Archbishop May Be ‘Problematic’, says Lord’s Prayer

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Sun, 16/07/2023 - 00:00

Lord’s Prayer opening may be ‘problematic’, says archbishop. So read the headline in The Guardian this month. His Grace the Archbishop of York, complained:

“I know the word ‘father’ is problematic for those whose experience of earthly fathers has been destructive and abusive, and for all of us who have laboured rather too much from an oppressively patriarchal grip on life”.

Over the years, I have found that it is not the Lord’s Prayer which has proved problematic, but archbishops. Powerful and influential public faces of Christianity in this benighted land, they dilute the faith, ignore God’s word, and attempt to curry favour with an unimpressed secular culture. Truly, Archbishop Cottrell turns wine into water.

The very Lord’s Prayer which he decries is given that epithet for having been spoken by the Lord Jesus Himself. If the phrase 'Our Father' was good enough for Him, why not, pray tell, the archbishop? That other line ’Thy will be done’ sums it all up. There is religion that comes from the heart of man, and there is living faith that comes from the breath of God. Cottrell has the former.

Say, Christian, wouldst thou thrive
In knowledge of thy Lord?
Against no Scripture ever strive,
But tremble at his word.

Revere the sacred page;
To injure any part
Betrays, with blind and feeble rage,
A hard and haughty heart.

If aught there dark appear,
Bewail thy want of sight;
No imperfection can be there,
For all God’s words are right.

The Scriptures and the Lord
Bear one tremendous name;
The written and the incarnate Word
In all things are the same.

Joseph Hart, No 878, Gadsby's Hymns