Hallowed Be Your Name

3 Hallowed Be Your Name

Hallowed be thy name.

                                        Matthew 6:9, KJV

Hallowed be your name.

                                        Matthew 6:9, NRSV

From 1965 to 1967 I was studying at the French biblical and archaeological school just north of the Damascus Gate and the Old City of Jerusalem—then in Jordan. It was the École Biblique for short, but we called it the “Cold and Bleak,” because its thick stone walls made our rooms totally cool in summer and ditto in winter. We used wooden footrests and fingerless gloves to keep our extremities functional as we worked at our desks. And we brewed strong Arabic coffee to keep warm—coffee with a consistency rather like that of a rubber handball…