Today, following the first 100 days of President Trump’s inauguration, we offer a non-partisan invitation to focus on a phrase from a familiar prayer:
“and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
Most days we pray the prayer without much reflection. Like many other things we repeat by rote memory, we give little thought to temptation or the need to be delivered from evil. But today the phrase calls out for deeper self-examination and reflection about the world in which we live.
“This was the most divisive speech I’ve ever heard from a sitting American president,” said Republican former advisor to four presidents David Gergen in response to President Trump’s speech celebrating his first 100 days in office in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
“He treated [those who are disturbed about him or oppose him] basically as ‘I don’t care, I don’t give a damn what you think, because you’re frankly like the enemy,'” said Gergen. “I think it was a deeply disturbing speech.”
The Lord’s Prayer (aka “the Our Father” and “the Jesus Prayer”) will be prayed in churches throughout the world today.
“Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven…”
“Forgive us our sins (the acts and states of mind that separate/divide us from/ hurt others) as we forgive those who sin against us.”
“Lead us not into temptation (or “the time of testing”/”time of trial”), but deliver us from evil.”
Amen. May it be so! Lord, save us, and the world You love, from our worst selves.
- Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, April 30, 2017.
Views from the Edge 
Amen. Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison. Amen.
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Yes. The Faure Requiem’s “Kyrie” and “Libera Me” are never far from my heart.
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And this is, indeed, “a time of testing ” and / or “a time of trial,” A time to test out patience, our ability to think clearly (keep a cool head, and keep our speech from the profane, But also keep the truth of the matter in prominence… What is scariest right now, is his attitude toward freedom of speech and the press that he seems to have something against….. May our Lord give us patience and help us keep cool heads in this inflammatory time,….
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Karin, as you state so clearly, this does not come easily. It’s easy to become “uppity” – as I do every day in relation to what I see and hear. How to maintain sanity, balance, perspective, hope and faith in the face of what strikes me as so manifestly terrifying is the question I face every day. We
ARE
but there is no real resistance against the evils we deplore if, in our resistance, we deliver ourselves into temptation and evil itself.
called to resist.
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Reblogged this on From Sandy Knob.
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Yes, may it be so.
❤
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