The End of the Lord's Prayer
“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” is not only the last line of the Prayer (apart from the closing doxology, of course)—it is also the point of the Prayer, and in a sense, the most important line of the whole thing. For it means, above all, Keep us in the faith to the end of our life.
There are many contingencies in life, and there is not a person among us who knows for sure how he or she would respond if they happened to us.
If I were captured and tortured, would I lose my faith?
If I got very rich, would I continue a Christian? Or, conversely, if I lost everything and had to scrounge for work, even beg—would I persist as a Christian?
If I lost some of my mental faculties, would I also lose my sense of being a child of God?
Could something happen to me, perhaps slowly over many years, with the result that, gradually yet inexorably, I stopped praying? Could I gradually turn into an unloving person, a solipsist? Could I turn against my friends, and take delight in harming others?
Might I stop reading the Bible? Might I grow tired of the church? Might I stop receiving Communion?
I say, there’s not a one of us that can say with certainty that we will in fact persist as Christians to the end of our life.
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If you’ve read Losing Susan, you already know this part of my story. I cared for my wife, sometimes in a good way (but not always), for several years of her decline. Still, in better ways and in worse, always with God’s grace and many times with the help of friends and children, I was able to do so. Nevertheless, had she lived longer, had her condition worsened in other ways, had her needs increased . . . I simply cannot say that I know that I would have been able to persist. I truly hope I would have! And I would have been calling on God’s help! But I cannot say to you that, of a certainty, I would have persisted to the end.
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We must pray with supreme earnestness: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Our dear and good Father, whatever may come in our life, preserve us from turning away from you. Deliver us from that evil. It would be the worst thing that could happen to us, if we were to turn away from you.
And that, Jesus assures us, is a prayer his Father will answer.
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What Theologians Watch. Recovering from a recent tooth extraction, I saw for the first time “Safety Last!” It’s a silent film from 1923. If you’ve never seen Harold Lloyd, this is a delightful introduction to his amazing control of his body and facial expression, as one gag escalates into the next. I dunno if “safety first” was a motto already a century ago, but still, you can enjoy the guy who hangs from the hands of a large clock several stories above the street. I watched the Criterion Collection version with a wonderful musical soundtrack.
I also saw “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”—a documentary about Fred Rogers who was actually the Reverend Mr. Rogers (a Presbyterian minister). If you never understood what was behind “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” watch this and you will.
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Out & About. On Sunday, December 22, I am to preach at Incarnation in Dallas at the traditional services (7:30, 9, and 11:15 a.m.).
The next “Good Books & Good Talk” seminar will be on Sunday, January 26, at 6 p.m. at Incarnation. The text: A Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter Miller.