The Lord's Prayer: Liberation Theology Version

Our Father and Mother

who is in us here on earth,

holy is your name

in the hungry

who share their bread and their song.

Your Kingdom come,

which is a generous land

flowing with milk and honey.

Let us do your will,

standing up when all are sitting down,

and raising our voice

when all are silent.

You are giving us our daily bread

in the song of the bird and the miracle of the corn.

Forgive us

for keeping silent in the face of injustice,

and for burying our dreams;

for not sharing bread and wine,

love and the land,

among us, now.

Don't let us fall into the temptation

of shutting the door through fear,

of resigning ourselves to hunger and injustice,

of taking up the same arms as the enemy.

But deliver us from evil.

Give us the perseverance and the solidarity

to look for love,

even if the path has not yet been trodden,

even if we fail;

so we shall have known your Kingdom

which is being built forever and ever.

Amen.

I read this Latin American paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer many years ago in a church bulletin in Winnipeg. In true Liberation Theology style, it emphasizes collective solidarity among the poor and oppressed instead of expressing a concern solely for individual salvation.