Serenity Prayer

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The Serenity Prayer is a prayer written by Confessing Church figure and Union Theological Seminary professor Reinhold Niebuhr in 1926 or 1932, according to records from Alcoholics Anonymous as the ending to a longer prayer. It is used in Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and other Twelve-step programs.

The version used by Alcoholics Anonymous et al. leaves out the overtly religious material and may be more acceptable to Freethinkers.

The short version that most people are familiar with goes as follows:

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.

This version was used by Kurt Vonnegut in the book Slaughterhouse Five.

Alternate versions of the Serenity Prayer exist. Some are parodies and some are serious. The most commonly encountered complete prayer is as follows, and is the version in use around the United States by Celebrate Recovery (http://www.celebraterecovery.com) groups, a ministry practiced in local churches but created by Rick Warren:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship 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 following version is said to be the author's favorite version in a letter supposedly written by his wife:

God give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed,

courage to change the things which should/must be changed,

and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

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References to the Prayer

The back cover of the Neil Young album Re-ac-tor has the prayer in Latin: 'Deus, dona mihi serenitatem accipere res quae non possum mutare, fortitudinem mutare res quae possum, atque sapientiam differentiam cognoscere.' This is possibly a reaction to another son of his being born with cerebral palsy.

In the song, "Higher Power", by Boston, the lead singer Fran Cosmo recites the Serenity Prayer.

In the book, "Angels & Demons", by Dan Brown, quoted by the Camerlengo.

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Parodies

Some parodies follow a theme in which there are characteristic changes in the final line of the short version of the prayer. In these parodies, the third line acknowledges the emotional and social consequences of a lack of serenity and courage, while shifting responsibility for the speaker's harmful behaviors onto the victims of the behaviors. These parodies may also include sacrilegious our scatological references. This is a common example:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to hide the bodies of the people I had to kill because they pissed me off.

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