The Lord’s Prayer Translation from the Syria Aramaic
You, the Breath, the Light of All
Let this Light create a heart-shrine within,
And Your Counsel rule ‘til Oneness guides all.
Your One Desire then acts with ours, as in all light,
So in all forms.
Grant what we need, each day, in bread and insight.
Loose the cords of mistakes binding us,
As we release the strands we hold of other’s faults.
Don’t let surface things delude us.
But keep us from unripe acts.
To You belongs the ruling mind,
The life that can act and do.
The song that beautifies all,
From age to age it renews.
In faith, I will to be true.
Translation by Neil Douglas-Klots, a well-known biblical scholar. This version is an attempt to maintain some of the Aramaic rhythms and nuances of meaning.
The Lord’s Prayer – an adaptation by the Center of Concern
Our God who is in heaven and in all of us here on earth;
the hungry, the oppressed, the excluded.
Holy is Your name.
MAY YOUR REIGN COME.
May Your reign come and Your will be done in our choice to struggle with the complexities of this world and to confront greed and the desire for power in ourselves, in our nation, and in the global community.
MAY YOUR REIGN COME.
Give us this day our daily bread,
Bread we are called to share,
Bread You have given us abundantly and we must distribute fairly,
Ensuring security for all.
MAY YOUR REIGN COME.
Forgive us our trespasses,
Times we have turned away from the struggles of other people and countries, times we have thought only of our own security.
MAY YOUR REIGN COME.
Lead us not into temptation,
The temptation to close our minds, ears, and eyes to the unfair global systems that create larger and larger gaps between the rich and the poor,
The temptation to think it is too difficult to bring about more just alternatives.
MAY YOUR REIGN COME.
Deliver us from evil,
The evil of a world where violence happens in Your name,
Where wealth for a few is more important than economic rights for all,
Where gates and barriers between people are so hard to bring down.
MAY YOUR REIGN COME.
May Your reign come, For Yours is the Kingdom,
The Power, and the Glory for ever and ever. AMEN
The Lord’s Prayer – Season of Creation
Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Mother/Father of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your beloved community of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen.