Lord's prayer in SMS

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.] Amen. ------------------------------------------------------ dad@hvn,ur spshl. we want wot u want &urth2b like hvn. giv us food& 4giv r sins lyk we 4giv uvaz. don’t test us!save us! bcos we kno ur boss, ur tuf&ur cool 4 eva! ok? ---------------------------------------------- THE UK's leading religious webzine, ship-of-fools.com, has announced the winner of its biblical text-messaging competition. Given the task of re-writing the Lord's Prayer for mobile phones using just 160 characters (the maximum length of a text message), Matthew Campbell, a history student at York University, came up with the winning entry from more than 100 submissions. His prize-winning prayer: dad@hvn,ur spshl. we want wot u want&urth2b like hvn.giv us food&4giv r sins lyk we 4giv uvaz.don't test us!save us! bcos we kno ur boss,ur tuf&ur cool 4 eva!ok? Matthew wins a 30 pound (sterling) gift certificate from Amazon. ------------------------------ In 2nd place was Steve Seymour from Bristol, with this offering: r pa in evan, respect 2 u, may u rain ear as in evan. giv us r needs, 4giv rsin as we 4giv r nmes. resq us from the evil 1. 4 ur always the most xlent dude. Yo. The webzine's growing international readership (some 40 per cent of readers are in the USA), is reflected in the entry from Rev. Stephen E. Moore from Bellevue, Washington State, USA, who took third place with: God@heaven.org, You rule, up and down. We need grub and a break. Will pass it on. Keep us focused. You totally rule, long term. Amen. The competition was launched following news of the first religious service conducted by mobile phone in Hanover, Germany, where the congregation followed prayers via text messaging. The competition was judged for ship-of-fools.com by the Churches' Broadcasting Conference. "We're fascinated by the collision between traditional Christianity and popular culture," says ship-of-fools.com's editor Simon Jenkins. "The inventiveness of our readers has made this an intriguing competition to judge." The task itself was not easy. The traditional version of the Lord's Prayer is 372 characters long, so whittling it down to 160 characters meant cutting the prayer by more than half but without losing anything important. "Some entrants took a refreshingly cavalier approach to the competition," says Jenkins, "and both the longest and shortest entries deserve special praise." ------------------------ out of a strong field of over 100 entries, Matthew Campbell, a history student at York University, came up with the winning entry, which is... ------------------------- In 1st place: Matthew Campbell, York, England dad@hvn,ur spshl. we want wot u want&urth2b like hvn. giv us food&4giv r sins lyk we 4giv uvaz. don't test us!save us!bcos we kno ur boss, ur tuf&ur cool 4 eva!ok? Congratulations to Matthew, who wins a £30 gift certificate from Amazon. ----------------------- Congrats are also due to our 2 runners-up, Steve Seymour and Rev. Stephen Moore, who submitted the following prayers... In 2nd place: Steve Seymour, Bristol, England r pa in evan, respect 2 u, may u rain ear as in evan. giv us r needs, 4giv rsin as we 4giv r nmes. resq us from the evil 1. 4 ur always the most xlent dude. yo ------------------------- In 3rd place: Rev. Stephen E. Moore, Bellevue, Washington, USA God@heaven.org, You rule, up and down. We need grub and a break. Will pass it on. Keep us focused. You totally rule, long term. Amen. -------------------------- Andy Keulemans from Wrexham took an extreme shortcut with his 48-character prayer: Hi Fr., Mat 6:9-13 again pls. Cheers. c u in ch. The longest entry, more than twice the acceptable length and written by Sheila Locke from Norwich, says: Hi Dad, still in the same old homestead? Dig your name ol'fella. "Thy kingdom come" (what's that mean?). Anyhow, expect me sometime in next twenty years (or earlier) - still trying to be good. I like bread - the more the better, but will try not to get too greedy. Overlook any little naughtiness won't you and will try to do the same, but am only human. Bye. ------------------------------ some entrants took a refreshingly cavalier approach to the competition, and both the longest and shortest entries deserve special praise. Andy Keulemans from Wrexham in North Wales took an extreme shortcut with his 48-character prayer... Shortest entry: Andy Keulemans, Wrexham, Wales Hi Fr., Mat 6:9-13 again pls. Cheers. c u in ch. ---------------------------------- Meanwhile, the longest entry, which at 357 characters was more than twice the acceptable length, was written by Sheila Locke from Norwich, and says... Longest entry: Sheila Locke, Norwich, England Hi Dad, still in the same old homestead? Dig your name ol'fella. "Thy kingdom come" (what's that mean?). Anyhow, expect me sometime in next twenty years (or earlier) - still trying to be good. I like bread - the more the better, but will try not to get too greedy. Overlook any little naughtiness won't you and will try to do the same, but am only human. Bye. ------------------------------ Launched in April 1998, ship-of-fools.com is now attracting more than 750,000 page requests a month. Its regular features - Gadgets for God, the Mystery Worshipper, the Fruitcake Zone and Signs & Blunders have attracted international media interest.