New Zealand Lord’s Prayer – A Prayer for the Week

The prayer above is my favourite alternative rendition of the Lord’s prayer. It was written by Jim Cotter and has also been made into a meditation chanted by chanted by Ana Hernandez and Helena Marie, CHS.

Eternal Spirit — a video meditation from DioCal on Vimeo.

Many of us have rewritten this beautiful and most popular gospel prayer in language that suits our situation. It is a great exercise and one that I heartily recommend.

Here is a collection of some of my favourite interpretations.

This adaptation is published by the Society of the Sacred Heart but no longer available on their website.

I have also spent quite a bit of time reflecting on the Lord’s prayer and writing my own prayers adapted from it. Here is one that I wrote a couple of years ago:

Our Father,
Not mine alone but stretching beyond family, race, class, and religion,
Reaching to everyone everywhere.

Our Father,
The One who takes responsibility for us as family,
The One who cannot do anything but the loving thing,

Hallowed be your name.
May we reverence in thought and word and deed your name, your character,
May we see as holy the very nature of who you are.

Your kingdom come,
Your kingdom of peace, justice, wholeness and abundance.
May it come because we seek it above all else,
And put it in our prayers where Jesus did, first in consideration and allegiance.

Your will be done,
Your will for the only way that life is meant to work,
Your will for kingdom life to be revealed,
On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,
Not bread for me alone but for everyone, your entire human family
Not bread for the rest of my life but for today,
For we know that when we seek first your kingdom,
all these things – food, clothing, all we need- shall be added,
As and when we need them.

And forgive us our sins,
Forgive us our desires for luxuries that make others do without necessities,
Forgive us our holding onto tomorrow’s bread that should be shared today.
Forgive us as we forgive others, not resenting what they have, who they are,
how you have gifted them,

Lead us not into temptation but away from evil,
Guide us, all of us, until evil is not longer a temptation for us.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory,
You still rule, now, in our world today,
You rule with kingdom power and kingdom glory.

Amen

Do you have other adaptations of the Lord’s prayer? Please share them in the comments below or on the Godspace Facebook page as a comment on this post.