tell you: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened.” (CEB 11:9-10). I think it’s fair to say, Jesus offers them a liturgical prayer, but also makes a point to emphasize, God answers whenever we seek God out. This may explain why so many of the phrases within the Lord’s Prayer are also found in Jewish liturgy, including prayers like, “Our Father, Our King”, the “Amidah”, and “Morning Blessings”.*** And this was quite possibly my favorite part. It means our beloved Jesus, was also a liturgist, drawing upon sacred prayers from his religious tradition and creating a new prayer with fresh language to help his followers expand and deepen their prayer life. Jesus modeled liturgical renewal from the beginning of his ministry, recognizing we can appreciate the beauty of tradition while also enlivening our prayer life with fresh language. The Lord’s Prayer within the Service of Holy Eucharist In the early Church, it was common for members to bring home eucharistic elements from the Sunday celebration. Much like today, when Kathryn Aubry-McAvoy will bring the eucharistic elements to one of our parishioners, except at this point in time, everyone could bring home the bread and wine to consume during the week. Before consuming the elements during the week, they would say the Lord’s Prayer to prepare their hearts and minds for receiving the eucharist. Which is one reason why early Church fathers believed that when the Lord’s Prayer references ‘our daily bread’ the prayer was not referencing basic daily nutrition.**** Rather they believed these words referred to the sacred meal of the eucharist. Around the time Constantine adopted Christianity, the act of saying the Lord’s Prayers as a form of personal piety was incorporated into the eucharistic service. The Lord’s Prayer has remained at this place in the Eucharistic service ever since, though the people’s involvement in saying the prayer was quite an evolution. More on that in a moment. The Evolution of the English Translation In the late fourth century, the Roman Empire split, and this led the Roman Church to transition from using Greek to Latin. While initially plenty of folks spoke Latin, the language died out around the seventh century, though it remained the required liturgical language in the Roman Church until the mid-1960s. ***** This means the early Church began using the language of the people, and slowly evolved into a language that most people did not understand. It invited and exasperated clericalism, insisting the priest was a required intermediary between God and the people. Which doesn’t exactly line up with Jesus' mission and ministry. But alas. On the very distant edges of the Roman Empire, in the Kingdom of Northumbria, which consisted of what we now think of as Northern England and the Scottish Lowlands, the Lord’s Prayer was first translated into English around 650 A.D.****** We didn’t really see other English translations, until the Protestant Reformation when the King of England, Henry VIII, left the Roman Church to found the Church of England. We know Henry’s motivations were mixed, and his decision caused a lot of political and religious upheaval. I had always been taught that this change more or less immediately led to the worship being spoken in the language of the people. But no - not the case. While Henry instigated the change, the liturgy kept being prayed in Latin for another fifteen years! Yet when the first Book of Common Prayer was published in 1549, all of that changed. A sidebar about prayer books: It’s interesting to note that the Church of England produced four different prayer books between 1549 and 1662. Because the Anglican Church is the state religion in England, prayer book revisions required government involvement, which quickly became challenging. (I mean, could you imagine trying to get prayer book revision through the American congress???) This resulted in the Church of England shying away from any further prayer book revisions, and instead creating a great deal of supplemental materials. The Episcopal Church in the United States has essentially done the same thing, producing four different prayer books between 1789 and 1979. At our 2022 General Convention, we memorialized the 1979 prayer book, and have opted to move in England’s direction of approving many supplemental materials that they expect churches will incorporate. When the Church of England first produced a prayer book in the vernacular, they also did a wild thing, they slowly began to include the laity in the prayers. Now during the service, when the Lord’s Prayer was spoken by the priest, the people concluded: ‘But deliver us from evil. Amen.’ In the 1552 revision, people were given a bit more empowerment in the liturgy and were invited to repeat each line after the priest. This remained the pattern in the two other prayer book revisions in England, and the first two prayer books for the Episcopal Church. It was not until the publication of the 1928 prayer book that the priest and the people began to say the Lord’s Prayer together. I found this to be particularly wild, that we’ve only been praying this prayer together for a little less than 100 years! While the English language and spelling norms evolved, there were relatively minor changes to the substance of the Lord’s Prayer. In 1662, England followed the Scotts in incorporating the doxology into the end of the Lord’s Prayer and it has been around ever since. The 1789 prayer book substituted minor changes like ‘which art in heaven’ to ‘who art in heaven’; and ‘in earth’ to ‘on earth’; and ‘them that trespass’ to ‘those who trespass’. The most significant change to the Lord’s Prayer took place in the 1970s when the contemporary language for the Lord’s Prayer was introduced. In many ways, the change was a long time coming. There had been a lot of change in how people spoke to one another in general. Marion Hatchett observes in his Commentary on the American Prayer Book: “In the sixteenth century ‘thou’ in English was equivalent to ‘tu’ in French or ‘du’ in German - the familiar second person singular form used to address one person, intimates, children, servants and God. It was appropriately used by those who knew themselves to be children in intimate relation to God…. The use of ‘you’ as a form of address in the rites and collects in contemporary language is the modern expression of intimacy linguistically equivalent to the usage of ‘thou’ in the earlier editions of the Prayer Book.” In other words, the shift was, in part, to ensure the prayer retained that sense of intimacy between God, our heavenly mother and father; and God’s beloved children. The second reason prompting a change, was the decision of the Roman Catholic Church to no longer require Latin in their services.******* This meant they needed English translations. Up until this point, when other Protestant churches were looking for an English translation of common prayers, such as the Lord’s Prayer, they looked to the Anglican prayer book. You can imagine why the Roman Catholic leadership would not have wanted to use one of the breakaway church’s English translations for their liturgy. So they created their own International Commission on English in the Liturgy. Meanwhile, many Protestant denominations who had long used the Anglican versions, were eager to modernize the prayers. This led to the creation of the International Consultation on English Texts, an ecumenical group charged with crafting English translations of the prayers our denominations have in common. In the early 1970s, they published Prayers We Have in Common: Agreed Liturgical Texts, which included what we think of as the ‘contemporary’ Lord’s Prayer. When the Episcopal Church revised the prayer book in 1979, they made a pastorally sensitive decision to include both the traditional and the contemporary version used by many other denominations. Today, the Episcopal Church belongs to the North American Consultation on Common Texts, which is a member of the English Language Liturgical Consultation, groups that continue the important work of giving us a common language in our core Christian prayers across denominations.*** How the Wider Church Interprets the Lord’s Prayer Today Let’s walk through how the wider Church understands the Lord’s Prayer today - briefly. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.” Scholars believe this part of the prayer could mean a couple of different things, and generally recommend leaving enough space for both interpretations. One thought is that this petition is urgently seeking the action of God - something along the lines of “...[Creator] show yourself to be the Holy One; bring in your kingdom; establish your will, on earth as in heaven.”* Another thought, is when this prayer is compared to Jewish prayers, it makes a solid case that the petition is praying for human action so God’s name may be sanctioned, God’s kingdom established, and God’s will done.* “Give us this day our daily bread;” Similarly, scholars suggest there are a couple of ways to interpret this petition, and again, recommend keeping enough space for both meanings.* The Greek word that is translated into ‘daily’ is actually a bit vague.* It may mean ‘bread for tomorrow’, as in ‘the great tomorrow’, referring to a heavenly banquet.* It also can be understood as ‘the bread which is necessary’, and given the amount of hunger in our world, there is a solid argument for this perspective too.* “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” We’ve already touched on this a bit. In essence: we are committed to the practice of forgiveness, we forgive others when they wrong us, and we ask God to forgive us when we wrong God. “Save us from the time of trial.” Scholars note two potential misconceptions that often arise. The first is that God would “tempt” or entice people to evil, and the second is to think that the original Greek word that means “temptation” means something different than simply being tempted to not sin.* The original meaning is more akin to not denying or renouncing our faith when tempted, either in the here or now, but especially in that biblical sense of the trials Christians will face during the challenges of end times written about in apocalyptic literature.* “and deliver us from evil.” This alludes to the evil powers of this world; the selfishness, fear, anger, and hate that can separate us from God and care of God’s world. “For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever.” This doxology, which is a later addition, reflects the normal Jewish practice of concluding prayers of petition with a doxology of praise.* I hope our exploration of the Lord’s Prayer today, and its evolution in the Christian tradition, helps us to have a better sense of why we use the contemporary version in our primary worship service, while each individual always has the choice to pray the one they hold dear either in worship or in private prayer. As we prepare to head back out into the world today, I would invite each of us to keep reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer: How do the words of the prayer inform our understanding of God? How does this prayer bind us with other Christians across the world? Amen. * https://www.englishtexts.org/the-lords-prayer ** https://episcopalnewsservice.org/2017/05/23/presiding-bishop-preaches-on-forgiveness-repentance-healing-and-reconciliation-in-haiti/ *** https://weekly.israelbiblecenter.com/lords-prayer-jewish-liturgy and https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/text-of-avinu-malkeinu/ **** Marion Hatchett, Commentary on the American Prayer Book, p. 378, 90, 29. ***** https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL07383020/ ****** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%27s_Prayer ******* https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/international-consultation-english-texts-icet The Lord’s Prayer Matthew 6:9-13 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 debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. (taken from the Revised Standard Version, as found on English Language Liturgical Consultation) Luke 11:2-4 Father, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread; And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us; And lead us not into temptation. (taken from the Revised Standard Version, as found on English Language Liturgical Consultation) 650 A.D. - Old English FADER USÆR ðu arð in heofnu Sie gehalgad NOMA ÐIN. Tocymeð RÍC ÐIN. Sie WILLO ÐIN suæ is in heofne and in eorðo. HLAF USERNE of'wistlic sel ús todæg, and f'gef us SCYLDA USRA, suæ uoe f'gefon SCYLDGUM USUM. And ne inlæd usih in costunge, ah gefrig usich from yfle. (Bell, Laird D T. Northumbrian Culture and Language) 1549 Prayer Book - England The priest Our father, whyche art in heaven, halowed be thy name. Thy Kyngdome come. Thy wyll be doen in yearth, as it is in heaven. Geve us this daye our dayly breade. And forgeve us our trespaces, as wee forgeve them that trespasse agaynst us. And leade us not into temptacion. The aunswere But deliver us from evill. Amen. (taken from 1549 prayer book) 1552 Prayer Book - England Changed how the prayer was offered. The people would repeat each line after the priest. Spelling evolved, but same words. 1559 Prayer Book - England The people still repeat each line after the priest. Further evolution of spelling, but same intended words. 1662 Prayer Book - England Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen. (taken from 1662 prayer book; this is still the official prayerbook of England) The people still repeat each line after the priest. Spelling looks more familiar. Added doxology. 1789 Prayer Book - U.S. 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: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen (taken from 1789 prayer book) The people still repeat each line after the priest. Some words are changed to adapt to language norms of the time. 1892 Prayer Book - U.S. The people still repeat each line after the priest. Content stays the same. 1928 Prayer Book - U.S. The priest and the people now say the prayer together. Content stays the same. 1970 Prayers We Have in Common: Agreed Liturgical Texts was produced by the International Consultation on English Texts, and established the ‘contemporary’ Lord’s Prayer used in the wider church. They created translations used across Roman and Protestant churches, such as: Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, the Gloria (Glory to God), the Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy), etc. 1979 Prayer Book - U.S. Traditional 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. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. 1979 Prayer Book - U.S. Contemporary Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on 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. |