Deliver us from evil

Photo: Gerald Farinas.

When I pray “deliver us from evil,” I am not asking God to make me comfortable while the world burns.

I am asking God to tear away the blindfold I put on myself so I do not have to see the suffering my comfort requires.

I cannot pray these words and cheer cuts to food for the hungry, housing for the poor, or healthcare for the sick.

I cannot pray them while blessing the bombs and calling it defense, or while shutting the door on migrants and refugees and calling it law and order.

I cannot pray them and turn my back on racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia, pretending those evils are someone else’s problem.

The prophets have already named this hypocrisy.

Amos thundered, “You trample on the poor… I despise your festivals.”

Isaiah cried, “Is not this the fast I choose: to loose the chains of injustice?”

Jesus himself warned, “Woe to you… for you have neglected justice, mercy, and faith.”

Evil is not only in dictators and tyrants.

Evil is also in the shrug that says, “It is not my problem.”

Evil is in the vote cast to keep power in the hands of the powerful.

Evil is in the church that prays for peace while refusing to risk anything for justice.

If I mean “deliver us from evil,” then I must live it.

I must resist.

I must speak truth even when it costs me.

Because God does not deliver the comfortable from inconvenience.

God delivers the truth-tellers, the risk-takers, the ones who stand where Jesus stood, in the path of the powerful, declaring that the Kingdom of God is breaking in.