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Article: Praying in tongues.(effect of praying in other languages)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- July 19, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I FIRST HEARD the Lord's Prayer in Mexico, during a family trip when I was 11 years old. I strayed from the Oaxaca market square, where my parents were bargaining over black pottery, and slipped into an old stone church, cool and dark. There were clusters of women in lace mantillas, and one or two solitary old men. Some were silent. Some whispered, some chanted in unison with the priest, "Padre nuestro que estas en los cielos: Santificado sea tu nombre." I never forgot the sound of these words, and their sensory associations lingered as I found myself repeating them in my heart.
Later, on the plush carpet of our living room, 12 stories above the East River in ...