Niebuhr didn’t come to A.A.’s attention until the late 1940s. member in a New York paper in June of 1941. attributes their initial discovery of the (then) anonymous prayer to an obituary found by an early A.A. have attributed their initial discovery of the Serenity Prayer to Niebuhr, but still seem to repeat information about it that conflicts with Sifton’s above-described version-which was told to her by her parents. Archivist, wrote a paper in 1981: “ Origin of the Serenity Prayer.” There she described several different purported “origins” for the Serenity Prayer that A.A. It also omitted the spiritually correct, but difficult idea of praying for “grace to accept with serenity that which we cannot change.” Instead, it focused on the simpler idea of obtaining “serenity to accept what cannot be changed.” version simplified the opening and framed the prayer in the first person singular, rather than the first person plural of her father’s original text.
But their message and tone were not in any way “Niebuhrian.” She noted how the A.A. Amen.Įlisabeth Sifton said she has no idea where the additional clauses of the “complete” version came from. 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. Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. Living one day at a time enjoying one moment at a time accepting hardship as the pathway to peace. God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference. One version of the so-called “Complete” Serenity Prayer is in the linked article below by Nell Wing, an A.A. book, The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” The AA version appears in the Third Step essay of the A.A. Niebuhr’s 1943 version: “God give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.” The original text for Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer is followed by the shortened A.A. So he could not and did not control its misquotation, misattribution or embellishment. Sifton said it was inconceivable to him to construe prayers as a source of revenue.
But Niebuhr never copyrighted his prayer. And although he let it happen “and didn’t fuss when the wordings were altered,” he did mind the changes. simplified the text of her father’s original version of the Serenity Prayer. Sifton said she doesn’t know when or how A.A. A short while later Alcoholics Anonymous, then a fledgling small organization scarcely a decade old, with my father’s permission, also started to use the prayer in their regular meetings. This was its first publication in any form and in any language, and its because of this little booklet that eventually it became famous. Niebuhr gave Robbins a copy of the prayer, and in 1944 it was included in the Book of Prayers and Services for the Armed Forces. She said at some point in late 1943 or early 1944, a friend of her father’s, Howard Robbins suggested this little prayer about “grace, courage and wisdom” would be appropriate for inclusion in material he was preparing for army chaplains in the field.
Sifton deftly placed its origins in the midst of the work and ministry of her father during WW II. The above-described origins of the Serenity Prayer were given by Elisabeth Sifton, the daughter of Reinhold Niebuhr, in her book: The Serenity Prayer. Somewhere in the midst of these earth-shaking events, Niebuhr preached a sermon at the Heath Union Church and uttered what would become known as the Serenity Prayer for the first time. By July 25 th, Mussolini was overthrown and the new Italian government began peace talks. On July 24 th, the Allies began bombing the German city of Hamburg. Soon after Niebuhr returned to his family in Heath Massachusetts, Allied troops landed in Sicily on July 10 th. Four days later, German troops crushed the last resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, killing thousands of Jews. The German Axis forces in North Africa surrendered on May 12, 1943.
#FULL SERENITY PRAYER TEXT SERIES#
In May of 1943 Reinhold Niebuhr completed teaching his classes at Union Theological Seminary and left for a two-month series of meetings, conferences and lectures in England and Scotland.
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