Do One Better
This summer, I’ve had a blast with Martin Luther and Teresa of Avila, two great Renaissance teachers of prayer from opposite sides of the Protestant Reformation, who reshaped the modern world with their teachings. It’s actually quite amusing to read them in tandem because they are constantly deploring each other’s existence. While they did not know of each other personally, St. Teresa is forever lamenting “those dastardly Lutherans,” and Luther is always denouncing “those wicked papists.” It’s a bit like having two favorite uncles who despise each other.
So I was quite disappointed when I came to the last phrase of the Lord’s prayer, “deliver us from evil,” and they both gave the exact same - and rather paltry - teaching. The only deliverance from evil is death. This life is evil - only heaven is good - so Lord, take us home. What??
I hesitate to suggest that it’s possible to top the Greats, but surely we can do better than that. I don’t want to pray for deliverance from life’s complexities, I pray for victory over evil in the here and now! Upon further reflection, their oversimplification is what happens when evil is interpreted the old-fashioned way, as something that is spiritual and must be overcome morally. We are further along from the Middle Ages, when people hyper-focused on spiritual sin and moral error as the main kind of evil. Many of us are done with constantly feeling sinful and inferior, especially in our bodies. Modern liberation theology challenges us to consider evil that is not just spiritual, but also interpersonal, psychological, and structural!
For example, at church, we strive to prevent interpersonal harm in the form of abuse and exploitation of youth. Our church has a safe church policy which requires two adults to always be present with a single youth. This is how we “abuse-proof” our church, by making it clear to anyone who comes looking for an opportunity to exploit a child that they will not be allowed to be alone one-on-one with a child at any point during our church life. This includes text messages and emails too. We follow “the rule of three” (one adult with a group of youth or two adults with a single youth) in order to model safe and appropriate behavior among strangers in a community like ours that is open to the public.
This rule is not always convenient to follow, but it is how we protect our members who have less power and agency, who historically as a group have been exploited and preyed upon in other churches in the past, so that by modeling safe behavior we can raise wise, empowered, and connected kids. Perhaps you can think of your own examples of fighting evil in this day and age. Let’s give Teresa and Luther something more productive to be mad about!
with love, Pastor Chelsea
