![]() These words were attributed, the correspondent wrote, to an 18th century pietist, Friedrich Oetinger (1702-1782). The courage to alter those things I can alter Īnd the wisdom to distinguish the one thing from the other." "God give me the detachment to accept those things I cannot alter "In a rather dreary hall of a converted hotel, overlooking the Rhine at Koblenz," the correspondent wrote, is a tablet inscribed with the following words: Grapevine received a clipping of an article that had appeared in the Paris Herald Tribune, by the paper's correspondent in Koblenz, then in West Germany. The search for pinpointing origins of the prayer has been like the peeling of an onion. What are probably truly ancient, as with the above quote from Cicero, are the prayer's themes of acceptance, courage to change what can be changed and the free letting go of what is out of one's ability to change. ![]() No one has actually found the prayer's text among the writings of these alleged, original sources. member came across the Roman philosopher Cicero's Six Mistakes of Man, one of which reads: "The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected." ![]() "Some say it came from the early Greeks others think it was from the pen of an anonymous English poet still others claim it was written by an American Naval officer." Other attributions have gone as far afield as ancient Sanskrit texts, Aristotle, St. "No one can tell for sure who first wrote the Serenity Prayer," writes Bill in A.A. Niebuhr was quite accurate in suggesting that the prayer may have been "spooking around" for centuries. By then it had also been reprinted by the National Council of Churches, as well as Alcoholics Anonymous.ĭr. Niebuhr's permission, the prayer was printed on cards and distributed to the troops by the U.S.O. I honestly do believe that I wrote it myself."Įarly in World War II, with Dr. Niebuhr added at least a touch of doubt to his claim, when he told one interviewer, "Of course, it may have been spooking around for years, even centuries, but I don't think so. Rheinhold Niebuhr, who recounted to interviewers on several occasions that he had written the prayer as a "tag line" to a sermon he had delivered on Practical Christianity. What is undisputed is the claim of authorship by the theologian Dr. Moreover, every time a researcher appears to uncover the definitive source, another one crops up to refute the former's claim, at the same time that it raises new, intriguing facts. Thus did the "accidental" noticing of an unattributed prayer, printed alongside a simple obituary of an unknown individual, open the way toward the prayer's daily use by thousands upon thousands of A.A.s worldwide.īut despite years of research by numerous individuals, the exact origin of the prayer is shrouded in overlays of history, even mystery. ![]() "With amazing speed," writes Bill, "the Serenity Prayer came into general use and took its place alongside our two other favorites, the Lord's Prayer and the Prayer of St. so naturally, there could be no charge for anything of this nature." Henry's enthusiastic response was to print 500 copies of the prayer, with the remark: "Incidentally, I am only a heel when I'm drunk. member, and a professional printer, asking him what it would cost to order a bulk printing. Ruth Hock, the Fellowship's first (and nonalcoholic) secretary, contacted Henry S., a Washington D.C. Someone suggested that the prayer be printed on a small, wallet-sized card, to be included in every piece of outgoing mail. Vesey Street was struck by the power and wisdom contained in the prayer's thoughts. "God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change,Įveryone in A.A.'s burgeoning office on Manhattan's Comes of Age, a New York member, Jack, brought to everyone's attention a caption in a routine New York Herald Tribune obituary that read: a half century ago are much easier to pinpoint.Įarly in 1942, writes Bill W., in A.A. The facts of how it came to be used by A.A. The Origin of our Serenity Prayer As published in August/September 1992 BOX-459įor many years, long after the Serenity Prayer became attached to the very fabric of the Fellowship's life and thought, its exact origin, its actual author, have played a tantalizing game of hide and seek with researchers, both in and out of A.A. That same "little stone cottage" has been restored andĪnd is now available to the general public. (From "The Serentiy Prayer" by Elisabeth Sifton) To change the things which should be changed,Īnd the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other." The things that cannot be changed, Courage "God, Give us the grace to accept with serenity In a little stone cottage in Heath, Massachusettsīy Reinhold Niebuhr and, per his daughter, was written like this: The original "Serenity Prayer" was conceived
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