This document contains the anecdotal recollections of adults reflecting on early childhood encounters with the language of prayer / scripture / liturgy and their reactions to it both as children and now as adults. The participants were self-selected, being those who responded to a general appeal for memories. No attempt has been made to ensure a representative sampling of any population. Most are believed to be practicing Christians from the UK, but no data other than the recollections and usual informed consent was collected. Names below are not contributors’ real names. The first recollection, by the author of this study, occurred while researching the usefulness of religious language for children’s expression of spiritual concepts. When a colleague (‘Alice’) read the anecdote, she suddenly recalled a similar incident, and we wondered if the experience was common. The remaining anecdotes spring from that enquiry. $$ \ $$ Participants were asked to respond to the following questions:

1.   Please recount, in as much detail as you recall, your earliest / strongest memory of encountering ‘God language’ (eg, The Lord’s Prayer, church liturgy, the Bible) and how you felt about it at the time. How old were you? Did you understand the words? Did that matter?
   

2.   Looking back on that experience, why do you think you remembered it? How do you feel about it now? What effect do you think it had on your spiritual life?