I know this is about sports, but it's also a bit religious so that's why I put it in general.

I posted the hockey prayer on my FaceBook page. My Tia & a coworker of mine said they disliked it because it was mocking the Holy Father. I'm looking for your opinion on whether it is mocking or not. If it is tell me what about it makes you feel that way. Now this prayer is used by all teams, depending on your team you change the location (i.e. San Jose, Detroit, Montreal, Colorado, ect ect). Here's the prayer I posted.

"Our father who art in San Jose, hockey be thy name. Thy will be done. The Cup will be won. On the ice, as well as in the stands. Give us this day our hockey sticks, and forgive us our penalties, as we forgive those who cross-check against us. And lead us not into elimination, but deliver us to victory. In the name of the fans, Lord Stanley, and in the name of da Sharks. Amen!"

Hit the button before I was done typing LOL.

So please please tell us what you think. Thank you.

-Hockey HQ Staff Member: Sons of Anarchy

I could see people being offended for a few reaons. In the Lord's prayer, it says "Hallowed" be thy name-- meaning that the Lord's name is honored as being holy, or consecrate. Sticking the word "hockey" there instead of "hallowed" not only takes the honor from the Lord, it creates an awkward sentence structure. Also, instead of closing in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as is done in Christianity, they're made a mockery of by praying in the name of the Fans, Lord Stanley and Da Sharks.

Now, that being said, it's most obviously satire and could earn a chuckle. While it's in bad taste, I think that it would deserve nothing more than an eye roll. There's no reason for anyone to get bent out of shape about it.

I get that. At first it seemed like the majority of it was changed so it shouldn't have been a problem, but with what you said I can see why they got irritated. However, I look at as you stated at the end. I find that if you find it in bad taste, roll your eyes or shake your head. Don't jump down my throat. *shrugs*

-Hockey HQ Staff Member: Cali♥Sunset (akaSons of Anarchy)

I am not religious, but I find it kind of funny and not offensive.
I can, however, see a strict religious person being offended, because it takes something that is perhaps sacred (the Lords Prayer) and appropriates it to use for something unrelated.
But I have seen it used a LOT of times in various forms, so yeah.

I think it's cute I like how it's used. I don't find it offensive at all.

I can see how it would be offensive. Not to me, but to many other people. You don't even TRY to make it about the Lord keeping you safe or blessed - just ask him to let you win lol. And that's not what the prayer is for. But, it is definitely creative lol.

Ok I see what you're saying. I didn't even look at it that way because it seemed like they did a good job of taking just about everything out that had to do with the original prayer except the "Our Father who art..." & "amen"

thank you for commenting.

That was my thinking. I found it cute, funny, & because of who I got it from I didn't think it would be offensive. I don't know who turned this prayer into a hockey prayer but I enjoy posting it & showing my support for my team. Now I'm debating on not posting it again & deleting the one I did post. But I feel like if I do that's admitting quilt or something. Though I feel like if I don't delete it I'm being stubborn.

How can something so simple become so complicated? LOL

People often create different versions of the Lord's Prayer, as Aubrey said. Even pastors of churches. Lots of preachers tell the story of the child who's not sure whether she's praying to Richard or Harold, because she thinks the words are 'Our Father Richard in heaven, Harold be thy name'. That one kind of makes a point about the language not being very child-friendly!

There was also a competition on one site to make a text version of the Lord's Prayer, in 160 characters or less - you can see the winners here. Many Christians enjoyed this, but there's bound to be some who were offended (after all, some people are offended by text language in general, regardless of what it says!)

But that's the thing - there are always people who will be offended at anything. A lot of people like to nurture the state of 'being offended' because it makes them feel important and special, and it causes people to tiptoe around them. If you try to cater to everyone's sensibilities, you'd never post anything on FB (or anywhere!)! At the same time, if they just mentioned that they personally don't like it, and explained why (as opposed to calling you an evil blasphemer and demanding that you take it down!) that's fair enough - they don't have to like it. They can hide it from their FB feed. There are people on FB whom I hide because I find the stuff they post obnoxious/annoying/offensive - but I recognise it's their prerogative to post what they want, and they don't require my approval to post stuff.

As for what I think of the hockey prayer, I just think it's silly. It doesn't offend me or make me laugh. I'm not into hockey, so I don't get the references, and I've seen so many of such prayers, so I just think 'Oh, another one of those'. ;D And being a bit pedantic, I observe it doesn't strictly follow the Lord's Prayer, because the last part, based on 'In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit' isn't actually the way the Lord's prayer ends. It is how people are baptised, which is something completely different. It should be 'For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever'.

The thing with my Tia is, she doesn't need to say "dont post this kind of thing" or what have you. You just feel like you now need to edit yourself before posting anything after she says she finds something you posted disrespectful. Which is irritating because it's my page I should be allowed to post what I want. But anyway, I found it silly too when I first saw it last year & thought nothing of it(partly because of who I got it from).

As to the 'Our father who art in San Jose' it's referring to the home town of the hockey team in San Jose, California. It doesn't have to do with God. The only name in the prayer that has to do with a founding father of sorts for hockey is this part "In the name of the fans, Lord Stanley, and in the name of da Sharks." Stanley was an actual lord who donated what is now known as the Stanley Cup. This is the link if you want to read about it.

I don't know who your Tia is. Partner? Daughter? Are you feeling you have to edit yourself because you're close to her and you don't want to upset her, or because she's guilting you with subtle sighs and disapprovals? Obviously, how you respond is your choice - no one can make you feel anything without your permission.

Sorry Tia means Aunt. We're not close but I was taught that you are to respect your elders & if you do something they disapprove of, even if you know it's not something serious, you are not to say anything to them & do as they say or in this case I should have deleted the post after she commented on it. Which I didn't because I know I didn't do anything wrong. But that's why I posted this, I wanted to see if I was just being hardheaded or not.

-HQ Staff- Cali♥Sunset

I dunno - I mean, I believe one should respect everyone, regardless of age, but that doesn't mean letting their values dictate your life - that would be impossible. If you're talking directly to her, it's one thing, but if you're posting stuff on FB, well, that's your space that you're posting for a whole host of people to see.

If someone doesn't like my sense of humour, I'm not going to change the whole way I interact on FB. I'd be more likely to hide certain posts from that person, or maybe actually ask the person if they'd rather I remove them from my friends list, and explain that my values might not be the same as theirs. I mean, at the end of the day, whether you delete the post or not, you still find it amusing, it's still a prayer that is public on the internet, so nothing has actually changed, really, that would benefit your aunt. If I were your aunt, and I found it offensive, I wouldn't be wanting you to remove it for my benefit - I'd be mentioning it to get you to think about it yourself, for your own spiritual growth.


Bloopers can't decide for you whether you were being hardheaded. Our opinions after the fact have no influence on what motivated you at the time. That is something only you can work out. Clearly you deliberately broke the rule of your culture, because you felt you were right, despite the fact that the rule as you describe it has nothing to do with who is right, but to do with younger people removing anything that causes offence to older ones. Only you can work out if you're okay with this.

That's true. I'm leaning towards blocking some posts from her because I stand by posting it because I know it wasn't meant to offend people at all. Maybe that's what bugged me about it. I do believe in God, but I believe more in good energies & bad energies, as well as karma & I never looked at it as me trying to feel okay with not doing what I was taught by not deleting the post.

What you've said has helped me look at the situation in a new light, so thank you. This is why I like the forums. You look at a situation differently then you normally would.

You're welcome. And if you don't believe in God in the same way as she does anyway, that's something you can actually explain. Like, you can say something along the lines of 'Tia, I had no intention of offending you, and I'm really sorry you feel so upset by this. The thing is, I have different beliefs from you, so I don't share your view that this is offensive. Now that I know you find such things offensive, I'll make sure to hide posts like this from you in future. Unfortunately it's too late to hide you from it now it's posted, but you can actually hide it from your own wall - I'll show you how if you like.'

That way, you're still respecting her, but you're not letting her dictate what you post. You're expressing that you didn't mean to offend her and you're sorry she's upset, and you're allowing her not to see it - but you're also making clear that it's your wall, you have different beliefs, you're not going to remove it, and you're going to continue posting what you want.

It's kind of like Bloop - people may disagree with what you post, they may find what you post offends them, and they can express that. If they do so politely, you can have a conversation about it, but ultimately, unless it's a one-off where you find you actually agree with them once they've explained it, you're not going to change your diary entries because some people don't like them. You can offer to block them so they don't see your diary, you can explain they can block you, etc. (although Bloop's a bit different because you don't automatically show on someone's main page - like, they have to actually click on you!).

That's a good idea. I'll have to do that the next time I see her.

True if i don't like someones view on here, I just remember the name so I don't view their diary & I don't leave a comment or I leave a comment on the other half of what they wrote. I think some people just feel a need to tell you how they feel about something you did & it seems like sometimes they expect you to change because of it. When really all we should have to do is apologize & say next time I wont do/say that around you. But I guess that just makes it too simple LOL

Out of curiosity, is the 'Our father who art in San Jose' actually referring to God, or to some founding father of hockey or something? Like, do people actually genuinely pray this to God?