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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Prayer by Drake, Tutu, and the One True Faith

My "cloistered brothers" and I examined a prayer by Archbishop Desmond Tutu from the Forgiveness Project.  At the bottom of the prayer, credit was given to the original prayer by Sir Francis Drake.  My curiosity was piqued by the name Sir Francis Drake?  Wasn't he a pirate and traitor?

 Naturally, I googled him.  He wasn't a traitor and he was a legal pirate.  He raided the Spanish and at that time, Spain and England were at war, so his illegal endeavors were sanctioned or winked at.

He did write, including poetry, and the prayer that is famous.  When I compared the two prayers, I didn't see any difference in meaning.  Surely there are words that are different, but not the sentiment.  I imagined Archbishop Tutu memorized this prayer, but when he wrote it down, he didn't write  word for word.  The same ideas came across.  I like it, and I want to do the same.  My take on the Francis Drake Prayer:

Disturb us Lord, when we're drifting,
When our course doesn't allow for Your Wind,
Because we think we're in charge.

Disturb us Lord, when the cargo is heavy,
When we want to keep what we have,
Because we forget  we owe everything to You.

Disturb us Lord, when  weather comes upon us,
When we're frightened and feel so all alone,
Because we doubt Your Presence and Power.

Help us Lord, when we look for shore,
When we're tired and need to anchor,
Because it's time to come home.

We ask this in the name of Our Savior, Lord, Redeemer, Your Son, Jesus Christ, Our Captain.
###

Here's my inspiration.

Sir Francis Drake's Prayer                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show
Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.


 #########################




Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, O Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess,
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
When, having fallen in love with time,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of Heaven to grow dim.
Stir us, O Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms show Thy mastery,
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

In the name of Him who pushed back
The horizons of our hopes;
And invited the brave to follow.
                         Amen




 The red is what different in the prayers between Sir Francis Drake and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.



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