Selective Memory

November 5 is a British Memorial Day.  Each year it falls within a week of November 11, the day that 'remembers' the twentieth century's two World Wars.  Our church is no exception to this and we are deeply moved to ponder a sacrifice that is sufficiently recent to connect the older of us to grandparents or even parents affected by the War.

This pursuit of collective memory is not new.  Here follows a Prayer for the Daily Office of the  national Church for November 5th:

LMIGHTY God, who hast in all ages shewed thy power and mercy in the miraculous and gracious deliverance of thy Church, and in the protection of righteous and religious Kings and States, professing thy holy and eternal truth, from the wicked conspiracies and malicious practices of all the enemies thereof; We yield thee our unfeigned thanks and praise for the wonderful and mighty deliverance of our late gracious Sovereign King James, the Queen, the Prince, and all the Royal Branches, with the Nobility, Clergy, and Commons of England, then assembled in Parliament, by Popish treachery appointed as sheep to the slaughter, in a most barbarous, and savage manner, beyond the examples of former ages. From this unnatural conspiracy, not our merit, but thy mercy; not our foresight, but thy providence, delivered us: And therefore, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us; but unto thy Name be ascribed all honour and glory in all Churches of the saints, from generation to generation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For all the depth of feeling it contains, however, it is no longer said.  1605 is a very long time ago.  It is, of course, typical of the modern church to have ditched such politically incorrect referral to popish treachery.

Except that it wasn't the modern church that removed it.  It was removed in 1859, not a time conspicuous for the British being warm toward the Roman Church or the Pope.  By then 250+ years had done their work and the collective memory had new things to memorialise in liturgy with an Empire encompassing the globe.

This coming Sunday we will share Communion.  The Apostle Paul indicated that this 'proclaims the Lord's death until he comes'.  We are never to forget the greatest victory, the greatest Saviour and the greatest Salvation of all.

It's Missing 3. The Lord's Prayercut

Hymns and songs almost invariably have bits missing, and even if the printed version doesn't then the performed version will.

More extraordinarily the central prayer of the Christian Church has a bit missing.

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 trespasses,

As we forgive them that trespass against us. 

And lead us not into temptation, 

But deliver us from evil. 

For thine is the kingdom, 

The power, and the glory, 

For ever and ever. 

Amen.

Here's the Roman Catholic version:

Our Father who art in Heaven, 

Hallowed be thy name; 

Thy kingdom come 

Thy will be done 

On earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread; 

And forgive us our trespasses 

As we forgive those who trespass against us; 

And lead us not into temptation, 

But deliver us from evil.

My attendance at RC services is almost non existent - the last time I was left hanging by this version of the Lord's Prayer was in a fiercely evangelical church and the time before that in a middling cerebral Anglican church.

The rationale for the haircut prayercut seems simple enough - the oldest transcripts of the Gospels (usually but not universally deemed to be the most reliable) don't have the final doxology in.  

To me, the question is: What do we gain by taking it out?

The answer cannot be that it gives a better ending.  Mostly, when I've heard it in its truncated form, the leader adds Amen which is an unconscious admission that the truncated version doesn't feel that it ends right.   

The answer cannot be that the doxology doesn't fit the prayer.  The meaning of the doxology echoes the opening lines of the prayer about the kingdom and divine glory of God.  It reflects the grounds of confidence that we might be delivered from evil.

The answer must be that it is more Biblical.  This seems simple and straightforward enough.  Until we ponder that in the Roman Church being Biblical is hardly a stated priority with its varied forms of  hierarchical authority.  A Church that has in central liturgy a prayer

Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most Holy.

Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her Glorious Assumption.

Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.

Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.

doesn't really need to exercise itself too much about being exactly Biblical!  Similarly, by his writings I am fairly sure that the Lead Vicar in the cerebral Anglican church I gave as an example doesn't believe the Lord's Prayer was actually uttered by the Lord.  So his problem with it is hard to understand too.

That leaves us with the Biblicist church who may have some grounds for leaving it out because it's not in the Bible (though surely most of our other prayers aren't either?)  But even that isn't straightforward because this doxology IS in the Bible - 1 Chronicles 29:

11 Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.

Shall we just keep saying it, eh?