Discern the Truth, Name the Evil

Lent 2: Luke 19: 41-48

Spirit of truth and judgement, who alone can exorcise the powers that grip our world, at the point of crisis give us your discernment, that we may accurately name what is evil, and know the ways that lead to peace.

Evil shows up is two of the most well-known prayers of Christian people: from the 23rd Psalm, I will fear no evil; and from the Lord’s prayer, deliver us from evil. But Janet Morley’s prayer for this week is really daunting to me–do I know evil when I see it?

On the one hand, we live in the Land of the the Adversarial, not the Peaceful. So if I disagree with someone among my family, friends, church community or political conversation partners, someone else is very willing and able to paint us the colors of Black and White, one as good, the other as evil. That easy caricature masks my true discernment all too often. I either resist the label as as simplistic and judgmental, or carry the label forward, plastering Black and White bumper stickers on others in the conversation with aplomb. Neither one is God’s intention for the community of followers of Christ.

If I want to live the heart of the matter, how do I start? How to I discern the truth? How can I name the evil? How can I know the ways that lead to peace?

One of the great exemplars of discernment in Hebrew scripture is Solomon, who when offered ant thing he wanted by God, asked for wisdom: “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil…” (I Kings 3:9). I must begin with my rendition of this prayer. I am very comfortable praying for discernment for my own decisions, a road to travel, a choice to make; but to pray to distinguish between evil and good, then to say the name of the evil aloud is more frightening. What if I’m wrong? What if someone mistakes me for a fundamentalist? What if I hurt someone’s feelings?  And then these days in this cultural/political/religious climate, the rhetorical currency du jour is name-calling, reputation tarnishing, character assassination. Not very spiritual!

So if I pray to discern Evil, recognize it, then how do I name it in a way that does not participate in further Evil? Let me see if I have identified any Evil of late:

• Meta-evils in the world are easy to notice: Greed-corporate and private; Racism-blatant and cruel; Abuse of power–hateful and death-dealing. (Maybe naming the Evil is not so hard!)
• Individual atrocity: torture, betrayal, brutality (Again, pretty easy).
• Systemic evil in the worlds I inhabit (harder to see): tone-deafness to the voices of the anawim, the poor and marginal, by the powerful and privileged (It’s getting harder!).
• Evil to which I have given refuge  in the guise of Rightness, but is really self-serving and egocentric (this is really painful!): envy that turns everyone and everything a vile shade of green; judgmentalism which continues the Black and White smear from inside me; willful ignorance that keeps me blind to my companion in need; I’m afraid the list could go on.

So I am back to last week’s blog–clarity and courage are what I am to pray for, but specifically in being open to discern, unafraid to name the Evil as I see it in truth and in love. I need to practice, here I go: “That last comment was hurtful and full of a sense of privilege that left out the struggling ones;” “This decision is cruel and unjust;” “It is our own interests that are keeping us from acting mercifully.” Maybe I can get the hang of it yet while I try each day to do something that makes for peace!