Awesome Be Thy Name

"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us some e-mail, Amen."

(From the prayers of a 3 year old girl, as collected by Roger Knapp)

The High Altar, Chichester Cathedral

I came across this re-working of "The Lord's Prayer" during a recent visit to Chichester Cathedral: a wonderfully uplifting but humbling place, where the bright atmosphere still echoes with 900 years of worship. This year, as part of the annual school-leaver services in the Church of England Diocese of Chichester, 3200 children and 1450 parents from 158 church schools took part in a series of special services across Sussex. The services were comprised of songs chosen and sung by the children and also prayers written by them. This adaptation of "The Lord's Prayer", put together by the pupils of Green Oak Primary School in Surrey, was prayed throughout the masses. It's very simple, very clear; and who said prayers can't be cute??

"Our Father in heaven,

You are Awesome!

Show us who you are and

What you want us to be.

Make earth more like heaven.

Please give us what we need to keep going each day.

Help us know when we are wrong, and clean us up on the inside.

Help us to let other people off and to move on.

Keep us safe from bad stuff. You're in charge!

You're strong and powerful and always there.

Forever,

Amazing!"