From news editor Daniel Silliman: There’s a prayer I learned in traditional Anglican churches that goes, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my soul shall be healed." I’ve been trying, recently, to think how I would say that in contemporary language. Maybe, "Lord, you don’t need to come to the house. Just say something." I think that’s better, actually?

Religious rituals can preserve language. Sometimes, as an evangelical who wants faith to be relevant to real life, I don’t care for the antique patina. But other times, I’m amazed and grateful that the practice of faith can save the wild diversity of human language. It can keep words like shouldest around, and it’s the reason some endangered languages are written down.

My colleague Emily Belz reports there are nearly 700 languages spoken in New York City, where she lives. That’s more than twice the number that Google can translate. And many of them continue, amid the dominant English, because they are used in churches. There are liturgies in Abakuá, Avestan, and Ge`ez. Worship songs in K’iche’. And prayers in Garifuna and Wenzhounese.

Each is a marvel of human creativity and a testament to the importance of communication (with each other and with God). Personally, I think each of them, as a traditional Anglican might say, shouldest belong under a church roof.