Opening to the Spirit
Today’s word: Evil
to pretend it isn't here, to turn a blind eye and try not to talk about it doesn't help. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission only began the healing process when people started to tell their stories.
Last summer at the Piggery Theatre we held a workshop about family violence. It was not an easy discussion, but it was inspiring to listen to stories of healing and redemption. Once people actually opened up, once the evil was revealed for what it was, a way forward is possible. The truth shall make us free and hope will guide us.
3) I recently listened to a series of thirty-six short lectures on the topic of “Why Evil Exists”. The short answer is we don’t know. The long answer can be found in the works of philosophers and theologians over centuries and even millennia. Questions of the nature of evil have gripped us always. Is evil a natural part of the world or is it something created by our own actions? Is evil a supernatural power of its own? Is it connected with sin or is it connected with illness or, as some would say, a simple lack of information? These debates continue.
For much of my naïve but happy adult life I believed that evil was simply a matter of poor education. “When we know better, we do better” was a maxim I believed and practiced. In my work, I was privileged to help people gain empathy for themselves and others, and to change their behavior for the greater good. I saw families heal and couples find forgiveness. I saw individuals learn to treat themselves and others better. Goodness seemed to be its own reward, as goodness led to happiness. All people had to do was realize this.
I now remember this hopeful philosophy with a mixture of nostalgia and embarrassment. I do not doubt that all of this training in compassion helped move some people toward the good, but I now have a recognition of systemic evil that makes me much less sure about what it is. The only thing I have some confidence about is how to respond. According to the gospel of Matthew, Jesus said “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” When we recognize evil we can choose not to participate. We can choose, instead, to love and to offer our own vulnerability. St Paul reminds us that our battle is not against other people, but against the force of evil itself. He says this in Ephesians: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Love your neighbour. Do your best to seek the will of God. In the face of forces that seek to corrupt, these are powerful choices.
4) What is good? What is evil? These are, no doubt, important questions. However, are they the right questions? Lisa Dahill’s book, "Reading from the Underside of Selfhood", offers insights about evil through the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945). According to Bonhoeffer, one of the most insidious forms of distraction from the call of Jesus Christ is our tendency of thinking in terms of our own judgments of “good” and “evil”. Instead, our question should be What is the will of God? Otherwise, we always fall into the serpent’s trap, who wants to lure us into putting ourselves in God’s place. The role of Christians is not to put such labels on ourselves, on each other. Rather than judgment, the faithful Christian stance is one of discernment and obedience to the voice of Christ.
Bonhoeffer proposes gratitude as a positive criterion of discernment. We give him the last word: “That for which I can thank God is good. That for which I cannot thank God is evil. And the determination whether I can thank God for something or not is discerned in Jesus Christ and his Word. Jesus Christ is the boundary of gratitude. Jesus Christ is also the fullness of gratitude; in him gratitude knows no bounds. It encompasses all gifts of the created world. It embraces even pain and suffering. It penetrates the deepest darkness until it has found within it the love of God in Jesus Christ.... Gratitude is even able to encompass past sin and to say yes to it, because in it God's grace is revealed--O felix culpa (Romans 6:17).”
One word, four voices. Now, add your own: How do you understand evil, and what do you do to avoid or confront it?
Rev. Mead Baldwin pastors the Hatley, Waterville & North Hatley United Churches; Rev. Canon W. Lynn Dillabough co-ordinates the Anglican Deanery of Saint Francis; Rev. Lee Ann Hogle ministers to the Ayer’s Cliff, Magog & Georgeville United Churches; Rev. Carole Martignacco pastors UUEstrie – the Unitarian Universalists in North Hatley.