Mode of address in prayers changed

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32706, 8 September 1971, Page 19

Mode of address in prayers changed

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, September 5.

God will be addressed as “You” instead of “Thou” in prayers in the Church of England next year.

A modernised service of Holy Communion due to be published on September 16, is expected to be approved by the Church’s General Synod, probably next year, the ecclesiastical correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph reported today.

The correspondent said that an example of the new type of worship is the Lord’s Prayer, which will follow the style agreed by an interdenominational committee known as the international consultation on English texts. The new version is:— Our Father in Heaven, Holy be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins As we forgive those who sill against us. Do not bring us to the test, But deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are Yours now and for ever. Similar changes have been made in the prayer "Gloria in Excelsis.” The old “We praise Thee, we bless Thee,

we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory” is (replaced by “we worship You, we give You our thanks, we praise You for Your glory.”

The new communion service has been prepared by the Church of England liturgical commission under the chairmanship of Canon Ronald Jasper, of Westminster Abbey. Revised versions of morning and evening prayer compiled in the same style will be published in October.