TO THOSE WHO ASK WHY WE PRAY
Written by Dorothee Soelle. (This version has been changed a minor bit to “americanize” it.)

Because we care about the familyhood

Of all

Not just of Christians or of some other group

Of all

Those too who will live after us

In our cities with our water

Those who bear our mark

Unto the third and fourth generation

Of all

The dead who lived before us

And whose dreams we betrayed

The dreams of 1776 and of 1917

Because we care about our brothers and sisters

That why we sometimes say

OUR FATHER

Because our task is never accomplished

And our longing does not diminish in the course of life

Because Christ does not slake our thirst

But makes it more acute

That’s why we sometimes say

WHICH ARE IN HEAVEN

Because we live in places

Where some have say over others

In factories offices and schools

Because we know that tyranny

Is the most common offense

To the name of god

That’s why we sometimes say

HALLOWED BE THY NAME

Because we fear the vicious circle

Of production consumption and profit

For which they try to groom us

That’s why we sometimes say

THY WILL BE DONE

Because we are not without fears about ourselves

Not without doubts about ourselves and our way

Not without irony toward our own efforts

That’s why we sometimes say

THY KINGDOM COME

We speak with god

Whenever we think about the new world

We talk about daily bread

And mean the button missing

On the prisoner’s uniform

And low tariffs on imports from poor countries

We confess our guilt

As one of the wealthiest countries in a world

Full of starving people

As citizens intent on order in a country

Full of desperation

We forgive our debtors

Who rob us of life

Respecting their human dignity

We never stop offering them better suggestions

Because we are Americans

Blind with nationalistic pride made for domination

Because we ignore the autonomy of whole countries

And refuse to accept the borders of peace

That’s why we sometimes say

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

Because we are subservient

And have not learned to contain tyranny

And limit the powerful

And barely know hot to take charge of our own fate

Because we give ourselves up

To resignation and pain

That’s why we sometimes say

BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL

Because we need faith for the kingdom

We are and we build

And encouragement for our work

So that we don’t plan in vain

That’s why we sometimes say

FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM

AND THE POWER

AND THE GLORY

And count on the fact that god is

FOREVER for us