On July 27, the lectionary is covering the Lord’s Prayer or the Prayer of Jesus or, among Roman Catholics, the “Our Father” (Proper 12 Year C).
There are many versions “out there” other than the one we recite each Sunday.
Summer 2025 we're doing a mini-workshop at home and creating our own version for all to see.
Hear the Lord's Prayer: German, Latin, French (thanks to Silke Sida for recording).
Image credit above: Arabic Lord's prayer
أَبَانَا الذِي فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ،
لِيَتَقَدَّسَ اسْمُكَ
لِيَأْتِ مَلَكُوتُكَ
لِتَكُنْ مَشِيئَتُكَ فِي الأَرْضِ كَمَا السَّمَاءِ
اعْطِنَا خُبْزَنَا اليَوْمِيَّ
اعْفِنَا فِي مِمَّا عَلَيْنَا فَقَدْ أَعْفَيْنَا نَحْنُ أيَضاً مَنْ
لَنَا عَلَيْهِ
وَلاَ تُدْخِلْنَا فِي تَجْرِبَةٍ
لَكِنْ نَجِّنَا مِنَ الشِّرِّيرِ لأَنَّ لَكَ الْمُلْكَ وَالْقُوَّةَ وَالْمَجْدَ إِلَى الأَبَدِ
آمِين
Listen here
Dear Savior God …
You alone who is to be revered by us …
We pray for your Heaven to come down to your earth as you dwell among us here with your love and grace.
Fill us today with your manna …
And forgive our many sins as we strive, with Your help, to forgive others we believe have wronged us.
Please keep us strong and able to reject the temptations and evil of this earthly world.
For Almighty Love’s sake. Amen.
© 2025 Betty Gore
God of all that is and can be. You are our creator, advocate, and healer: always available with your hopeful, dependable, and merciful love. May we receive and transmit your love to others with the freedom of understanding that it comes with thy grace. Enable us to let go of all that we put between ourselves and you or ourselves and those around us. Let us rejoice and be glad in this moment without knowing what lies ahead. You open doors with invitation and sometimes a nudge; we can step forward knowing you are here, right by our side.
These are some of my thoughts and suggestions.
OU TLINE:
1. Traditionally prayers of this sort have had the following outline:
A. Adoration
C. Confession
T. Thanks giving
S. Supplication
Nothing wrong with this. It's just time for this to be rethought.
2. Other ways to outline a prayer might include the following:
Healing This being understood as having to do with: restoration.
Guiding This being understood as having to do with: ethics and decisions
Sustaining This being understood as having to do with: support and presence
3. Finally, I hope you can find some way to do away with gender specific language in reference to God.
Hope this is of some interest and help in your important work.
Sincerely,
Bob Morris
© 2025 Bob Morris
Oh, our ever compassionate and loving God
You are infinite and unbound by space or time
May your will for us be done
Sustain us in our daily efforts
Forgive us when we sin as we forgive those who sin against us
Let us not give way to temptation and help us in times of evil
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever
Amen
© 2025 Lee Holz
Holy one, you are esteemed above all in our lives. Help us to be your hands and feet in our world. Give us today our daily bread. Help us to realize that our behavior sometimes hurts you but you grant grace to us. Moreover, open our eyes and hearts to grant grace to those in our lives with whom we have difficulty. Keep us on the right path for your kingdom’s sake. Forever we pray. Amen.
© 2025 Sandi Adams
Toward the end of the period in which we were creating our own "Lord's Prayer," writer Sean of the South provided his meditation on the "Our Father." I'm sharing the link to his "Our Father, Which Art in Heaven". It's a good read.
© 2025 Sandi Adams
O most Compassionate Life-giver, may we honor and praise you; May we work with you to establish your new order of justice peace and love; Give us what we need for growth, And help us, through forgiving others, to accept forgiveness. Strengthen us in the time of testing, that we may resist all evil, For all tenderness, strength and love are yours, now and forever. Amen
O Great Spirit, You are our Shepherd Chief in the most high place. Whose home is everywhere, even beyond the stars and moon. Whatever You want done, let it also be done everywhere. Give us Your gift of bread day by day. Forgive us our wrongs as we forgive those who wrong us. Take us away from wrong doings. Free us from all evil. For everything belongs to You. Let your power and glory shine forever. Amen.
Eternal Spirit, Source of all that is and ever shall be, Loving Parent in whom we discern heaven, May knowledge of your holiness inspire all peoples, And may your commonwealth of peace and freedom flourish on earth Until all of humankind heed your call to justice and compassion. May we find the bread that we need for today, And for the hurts we cause one another May we be forgiven in the same measure that we forgive. In times of trial and temptation, help us to be strong; When life seems overwhelming, help us to endure; And thus from the yoke of sin deliver us. May you reign in the power of human love, Now and forever. Amen.
O cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration. Soften the ground of our being and carve out a space within us where your Presence can abide. Fill us with your creativity so that we may be empowered to bear the fruit of your mission. Let each of our actions bear fruit in accordance with our desire, endow us with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish. Untie the tangled threads of destiny that bind us, as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes. Do not let us be seduced by that which would divert us from our true purpose, but illuminate the opportunities of the present moment. For you are the ground and the fruitful vision, the birth, power and fulfillment, as all is gathered and made whole once again.
Dear One, closer to us than our own hearts, farther from us than the most distant star, you are beyond naming. May your powerful presence become obvious not only in the undeniable glory of the sky, but also in the seemingly base and common processes of the earth. Give us what we need, day by day, to keep body and soul together, because clever as you have made us, we still owe our existence to you. We recognize that to be reconciled with you, we must live peaceably and justly with other human beings, putting hate and bitterness behind us. We are torn between our faith in your goodness and our awareness of the evil in your creation, so deliver us from the temptation to despair. Yours alone is the universe and all its majesty and beauty. So it is, Amen.
Eternal Spirit, Source of all that is and ever shall be, Loving Parent in whom we discern heaven, May knowledge of your holiness inspire all peoples, And may your commonwealth of peace and freedom flourish on earth Until all of humankind heed your call to justice and compassion. May we find the bread that we need for today, And for the hurts we cause one another May we be forgiven in the same measure that we forgive. In times of trial and temptation, help us to be strong; When life seems overwhelming, help us to endure; And thus from the yoke of sin deliver us. May you reign in the power of human love, Now and forever. Amen.