A university faculty prayer inspired by the Chorister’s Prayer of the Royal College of Church Music. Adapted by the CS Lewis Foundation
Bless, O Lord, us your servants,
Who are called to scholarly vocations.
Grant that what we apprehend with our minds
and profess through our words
May be grounded in truth
and offered confidently
with humility
to the greater good and well being
of our students, our colleagues,
our academic communities
and the world at large,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen
February 8th, 2011 | 12:00 am | #1
Amen.
February 8th, 2011 | 4:03 pm | #2
Wow. We academics are so precious. Guess the prayer that Jesus taught isn’t good enough for us. We gotta have a special one of our own, informing the Lord of our unique needs–apparently He’s in the dark about them and needs some clarity.
I didn’t know Lewis but I know people who did and who studied with him and they tell me that this kind of thing drove him nuts. But then again an outfit named the CS Lewis Foundation would drive him nuts too, so what do you expect?
February 8th, 2011 | 5:19 pm | #3
Mike Linton,
In fairness, you should note that there are probably hundreds of prayers for different professions. I’m necessarily not defending this particular one or the CS Lewis Foundation, though.
February 10th, 2011 | 12:50 am | #4
No need to be snarky. Some people appreciate written prayers, others just don’t. That particular prayer might not say anything that you need to say, but it might for others.
And “the Lord already knows what we need” is not and never has been a reason not to be specific in prayer. Jesus gave us a prayer but didn’t tell us that was the only one we could use.
As an academic, yes, I appreciate a prayer that reminds me of the need for humility, and of the fact that my work is a calling, and that I serve my students but also, in broader circles, my colleagues, my college, and the community.
I appreciate having written prayers that suggest ways to lift up the concerns of my life to God, in ways that I might not think of myself — my own spontaneous prayers often get into a rut of the same sorts of topics, and prayers like this can lift me out of that. (Which is a point that CS Lewis himself made, I might add, when writing about the liturgy and extemporaneous prayer…)
February 10th, 2011 | 11:02 am | #5
I am no good at extemporaneous prayer. I need all the help I can get. I think this is a wonderful prayer.
February 22nd, 2011 | 2:53 am | #6
Well David, I kinda think that the Lord is the one listening to your prayer and providing the criticism and I seem to remember something about a paraclete in that regard—basically we’re not that good at much of anything, including prayer (the T part of TULIP). And it’s a bit odd—especially in the evangelical alley of the First Things blog–to call something a “wonderful prayer” since we’re not in a position to judge, we’re not the ones hearing it as a prayer (what a great Monty Python sketch that would be: three bishops with rating cards, scoring curate’s prayers like figure staking judges at the Olympics. “Wasn’t that lovely, Trevor, the way he made that oblique reference to First Peter 1.18 and then added that bit from ‘The Wasteland? I score that a solid 9.56.” “Yes, lovely Nigel, but his elocution was a bit rough; pity these country boys can never seem to get the rhythm quite right. Have to take a bit off the score of that for me. 8.85. Next prayer please”).
And Holly, last time I checked, the Lord’s Prayer was a written prayer; I didn’t hear him deliver it directly. My gripe isn’t with the literary quality of the prayer or the fact that it’s written out but with the notion that there is something unique about the academic life that requires a particularly tailored address to the Lord. You say that “as an academic” and then follow with the list. Well, yes, but the same list applies to the guy delivering the Coke to the vending machines down the hall (and I bet he isn’t requiring the folks who buy his drinks to go into debt to pay for them–not that you’re doing this but a lot of professors are). I’m snarky about academics, a topic about which there isn’t nearly enough snarkiness.
And Stephen, you’re right. Lot’s of work specific prayers out there. I got to hunting around for a “plumber’s prayer,” something about “Oh Lord, allow me the wisdom to mindfully lay the drains. . . “ etc. There is one. Google “plumbers prayer” and you’ll find it. Pretty funny. And I’m not snarky about that one at all.
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