Praying to a God in exile
Luke 11: 1-13 New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE July 27, 2025 Hungry refugee older child with light brown skin, dark hair, and brown eyes taking tinned food from a volunteer with gloved hands while sitting in a tent. I chose the First Nations Version for the scripture this morning because this translation of the Lord’s Prayer was used at General Synod earlier this month and I thought it would be good to look at this prayer in another context. Using this prayer also reminds us that every week we worship on the unceded lands of the Lenape and the Nanticoke peoples. As we were planning worship, I read the passage aloud to Diane and she noticed the use of the word “frybread” in place of the usual translation for “bread”. The Greek word ártos can also mean “daily provision” which is how it is used in the Lord’s Prayer. Frybread, on the other hand, has its origins in the forced removal of the Navajo or Diné people from their native lands. In 1864 the U.S. gove...
