I was dismayed to read the casual repetition of national slurs in Dr Cameron’s letter in the September edition of Life and Work. The points he was trying to make regarding an appropriate translation of the Lord’s Prayer did not require trotting out ancient prejudices and preconceptions against entire nations.

Dr Lindsay Schluter (Rev), Isle of Barra

The Rev Dr Cameron in his letter (September Life and Work) raises potential changes to The Lord’s Prayer. Where I worship the prayer Jesus taught his disciples is private to each individual inasmuch as whoever is leading the prayers drops his or her voice to a very soft tone and so there will be variations and, on occasion, diff erent languages heard throughout the church.

For my part I no longer accept “lead us not into temptation” as being worthy of our prayer to God and so for me I pray “lead us away from temptation”.

I also regret the speed at which the Lord’s Prayer is generally said with little time to reflect on the deep meaning of the words. Outwith communal worship I find singing silently to Malotte’s composition, (as rendered so memorably at the memorial service for President George H W Bush) much more meaningful.

Immediately I hear voices saying but I can’t sing – no one would want to hear me sing. Singing silently to this tune is a lot more eff ective because the prayer is off ered to God at a much slower tempo, giving one time to think of the commitments being made.

J Smith, Killearn