During the Aug. 13 outdoor service in Tower Grove Park, Pastor Travis preached and led a discussion about the closing phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, “deliver us from evil.” A key part of the discussion focused on how we envision evil. Do we chiefly see evil as the systems and forces that shape our actions, something akin to the “principalities and powers” that Paul writes about his letter to the Ephesians? Or is it more personalized, a specific adversary, “the evil one,” sometimes characterized as the devil or Satan? Both these are commonplace interpretations and the tension between the two has its roots in the translations favored by Western theology (systems) and the Eastern theology (a specific adversary). In the same week as I encountered this fascinating insight, I also cam across a wonderful folktale from the Buddhist tradition, which also helps to illuminate the phrase “deliver us from evil.” It gave me a entirely fresh way to think about the battle between good and evil. Some b...

Tim Woodcock writes: I’ve been working my way through Thich Nhat Hanh ’s wonderful little book How to Connect. It’s what I’ve come to think of as a “strong black coffee book” – something that needs to be taken slowly because it's a little too powerful to appreciate quickly.  Having just taken a road trip to Michigan and back, doing far more driving than ordinarily do in daily life, I was greatly struck by his reflection “Stopping for a red light,” perhaps in part because it echoes some of what Vickie wrote in her June 8 blog post, “Tickets, Speed Limits and Prayer Life.” On this drive, I was also struck by the reality that you’ve got to embrace the place you are in right now – whether it’s grinding urban traffic around Chicago during a rainstorm or the rolling countryside of Illinois and Indiana as the sun comes out. To give this reflection a little more context, the previous entry in How to Connect mentions the use of bells in both the Buddhist and Christian traditions. He ...