“Forgive us our debts …” or “Forgive us our trespasses …”?
We use the Lord’s Prayer as given in Matthew 6: 9-13 in the King
James Version of the Bible. Thus we say “forgive us our debts, as we forgive
our debtors” rather than the “forgive us our trespasses …” which is used by
some other Protestant Churches.
Spiritual Interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer Included in
Sunday and Thanksgiving Services
In our Sunday service and in our Thanksgiving service, the
audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer includes the First Reader reading the
spiritual interpretation from Science and
Health (from the chapter entitled “Prayer,” page 16).
The form goes this way. After the congregation has prayed
aloud a line from the prayer as given in the 6th chapter of Matthew,
the congregation listens to the First Reader read the spiritual interpretation
of that thought before continuing. To help visitors, this is covered in the Christian Science Quarterly which is
made available to each attendee. That section looks like the following with the
congregation praying aloud the words recorded by Matthew (bold print). The
portion in italics is prayed audibly by the First Reader, and silently by
others.
Our Father
which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in
heaven.
Enable us to know, — as in heaven, so on
earth, — God is omnipotent, supreme.
Give us this day our daily bread;
Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished
affections;
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors.
And Love is reflected in love;
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but
delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and
the glory, forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life,
Truth, Love, over all, and All.
Again, the spiritual interpretation is not used with the
Lord’s Prayer in the Wednesday Meeting or in the Sunday School. It also is not
used in the second praying of the Lord’s Prayer in the Communion
service.
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