How do we best introduce alternative inclusive translations, transliterations and interpretations of sacred texts?
Do we shoe-horn people into inclusive language?
Do we leap into inclusive language usage?
Consider using these words from First Congregational United Church of Christ in Sarasota, Florida, with your congregation:
‘As you encounter and engage these words, I invite you to continue to notice and name what happens as you pray these words.
As I said earlier, often the first time through a different version of the Lord’s Prayer might seem too strange to stir the sacred. The words below might feel like a tight shoe on our soul. I offer these versions for you, as always, to hold lightly and see how God might be found in the syllables and spaces of each translation. Prayer: May God’s presence hover and hold together our hearts each day we continue to pray.’
From the Facebook account of First Congregational United Church of Christ, Sarasota, Florida, USA
