While I have no shortage of projects and potential projects, let me record an idea I had this morning. I have been using Phyllis Tickle's The Divine Hours for the morning watch sessions that I broadcast on my church's Facebook page.
Tickle uses The New Jerusalem Bible translation and the prayers from the Book of Common Prayer. I find that these texts have some limitations. There's never a day where I don't have to do some de-gendering of God imagery. Every so often, I look up a text afterward to see how other translations handle tricky God/Savior imagery. I don't take out the warrior imagery, although it sometimes makes me uneasy.
I am guessing that most people who watch my broadcast are Christian--in fact, from what I can tell, most of them are members of my church. I don't think we have much ecumenical outreach, but I have wondered if I shouldn't be thinking about the possibility.
This morning I wondered if it would be possible to write a truly ecumenical prayer manual, one that could be used by Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. I don't mean having a Muslim section, and then a Jewish section, and so on--no, everyone would use the same readings and prayers each day.
And then I wondered if such a prayer manual could be used by atheists and agnostics. I figure that it might be a tough sell for atheists, since I envision a prayer manual having prayers and sacred texts that talk about a creator. I'm guessing that atheists wouldn't want to engage in practicing relationship with a creator in whom they don't believe.
Like I said, I don't need any additional projects and certainly not one that would be so huge. But I wanted to note the idea regardless.
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