Application of the Lord's Prayer For 9/11
             Music and words by Dr. Kenneth W. Regan
   Performed by the St. Paul's Eggertsville Choir, 8 Sept. 2002

Tildes ~ indicate musical interludes, which are part of the meaning.
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Our Father, who art in heaven,
In our sorrowing moments, privately we pray:
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done;
As it is in heaven, so we desire it on earth.
Give us this day our daily sustenance,
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us,
As we forgive those...
~~~~~~~~~~~~That is so hard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~What meaning does forgiveness have here?
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He taught:	 
If you forgive, then your Father in heaven will forgive you;
But, if you do not forgive, then your Father in heaven will forgive you not.
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Our Father, Thy Name be kept holy,
In our daily living, in everything we do.
Why do we have words from Thee
That withdraw Thy compassion from some of creation?
Why do those words seem to call to us
To take Thy wrath upon our arms?
To set ourselves up as idols of vengefulness?
To carry Thy Name in the slings of our grievances?
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He taught:
Blessed are the peacemakers.
Pray for thine enemies.
Condemn not, that ye not be condemned.

It is written: Vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord.	
To forgive, reconcile brings God's reward.	
For the Kingdom and Power and Glory are Thine.
And enough is God as Disposer of affairs.
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Our Father:
Save us from the time of trial;
Put us not to the test;
Lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from e v i l.
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Some comments (summer 2002, rev. 9/11/11): 
   () This was reinforced by the lead article in the N.Y. Times "Week in
Review" section for May 26, 2002, on the question of forgiveness, including
addressing the subject of national forgiveness for 9/11.  I had actually
written the words earlier.  The lines with "If you forgive,..." come
immediately after the Lord's Prayer in Matthew, 6:15--16 after 9--14,
in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount.

   () I skipped "hallowed be Thy Name" in the first verse to make it the
entire subject of the second---to argue "No Violence In God's Name."  
It may seem jarring to read "our" for the questions embodying BinLadenism,
but Christians must also admit to having been perpetrators throughout history.
I connected this violence specifically to "spitting on God's Name" when this
came up in class and conversations on campus last fall.  The lines after
"He taught:" in the second verse back this up.

   () The first 3 of those lines also come from the Sermon on the Mount in
Matthew (most translations say "judge" not "condemn"), while the 4th in its
entirety is Romans 12.19 (that's why "It is written:" is not on a separate
line).  The 5th and 7th lines are from the Qur'an (paraphrase of the
Yusuf Ali translation), and make this a theological argument on the Muslim
side as well.  The signature sin in Islam is /shirk/, meaning associating
partners/idols to God.  The original context of the seventh line in Qur'an 4:171
is to criticize the perceived Christian view of the Trinity in this regard;
however, I connect it to "Vengeance is Mine..." to apply it to Bin Laden et al.
having set themselves up as idols for their followers.  Thus I am accusing the
terrorists of /shirk/, and I believe this response should not be neglected.
The 5th line is from Qur'an 42:40, though it should be noted that the
surrounding context in the Qur'an differs from the Sermon on the Mount,
in not requiring the higher way.

   () The first three lines of the short 3rd verse are three common
renderings of the Greek original, and IMHO collectively carry the original
intent.  If you are interested in the music that goes with this, please
let me know.