(RNS) — “Serenity” is not a word many would use to describe the world right now. Perhaps that is why this four-line version of a prayer continues to be uttered as often as it has been since it was first penned.
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
As popular as it is, few people seem to know or even care about the origin and authorship of the Serenity Prayer. It was conceived in a little stone cottage in Heath, Massachusetts, by theologian and professor Reinhold Niebuhr around 1932. It was soon printed on cards and distributed to American military personnel in conflict and circulated by the National Council of Churches. It became even better known after being adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous in 1941, after an early AA member saw it in a New York newspaper obituary.
Niebuhr never capitalized on the success of his prayer. His daughter, Elisabeth Sifton, who died in 2019, wrote in her 2003 book, “The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War,” that her father didn’t believe prayers should be copyrighted. He never profited from the Serenity Prayer’s popularity, other than Serenity Prayer kitsch his friends gave him — coffee cups, wood carvings and needlework.
As 12-step fellowships like AA fellowships and other organizations and churches published his prayer, and even edited and rewrote it without permission or credit, Niebuhr’s attitude was that if his prayer helped any of these groups, they could have it.
Far beyond having authored the Serenity Prayer, Niebuhr was tremendously influential as a public thinker. He had a powerful effect on the German minister Dietrich Bonhoeffer, of the anti-Nazi Confessing Church, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who wrote about Niebuhr in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
But he never lost his humility. In response to a question from journalist Mike Wallace about whether Niebuhr considered himself “superior to atheists,” Niebuhr said that it would be “pretentious” to deem himself superior in the eyes of God to anyone because of their religion or lack of one, stating: “How do I know about God’s judgment? And if you equate God’s judgment with your judgment, you have a wrong religion.”
New York City renamed West 120th Street between Broadway and Riverside Drive — the site of Union Theological Seminary, where Niebuhr taught for more than 30 years — in his honor. Niebuhr received the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award in 1964 from President Lyndon B. Johnson, and many other awards. Search his name, read a paragraph or two, and you will see many more plaudits.
Niebuhr wrote many drafts of the Serenity Prayer. It continues to be rewritten to this day by many people, with or without their knowledge or care as to its origin. Niebuhr also penned speeches, sermons, articles and books, including one about his experiences as a pastor in Detroit in the early 20th century, titled “Leaves From the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic.”
From one tamed cynic honoring another tamed cynic for the sake of the tamed cynic in you, I offer the full Serenity Prayer. I call your attention to one line that is not included in the most popular, four-live version: “that I may be reasonably happy in this life … ”
That line calls me to be reasonable, in all matters, even in my pursuit of happiness. Feel free to adapt this to your needs and preferences. I can almost hear Niebuhr say, “Take it. It’s yours.”
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.
Amen.
The Rev. Dwight Lee Wolter. (Courtesy photo)
(Dwight Lee Wolter, pastor of the Congregational Church of Patchogue, New York, is the author, most recently, of “The Gospel of Loneliness.” He writes at DwightLeeWolter.substack.com. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)
