Monday, 23 December, 2002

This is a part of a series of devotions based on: God Was In This Place & I , i Did Not Know - by Lawrence Kushner.

Today's devotion will be a longer piece extended over two days.



"Once you acknowledge that bad things happen and that people do evil things, there are only two options," said Hanna Rachel, "Satan and God." She took a handful of pebbles and dropped them in two small piles before him. "Alternate worlds. In every way except one, these worlds of strewn pebbles are identical. In both worlds the sun shines, people make love, children play and people do astonishingly terrible things.

"In one universe, people maintain their 'selves,' their sanity, and God by giving evil its independence. Such wickedness, they reason, could not possibly have anything to do with God. There must be some other non-God power that makes it real and gives it vitality, and with whom God is in eternal conflict. In such a universe, where the source of evil is other than God, sooner or later, one way or another, you wind up with some kind of demonic force, sitra achra, Other Side, devil, or Satan.



I would have to say that this may be the "universe" with which most people are familiar. "The devil made me do it," may be one example. This is also a problem that crops up all the time. We must in some way become apologists for God whenever there is terror and brutality and terrible things that take place all around us...for we cannot let God be a part of them or in them. Unfortunately, do we then say that God is not over and in all things? I find that this is the way people usually act when dealing with the good and bad things that take place everyday in our lives. There must be a bad or evil out there because "I'm a good person." Rather than admit that we are like two sides of a coin - that is - we have the potential for good and evil, we point fingers and blame someone or something else for the evil and brokenness around us.



Connection: Is it difficult for you to see your part in the "dark side" whenever you take a look at our world and attempt to point a finger at "them"? Even in a day when many want to blame an "evil axis" for all the bad in the world, I cannot help but wonder if we see the evil we perpetrate...or are we all "good."



Lord of all things, make us a people of reconciliation so that we may be a part of the healing of our world when it become filled with hatred and run by fear. Remind us that you are the Creator of all and will be with us in all things. Amen