Rethinking The Lord's Prayer

One way to really find out how youth interpret scripture is to ask them to rewrite it in their own words. This process often yields surprising and sometimes humorous results, but it also helps to get to the heart of how youth are internalizing texts. We recently invited our youth to break into groups and write their own version of the Lord's Prayer in language that speaks to them. Here are a few of the results:

Our Brah, who art in Paradise,
'Halo" be thy game,
Your hometown come,
Your shopping list be fulfilled,
Mi Casa es Su casa.
Please end all this hunger,
And sorry we messed up. My bad!
Don't be too hard on those who mess up,
And don't let us go down bad paths,
But guide us in the other direction.
This is yo' crib,
These yo' skills,
And your creation for ever and ever.
Right on!

O Sacred Divinity,
When you arrive here
It's all gravy.
Help us through today.
Forgive us and help us forgive others.
Help us to avoid temptation
by taking us away from it.
Your crib's rockin' for
all eternity.
Amen.

You can find this and other great ideas for studying the bible creatively with youth in the free Ebook available at Grahame Knox's Insight blog.

--Brian