Richard Benson

The Lord’s Prayer, sometimes called the “Our Father” prayer, is the most widely known Christian prayer in the world. It’s all of fifty-three words or sixty-six if you prefer the longer ending. By comparison, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is two hundred eighty-six words, and the Declaration of Independence is 1,327 words. I learned the Lord’s Prayer as a child, reciting it every Sunday in worship. It was easier to memorize than it was to take it into my heart. In the words of Frederick Maurice, “The Lord’s Prayer may be committed to memory quickly, but it is slowly learned by heart.”
Richard Meux Benson (1824-1915) wrote in 1866 a devotional guide to the Lord’s Prayer. He walked through the prayer’s seven petitions, adding his own paraphrased version of the prayer to accompany each petition. Richard displayed early sensitivity to the things of God as a child. His governess found him sleeping on the floor late one evening, so she picked him up and put him in bed. He awoke and expressed disapproval at being put back in bed. How was he going to learn hardness if he couldn’t sleep on the floor? After completing training for the Anglican priesthood, he was called to a small country parish in Crowley, two miles outside Oxford, England. He founded The Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) with an American and an Englishman. They became the first religious community of Anglican men who took vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. The “Crowley fathers,” as they came to be known, met together each morning to celebrate the Eucharist, engage in prayer, and serve their community. He accompanied the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer on forgiveness with added prayers, concluding with the words: