Unpacking the Lord’s Prayer with Paul Neeley

Last week, I published a couple of musical versions of the Lord’s prayer sent to me by Paul Neeley. Paul Neeley co-founded the Global Ethnodoxology Network (www.worldofworship.org) and blogs at https://globalworship.tumblr.com/. He also sent me this beautiful version that he wrote himself.

Our Father in Heaven,
Help me trust you as good father,
Proclaim you as good father,
Live in faith that you are good father.
You are holy,
and I have missed the mark.
In your divine mercy,
cover me with the robe of the righteousness of Christ.
By your amazing grace,
forgive my sin,
that I may delight in your will
and walk in your ways
to the glory of your name.
May your kingdom be established in my life;
use me to establish your kingdom on earth
as it is in heaven.
Help me choose to do your will;
Use me to accomplish your will on earth
as it is in heaven.
Grant all that is needed for life and ministry.
Help me breathe in forgiveness from you
and breathe out forgiveness
to those who have wronged me.
Keep me strong in times of temptation,
deliver me from evil,
and save me from the time of trial.
Reveal your glory, your grace, your truth and your goodness
to us all, and through us all.
Amen

Notes: lines 11-13 are from the Anglican ‘Collect for Purity’. Lines 24-26 are common alternative English translations. Line 27 references John 1:14.

And as an extra treat, Paul sent me this version of the Lord’s Prayer by Liturgical Folk on their album Table Settings. Ryan Flanigan tells me that the folks at Liturgical Folk have just finished a 3-year, 6-volume music recording project called Liturgical Folk. Ryan’s setting of the Lord’s Prayer is the first song of the project, appearing on Liturgical Folk, Vol. 1—Table Settings. Three of the albums consist of new service music: Table Settings, Crumbs, and Psalm Settings. And three of the albums consist of new hymns penned by a retired Anglican priest Fr. Nelson Koscheski, and tuned by me and some of my friends: Edenland, Lent, and Advent. We recorded sixty-five songs in total, but I’m currently compiling a hymnal, including the B-sides, which will number about 100.

Album Cover Table Setting