Serenity

We were so delighted, at St Mary’s, to host the Clouds House Carol Service once again last December. While all the Advent services are special that event, above all, brings vividly to life the Christmas promise of light coming into darkness, especially as this year we heard the experiences of a father and son who had both experienced addiction, received help from Clouds, and were now seeking to support one another in their recovery.

As is the case in all AA meetings, at the end we prayed together the Serenity Prayer which contains such a profound and helpful attitude towards life:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, 
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

I recently came across a new version of the prayer by Fr. James Martin, SJ, which certainly shouldn’t replace the old but which definitely gave me food for thought in our stridently opinionated times:

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the people I cannot change,
which is pretty much everyone,
since I’m clearly not you, God.
At least not the last time I checked.

And while you’re at it, God,
please give me the courage
to change what I need to change about myself,
which is frankly a lot, since, once again,
I’m not you, which means I’m not perfect.
It’s better for me to focus on changing myself
than to worry about changing other people,
who, as you’ll no doubt remember me saying,
I can’t change anyway.

Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up
whenever I think that I’m clearly smarter
than everyone else in the room,
that no one knows what they’re talking about except me,
or that I alone have all the answers.

Basically, God,
grant me the wisdom
to remember that I’m
not you.

Amen.

Revd Kate McFarlane