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For the first time in years I am stumbling as I pray the Lord’s Prayer. Once it was about whether I wanted to be forgiven my trespasses or debts or sins. Then I became aware that different people use different translations and that each of them was useful in its own way. This time it is different. It’s about a fundamental question of theology. And, it has shifted my personal theology profoundly.
It started with Pope Francis, who, in 2019, approved a change in the wording of the Lord’s Prayer. Instead of praying, “lead us not into temptation,” people were urged to pray, “do not let us fall into temptation.” Pope Francis did not feel that “lead us not into temptation” was a good translation because it speaks of a God who induces temptation. “I am the one who falls,” he said, “it is not God pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen.” “A father doesn’t do that; a father helps you to get up immediately. It’s Satan who leads us into temptation - that’s his department.”
All of my life the Lord’s Prayer has nurtured me. I have discovered that each phrase plumbs a theological depth. In worship I make it a practice to pray just loud enough so that I can still hear the voice of the person seated next to me. I now carry in my memory the voices of those with whom I have prayed. They are a precious, sacred memory. When my prayer life has dried up, as it often has, the Lord’s prayer has rescued me.
When Jesus taught us to pray, he was teaching us more than words to be said. He was showing us the God to whom we pray: a loving, intimate God, greater than anything we could possibly imagine, worthy of praise, One who is involved in our lives, caring for our sustenance and our safety where we are living now. Is that the kind of God who would even think of leading us into temptation? No! Quite the contrary! This God would protect us from evils and the temptations that would destroy our relationships, not only to God, but to all of life.
I am stumbling now when I pray “Lead us not into temptation.” And I’m glad that I am. I don’t believe in a God who plays games with us to see how strong we are. I believe that God desires a trusting relationship, and that God invites us to pray, knowing that we can trust God to love us, nurture us, and protect us.
The Rev. F. Richard Garland is a retired clergy member of the New England Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. This post is republished with permission from his Facebook page.