This is an interesting thread... very Mudcattish. It isn't the exact words that are used in a prayer that matters to me, it's the Spirit in which it is lifted up. One of the greatest problems in faith is that in memorizing prayers and rituals, they can end up being said by rote. In the long run, it's the sincerity and yearning that a single person brings to prayer, as it is a one-on-one conversation with God. Praying together can be a wonderful way to join together as one in approaching the Lord, or for some, it can just become a ritual, where the mind is wandering onto whether they remembered to turn off the oven. When Christ told us to pray as he taught us in what is now called The Lord's Prayer, I think he wanted to show us the "way" to pray, and how to approach our Father in humility and Thanksgiving.

Many years ago, I was in a church where the Pastor encouraged us to reflect on the Lord's prayer, and write down our reflections. I ended up writing two pages just on the importance of the word "Our." The choice of words is important. More important is the need to truly reflect on what we are saying. In that case, this is a wonderful thread, because people here are doing just that. There is a saying that we are to be "in this world, but not of this world." That is, we are physically "in" this world, but spiritually, we are not to find our meaning in worldly things.

Personally, I've been more irritated with the change in some contemporary hymnals that substitutes "saved and set me free" for "saved a wretch like me" in Amazing grace. Maybe calling ourselves a wretch isn't politically correct. I'm surprised they didn't change it to "saved a pretty darned good person who ocassionally makes a mistake like me" Guess the meter wouldn't work....

Jerry