Confessing Evangelical

I'm about to post the wonderful Bidding Prayer from the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols, but before I do so, there's some negative carping about the said prayer that I wanted to get out of the way first. While I was finding an online copy of the Bidding Prayer, I couldn't help noticing how the prayer has "developed" over the years at King's College, Cambridge.

Here's the (I assume) original wording of one of the paragraphs of the prayer, as adopted by Carols for Choirs and still used by other churches and cathedrals that use this service:

And because this of all things would rejoice his heart, let us remember, in his name, the poor and helpless, the cold, the hungry, and the oppressed; the sick and them that mourn, the lonely and the unloved, the aged and the little children; all those who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love.

However, those listening to the service on the radio this year will not hear those words, nor will they have done so for at least a decade. By 1997 (the earliest date for which the order of service is available online), the highlighted words had become:

...and all who know not the loving kindness of the Lord.

Wouldn't want to suggest that not knowing the Lord Jesus was ipso facto the same as not knowing the Lord, now, would we? By 2002, however, even "the Lord" had obviously become too specifically "Christian" in tone - is this a term with which Muslims would feel comfortable, I ask myself? - so since then we have had:

...and all who know not the loving kindness of God.

For some bizarre reason, however, the multitude of those who rejoice with us "upon another shore and in a greater light" is still one "which no man can number". Bit of further editing required there, shurely?

Anyway, enough of such unseasonal griping. One positive post coming right up!