Epiphany - January 8, 2006

Communion/Food Bank Sunday

The completion of our hope in God’s reign is experienced when all who are poor, oppressed, sick, downcast, or heart-weary are lifted up, strengthened, and healed. Like Simeon and Anna, we can speak out the good news, not just for ourselves, but for everyone. In what ways can we and our church express our joy in the Child of Hope? In what ways will you work for justice and peace for all creation?

Reflection for Epiphany: Theory of Evil, Does evil exist? Did God create evil?

By Rev. James K. Farrell

We celebrate the light of the world, God among us, joy in human form, the gift of the ages…as did the early observers open to the signs of the new and wondrous in their lives. Yet amid their experience was the hint, no—the threat—of evil.

For the wise ones it was the threat of evil living in Herod…in our experience it is the awareness of all that is wrong in our world…sitting to write this message, the Google news headlines included "31 dead in Mecca hotel collapse", "deadliest attacks in Iraq kill 116", "Second Turkish Teenager dies as Bird Flu Spreads" and now, a third... and, of course, the list goes on and people wonder, if we are living in the shadow of a loving God, why all this mess and destruction?

Why the loss of life that consumes Virginia miners and the violence that kills Toronto shoppers, why the diseases that claim the young and vibrant? And, of course, we could go on and on…but our hope is in the God of light of whom we sing and share in many ways today...this, our Epiphany Sunday.

Our hope is in the reality that life is more than the 'animation of the body.'

But even in our hope and joy—our promise and assurance—is the nagging element of evil that lurks to squelch our joy as it sought to squelch the joy of the wise ones and the life of the newborn Jesus.

Entering a new year, filled with promise and hope, there is still that lurking, that wondering, that fear that tries to take 'from us' the gifts that God presents alongside our newness.

People have found "that lurking" to be a real stumbling block on the road of life and faith. It has for many, been what prevents them from seeing the joy that is theirs. The joy that the infant brings. And, people thus predisposed to the fear of evil often want to take others along with them for their ride of discontent.

A University professor challenged his students with this question.

"Did God create everything that exists?"

A student bravely replied, "Yes God did!"

"God created everything?" The professor asked.

"Yes sir", the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then God is evil."

The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the religious faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question professor?"

"Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is, in reality, the absence of heat.

Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy.

Absolute zero (-460? F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature.

Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat."

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light.

Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is?

You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already said. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God.

God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when one does not have God's love present in one's heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The story says, "The professor, sat down."

Seeking the light of the newborn Jesus in our lives let us, this year, embrace the joy, sit away from the temptation to be lost in that evil funk that has us forgetting we are in the presence of the holy, and let us live as those whose celebration in the presence of the holy is simply: our reasonable worship since we are those who realize that we live in the presence of the wonderful life-giving gift that is ours in Jesus Christ. Amen.