Speak of the Devil as Lent Begins

 

 Dost thou renounce Satan and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow, or be led by them?

 I renounce them all.

Roman Ritual of the Catholic Church

Do you reject the devil and all rebellion against God?

I reject them.

Do you renounce the deceit and corruption of evil?

I renounce them.

Traditional Baptismal Ritual of the Church of England

The devil will be in the details, or at least the gospel lesson, of many worship services on this first Sunday of Lent. Every year it is the same story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness of Judea during an extended period of fasting and preparation for ministry. The forty days of this time of this "quarantine" are the reason that Lent is this length of time in the Christian year. And depending on which gospel is read, it is Satan or the Devil doing the tempting. 

In the United Church we still believe in evil but we really don't give the devil his due (I may stop with the satanic expressions at this point). How many sermons have you heard about Satan in United Church of Canada through the years. Not many, I imagine. 

I am currently reading a Chaim Potok novel with Hasidic Jewish characters who speak of a personified  force of evil. Curiously, a slim volume called The Little Book of Satan (I kid you not) arrived from a publisher recently for my perusal. I may be superstitious but I'm reluctant to delve into it.  

We certainly won't return to the caricature of the devil with horns and a forked tail which most would mock.  But I've been wondering whether moving away from a personification of evil means that the notion has become too vague and impersonal. What is the face of the Slanderer. the Deceiver. the Tempter. the Father of Lies. the Enemy. the Evil One? 

How do we explain the darkness which possesses a high-ranking Russian cleric who figuratively approves of or "baptises" a war on innocent people? What about the evil which through the decades allowed decision-makers in fossil fuel companies to hide the evidence about the destruction of our planetary life-support systems out of unmitigated greed? Has Satan been lurking in the shadows of shareholders meetings? Okay, I'll be careful. Still, power and greed were two of the temptations which Jesus renounced by drawing on scripture.  

Perhaps we should speak of the devil (apparently I can't help myself) and continue to renounce and reject evil wherever we it in our world. Our silence may be deafening.