Reflection This Week
LEAD
ME NOT INTO TEMPTATION
Sometimes when I
am reading the Daily Office I change the prayers from the plural to
the singular personal. Instead of praying, “O God, make us glad, “ I
pray, “O God, make me glad.” Instead of “defend us” it becomes
“defend me”; instead of “incline our hearts” it becomes “incline my
heart”. I don’t do this all the time but often enough; and whenever
I do it, the prayer somehow becomes even more meaningful.
It’s easy to pray
generically, of course. This is especially so when it comes to
prayers of confession. “We confess” is so much less intimidating
than “I confess”. “We have not loved you” is easier said than “I
have not loved you.” “Have mercy on us and forgive us” is less
personal than “have mercy on me and forgive me”.
Yes, I know I am
praying for and with the whole church when I say the Daily Office
and we are praying as a community of faith when we say the Creed or
the confession. However, there are times in our lives when I think
we really need to get down and personal with our God and ourselves
else we may never take our faith or lack of it, and our sins and how
frequent they are, as seriously as we should.
That is one truth
I have learned over the years as I have played with the prayers that
are part of our various liturgies. For the past several months we
have been saying the “new” Lord’s Prayer during the late Eucharist.
Comments have ranged from “I don’t like it” and “when are we going
back to the traditional form?” to “I’m happy with the change.” I
have heard this range of comments from all ages.
I understand. I
don’t like anyone messing with my prayer life either. But, again,
sometimes I think we have to mess with it a little to not only make
it more personal but to also understand what we are saying when we
utter those prayers. And, if we are honest, we often say those
prayers by rote, our minds somewhere else as the words flow from our
lips. It happens. It’s normal.
The main reason
why I personally like the “New” Lord’s Prayer – it’s at least 35
years old but, of course, in terms of church history it is still new
– is that the traditional form strikes me as very untheological,
even wrong. God does not, does not, lead us into temptation.
God would never do that. God does, however, through God’s offered
grace, “save us from the time of trial”.
Whether we
realize it or not, God’s grace has saved us from ourselves more
often than we will ever realize. That grace has kept us out of
danger, away from sin, on the straight and narrow. God would never,
ever deliberately place us in danger, tempt us to sin or force us to
walk where even angels fear to tread. That grace, which is what we
pray for when we ask that God “save us from the time of trial”, is
always offered. Whether it is accepted or not, and it is not
whenever we sin, is another matter.
Our faith is
put on trial, put to the test, everyday. We are indeed tempted to be
less faithful than we should, even unfaithful. But that temptation
does not come from God and the trial, the test, is part and parcel
of being human. Our prayer, my prayer, is that we/I cooperate with
God’s grace when the trials come and stand strong. I guess if I were
to translate those words, I would pray, “do not let me falter when
my faith is tested.” And God won’t, if I do my part. WJP
