By Dr. Jacquelyn Simmons
Scripture: After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Dear Jesus,
You knew before You delivered our beloved “Lord’s Prayer” during Your Sermon On the Mount (Matthew 5-7), many generations ago, that some members of this present generation would challenge and delete portions of it. The last portion, which states, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen has been declared non-acceptable and deleted by some of God’s children.
This child of God among others totally disagrees with that decision. However, Bibles are being printed now-a-days with those deletions which means all generations and other children publications are being birth after us, except for a few Bible scholars who disagree with that decision, and teaching the truth will not be aware of its deletion.
I was first taught as a child, before going to bed, to kneel and say, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray Dear Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I awake, I pray Dear Lord my soul to take. Amen.”
However, when I became older, I was taught to kneel by my bed and recite Your, “Lord’s Prayer” in its entirety. But, what is this present generation being taught?
We recited it in its entirety before school assemblies, pep rallies, football games, etc. began. We sang it in choirs, wedding, church programs, etc. But now…
After Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the avowed atheist, was successful in removing the reciting of prayers before we started classes in schools, religious plays, holiday vacations, we are now confronted with leaders, parents, and some children who do not know You and others who scoff and ridicule those of us who try to live by and teach Biblical principles to them, also. Their ignorance of it and other Christian prayers are evidenced in their behaviors as parents, companions and teachers, etc. It is disturbing to me to note that Luke’s version of Your Lord’s Prayer is acceptable because he did not record that passage of Scriptures and was not present during Your Sermon On the Mount or when Your disciples requested of You to teach them how to pray as Your cousin John taught his disciples to pray. Luke was a doctor and a companion of the Apostle Paul, but Matthew, as Your disciple, was present on both occasions.
However, this child of God plans to continue to recite, pray, teach and sing Your entire version as taught by You during Your Sermon On the Mount. It would be quite awkward to abruptly end the song at the point where Matthew’s printed passage has been deleted. How embarrassing that would be for us as soloists, choirs, choir directors, musicians, preachers, etc. to do.
Jesus, the very idea of their deletion may cause You to weep as You did at the grave of Lazarus before he was raised from the dead by You (John 11:35). Truthfully, some of us will not accept the now popular deletion and will continue to sing, pray, play it as musicians, recite it as usual, teach our children, etc. We will continue to teach the correct version at every opportune moment.
Love you much!
Jacquelyn Simmons
P.S. Thanks to You and the Father for allowing us a few Sundays ago to celebrate Your resurrection, again-a celebration we should hold daily.
