Tempting!

Pope Francis seems on the whole to be a good bloke, trying to be as modest a pope as possible, maybe not as penniless as his namesake St Francis, but reducing papal grandeur as far as the system will let him. Now he wants to change the wording of the Lord’s Prayer. Apparently he is not happy with the line that says “lead us not into temptation” because he believes that God does not lead people into temptation; that is the Devil’s work. We’re getting back into angels on the head of a pin territory here. Surely there are more important things to pontificate on!

An Anglican theologian has said, “In terms of church culture, people learn this prayer by heart as children. If you tweak the translation, you risk disrupting the pattern of communal prayer. You fiddle with it at your peril.” Which says something about how much people think about prayers as they say them. It also says something about the conservative nature of church establishments.

The French have adapted their version of the prayer so that it says “do not let us fall into temptation”. Very nice!

Nothing seems to have stopped Mr Trump from being led into temptation or from falling into temptation as regards declaring that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. There is nothing quite like a bit of extra potential for conflict as Christmas approaches!

And Theresa May has given in to the temptation to accept a deal with the EU. Let’s see how things develop from there.

Royal family watchers have been having fun in recent days with the announcement of Harry’s engagement and the Queen’s imminent 70th wedding anniversary. (Two royal events for the price of one!) In one photo of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburg as a young couple that appeared in the media, I was struck by how much the young Philip looks like his grandson William. So Kate has advanced warning of what to expect as her royal husband grows older.

We have deliberately avoided watching the TV series, The Crown, which is starting a second series today. John Crace, in his “digested week” column in the Guardian, comments: “I can’t help wondering how the queen must feel at having her life picked over and being reminded of Prince Philip’s affairs. Though perhaps she thinks her life can’t get any more surreal than it already is.” Quite so!

Meanwhile, we have been escaping from all of these things by going off yesterday for a reunion meal with friends we have known for more than fifty years, and in one case more than sixty! How did that happen? It was an excellent fine winter’s day with blue sky and rather weak sunshine that did not manage to melt the thin snow and ice. It’s good job we did it yesterday, however, as today is much greyer and the snow is falling steadily.

We might have to fall into the temptation of sitting by the fire and reading the paper all day!