The phone rang in the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was Kentucky Fried Chicken. “Archbishop, we will give £100,000 to the Church if you change the Lord’s Prayer to say ‘Give us today our daily chicken.” ’

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that,” replied the ABC. “It would mean undoing hundreds — thousands — of years of Christian tradition.”

The next week KFC phoned back again. “We will give you £500,000 to change the Lord’s prayer.”

“I’m sorry, these are Christ’s own words — I cannot change them.”

The next week KFC phoned again. “We will give you £10 million.”

“I’m sorry, the words are in the Bible — I cannot change them.”

Finally KFC phoned a last time. “We will give you £100 million to change the line to: ‘Give us today our daily chicken.’ ”

The ABC thought hard. The money could help a lot of people; it could make the gospel known to the whole country; it really could do a power of good. “All right,” he replied, “I will propose the change to the Archbishops’ Council and Synod.”

After much thought and prayer, despite the fact that the words were the Lord’s own, that it meant changing thousands of years of Christian tradition, and that the words are in the Bible, the Council agreed to present the change to General Synod — after all, the money could do a lot of good.

So at the next Synod, the ABC stands up. “I’ve got some good news, and some bad news.

The good news is that we are being given £100 million by KFC.

The bad news — I think we’ve lost the Hovis account.”