Most of us probably know the Lord’s Prayer by heart if we grew up as Christians. Maybe our parents taught it to us, or we learned it in Sunday School. Maybe we prayed it every night at bedtime as children. We recite it every Sunday as part of the liturgy of the Eucharist. It’s a pretty good model of prayer – after all, Jesus himself taught it to us (as Matthew tells us in his gospel).  It covers a lot of stuff, and yet it’s very compact. Lent, when we try to look at Christ’s adult ministry and follow his teachings, is a good time to focus on just one line: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”  Symbolic of avoiding temptation, many Christians give up a food they like during Lent. But I submit that the temptations to which we ought to be more attentive are the ones that get in the way of our loving ourselves (as God would want us to) and loving others as ourselves. What are your temptations? What do you do that keeps you from flourishing in God’s love and keeps God’s love from showing through to those around you? Lord, keep us from falling into those behaviors! And there’s more in this one line: We are asking God’s help to deliver us from the evil forces that lead us into those temptations. Not only asking, but trusting that He will do it. It’s quite a powerful line. Think about it next time you pray it.

Bill Josey

Appointed readings for today: Isaiah 55:6-11, Psalm 34:15-22, Matthew 6:7-15