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Translation Temptations: Pope Francis and the Lord’s Prayer

12/10/2017

Praying Hands by Albrecht Dürer

Reflection from Pastor Julia...

Have you seen the news that Pope Francis, in a TV interview, suggested that the Lord’s Prayer we say in worship could use an update? He said that lead us not into temptation was “not a good translation” from ancient texts. He said a better alternative might be Do not let us fall into temptation, because God does not lead people into temptation: Satan does.

After a bit of biblical commentary review, here are my thoughts on Pope Francis’ suggestions: (1) Linguistically—that is, as far as translating Greek into English goes—“lead us” (or “bring us”) is, in fact, a solid translation; (2) Theologically—that is, as far as conveying a picture of the Almighty that is fairly consistent with the biblical witness as a whole—it is quite problematic. So here I would agree with Pope Francis: the passage is not very helpful for the day-to-day life of a believer. It has, in fact, troubled believers for centuries. (3) The Bible offers plenty of testimony that God allows, but does not cause temptation. See James 1:13-14, for instance: “No one, when tempted, should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. But one is tempted by one’s own desire…”

On the subject of updating prayers, let’s note that few churches (including Roman Catholics and Presbyterians) say the Lord’s Prayer exactly as it is given in Matthew 6. So when it comes to worship, we are already making choices to encourage daily faithfulness. You also may be interested to know that we already have an alternative version of the Lord’s Prayer available to us, which draws from the version of the Prayer found in the Gospel of Luke. It’s on page 11 of our Glory to God hymnal and goes like this:
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen."

Much more could be said, but I’ll stop here. Prayer is meant to draw us close to God, to line our hearts up with God’s own heart and will. I’m wondering, how does the Lord’s Prayer help you to do that? Share your response here, or send a private message. And God bless you.

Since Charlottesville...

8/21/2017

Dear friends,

The recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been shocking and dismaying to so many of us. I’ve been to that city only once, just nine weeks ago, and we walked in the very places where the protests and violence took place. The reverberations it has caused in the days since seem a testimony to the wisdom of southern author William Faulkner in Requiem for a Nun: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” In many quarters, we seem to be wrestling over the soul of our nation, confirming the wisdom in Lincoln’s Gettsyburg Address: that dedication to the proposition that all people are created equal requires renewal in every generation if it is to endure.

How can a Christian respond in such a time? Christians know that only God is supreme, not any human being or race of human beings. God has no skin, let alone skin color. We have no business judging others “by the color of their skin, rather than the content of their character.” And speaking of Martin Luther King, Jr., I wonder whether this may be a key time to renew our knowledge of nonviolent resistance, the force which effectively thwarted dangerous hatred fifty years ago.

Diversity is a byproduct of freedom, yet diversity of any kind is often hard. Just ask a Buckeye in Ann Arbor. It can be hard to rub elbows with others from whom I differ, with whom I disagree, and even sometimes in whom I find distaste or dismay. Our Scriptures, however, offer a wealth of help for such a challenge. Try Ephesians 4, with Paul’s call to “bear with one another,” or the first chapter of James, when he reminds us to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.”

Perhaps the easiest to bring to mind in the heat of the moment would be familiar words from the end of the worship service, all drawn from Scripture: “Go into the world in peace. Have courage. Hold on to what is good. Return to no one evil for evil. Strengthen the fainthearted, support the weak, help the suffering. Honor all people. Love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.” And as you remember, hear also the blessing that comes next: “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you, now and forever.”

May our responses express Christ’s love and build up the soul of our nation.

Grace and peace,

Julia Wharff Piermont

The Floodwaters

5/30/2017

By Rev. Dr. Tom Rice

I went to visit First Presbyterian Church of Portsmouth, Ohio, to participate in their 200th anniversary celebration May 20-21. At the entrance of their sanctuary I saw this plaque. It hangs about 6 feet high, on the second story of the church building. It marks how high in the church the flood waters came in 1937. The water reached 74.23 feet above ground level! The beautiful wooden pews of the sanctuary are all numbered, but I noticed something strange: they are not in order. Pew #49 is next to pew #73 which is next to pew #44. Why is that?

It turns out that when the flood waters were rising 80 years ago, the congregation took the pews out of the sanctuary. They put them up in the balcony. The waters didn't get high enough to reach them there. When the water receded and the mud was cleaned out, the pews were put back. The congregation, exhausted and in a hurry, didn't worry about putting them back in numerical order. Maybe this was intended to be a reminder about the flood. I've been thinking about this plaque, and its reminder to us all. First Presbyterian of Portsmouth has suffered many "floods."
The "flood waters" of slavery (the church was a stop on the underground railroad).
The "flood waters" of unemployment (manufacturing jobs and much of the population have gone away).
The "flood waters" of the opioid crisis (according to the book Dreamland Portsmouth has been "ground zero" in that epidemic of addiction).

God says through the prophet Isaiah:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you... Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you" (Isaiah 43:2,4).
We shall experience it--just as that wonderful congregation has, again and again.
Whatever flood waters we are facing--God will see us through.

Safe Now in God's Hands

4/19/2017

By Rev. Dr. Tom Rice

A poem from the Iona Community in Scotland captures the emotion and message of Holy Week:

All our laughter, all our sadness;
Safe now in God's hands.
All our anger, all our gladness;
Safe now in God's hands.
All our stories, all our memories;
Safe now in God's hands.
Those we remember, those we love;
Safe now in God's hands.

On Easter at 7:00 am we will have a sunrise service which begins in our columbarium and finishes in our chapel with communion and then with a lite breakfast. As we remember our our loved ones who have gone before us we remember what God in Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross. We remember that we and they "are safe now in God's hands."

Small Groups

2/22/2017

I want to share with you a quick story. It’s about a friend in “That State Up North.” His name is Kevin. Kevin, at a church member’s home for dinner and Bible study, served himself some salad, and then generously poured on the salad dressing. Little did he know that he had grabbed the hand soap instead of the salad dressing. He found out, though, before too long! And his church friends sure noticed, and practically died laughing. This was their first small group meeting, and more than four years later, they are STILL laughing about it—Kevin too.

Two years ago Kevin’s wife developed pancreatic cancer. Their small group turned out to be—quite literally—a godsend. They prayed together, laughed together, cried together, and journeyed in faith together.

Eugene Peterson, a renowned Presbyterian pastor and author, once said a shocking thing. He said, “No church should be bigger than 250 people.” Well, friends, we are! Peterson went on to say, “Any church that IS needs to find a way to form smaller communities, where people don’t get lost in the crowd.”

This is what we are doing for the Lenten season. We’re forming small groups. Groups of about 10-12 people that will meet for 6 weeks on a day and at a time that fits your schedule, starting the week of March 5. We’ll be studying the book Grounded in Prayer—learning about different ways of praying, and practicing them together. We’ll be having holy conversations—with God and with one another.

You can learn more and sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0b4fa9ac2ca6f58-wpclenten. I hope you will sign up. And I hope and trust that you will enjoy the friendship and blessing and laughter that will result!

A Blessed Christmas

12/22/2016

By Rev. Dr. Tom Rice

Looking out my window after our snowfall, this is what I saw.

It reminded me of that very difficult balance in our Christmas celebrations. It certainly looked like a "Winter Wonderland" out there--so beautiful! But there was the cross front and center, demanding to be remembered in the rush of holiday preparations.

Presbyterian poet Ann Weems wrote a poem entitled "The Cross in the Manger." It includes these reflections:

"If there is no cross in the manger, there is no Christmas.
If the Babe doesn't become the Adult, there is no Bethlehem star...
If there is no room in our inn,
then "Merry Christmas" mocks the Christ Child,
and the Holy Family is just a holiday card,
and God will loathe our feasts and festivals...
If there is no forgiveness in us, there is no cause for celebration.
If we cannot go now even unto Golgotha, there is no Christmas in us.
If Christmas is not NOW, if Christ is not born into the everyday present,
then what is all the NOISE about?"

We celebrate the birth of Jesus who is called "Emmanuel" (which in Hebrew means "God-with-us"). This is the One who is with us in our joy, and in our sorrow, and the One who brings us salvation. A blessed Christmas to you!

For Everyone

12/8/2016

By Rev. Dr. Tom Rice

Last week Presbyterian Women United and friends went to the Jubilee Museum (in the old school building of Holy Family Catholic Church in Columbus). On display are more than 200 nativity scenes, and one room has a whole village--complete with lamps lighted. It is beautiful to see how various cultures have used their own styles and resources (even, for example, making beautiful figurines of the animals and the baby Jesus out of corn husks!) to retell the story of "The Word made flesh" and to celebrate anew our Lord's coming.

In the news this week is a family from Mexico about to celebrate their daughter's 15th birthday. The father made a short video for his village saying that "everyone is invited." But the video has gone viral, and people around the world are thinking that "everyone is invited" means them too!

One of the great gifts of Christmas is the message of the angel: "Do not be afraid; for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people." This gift of God is for you, too. For EVERYONE--near and far.

Thanksgiving

11/22/2016

By Rev. Dr. Tom Rice

A youth pointed it out. We were on the Worthington Presbyterian Church retreat at Kirkmont Center. He asked, "Do you see that?" And we both marveled at that tree--the beauty right there before us--and we gave thanks. I had almost walked by it without noticing!

On Thanksgiving we are called to notice--to look around and take note of all of the blessings around us. C.S. Lewis observed that grateful people are emotionally and spiritually healthy people. "Praise," he said, "almost seems to be inner health made audible."

Meister Eckhart, a 14th century German theologian and mystic, wrote "If the only prayer you pray in your life is thank you, that would suffice." It's that important! It's that much of a blessing for us to let each day be a "Thanksgiving Day."

Veterans Day

11/11/2016

Dear Friends,
            In our daily devotional time, Dennis and I have been reading a spiritual classic: Harry Emerson Fosdick’s The Meaning of Prayer (1915). We are reading a chapter called “Prayer as a Dominant Desire,” and we were both amazed at the coincidence that the reading for today—Veterans’ Day—included the prayer below. It was written by Walter Rauschenbusch, an American theologian who was born just after the Civil War began and died just before World War I ended. He knew neither Armistice Day, nor Veterans’ Day, yet his prayer expresses so well our prayers for both. With a blessing today for our military veterans, active duty personnel, and their families, I commend it to you for reflection and perhaps even for prayer.

            O Lord, since first the blood of Abel cried to Thee from the ground that drank it, this earth of Thine has been defiled with the blood of man shed by his brother’s hand, and the centuries sob with the ceaseless horror of war. …
            Grant to the rulers of nations faith in the possibility of peace through justice, and grant to the common people a new and stern enthusiasm for the cause of peace. Bless our soldiers and sailors [and airmen] for their swift obedience and their willingness to answer to the call of duty, but inspire them none the less with a hatred of war… May our young men [and women] still rejoice to die for their country with the valor of their fathers, but teach our age nobler methods of matching our strength and more effective ways of giving our life for the flag.
            O Thou strong Father of all nations, draw all Thy great family together with an increasing sense of our common blood and destiny, that peace may come on earth at last, and Thy sun may shed its light rejoicing on a holy brotherhood of people.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Julia

Dog Park

11/3/2016

By Rev. Betsy Rice

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
Isaiah 11: 6

Sometimes, if we have eyes to see, there is a peaceable kingdom nearby.

Take the dog park. I had never set foot in a dog park before this summer. I didn’t think strange dogs would get along. I was completely unprepared for the unpredictable, unrestrained fun of the dog park. Here are a few observations:

Everyone is admitted. Small dogs, big dogs, pure breeds, and mutts happily share the space. All kinds of people gather there whose only tie is dog ownership. We hang out while our dogs enjoy themselves. A part-time college student/ dog trainer shared insights on my dog’s possible ancestry. A teen whose parents spoke no English showed off her Husky puppy. An OSU retiree shared her fondness for northern Michigan. Where else can we meet and spend time with such a variety of people?
Dogs deal with their issues. A new dog runs right into a crowd of dogs. Immediately, they all sniff each other, and maybe there’s a growl and a show of teeth, or a bite. And then it’s usually over. At the same time, their people “deal with their issues.” Once, I had been talking with someone, and realized I needed to, um, clean up, so then I was wandering, eyes glued to the ground, when someone called out, “to the left a ways!” No fuss, just take care of it.
The dog park is a place of joy. Dogs race. They sniff; they visit each other’s people. They dig. They follow a new friend. They can’t get enough of being unleashed.

A dog is not going to lead us into the kingdom of heaven, but I thank God for unexpected moments of joyful welcome, of surprising peace, in this busy world