To love Yahweh is to hate evil.
(Everyday Psalms, Psalm 97, page 223)
My kids were too little to read and take in the Harry Potter books when they were being written and released. But my wife and I waited for, bought, and read aloud to one another each of the volume as they were published. Because of this, we had an entirely adult engagement with the books, even as they inspired our childlike imaginations. As we did, we discovered something unique about the Harry Potter books — they deal with the reality of evil.
As a typical modern American, I have lived most of my life without a sense of real evil.
No hordes of invaders have threatened to descend upon my country or have roamed our streets with weapons in hand. No slaver has put bonds on my hands and feet and made me work the fields under a lash. I have not been abused or raped. I have not experienced the cruelty of drug lords or pimps. I have not been demonized. I have not been framed and imprisoned for a crime I did not commit. I have not been kicked to the streets and into homelessness. I have not become addicted to drugs or alcohol
Yes, I encounter brokenness and sin in myself and in others around me. But as my wife and I were reading these books, I became aware of the fact that I had gradually come to disbelieve in the reality of evil. Sin, yes. Evil, no. My circumstances were too cozy to believe in it.
We live in a broken world as broken people. But there’s not just brokenness, there’s evil. Jesus taught us to pray, “Deliver us from Evil.” It’s possible he meant evil in general, but it’s more likely he meant the Evil One. Introduced in the third chapter of the Bible, we see throughout the Scriptures a malignant force in the world. A serpent or a dragon. A liar or a prosecuting attorney (which is what the Hebrew word satan means).
At the same time as we were reading the first several books in the Potter series, we were reading and praying along with Celtic prayers as part of our daily rhythm. And there, embedded within these prayers were wards against evil. And I realized that though an invocation against evil exists within the central prayer that all Christians pray, I never prayed against evil in any of my other daily prayers. Evil simply wasn’t in my praying vocabulary.
But there I was, rising in the morning and praying a prayer such as this:
I rise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me.
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and near,
Alone and in a multitude.
It’s a basic protection prayer. Simple. Rhythmic. Theologically astute. Easy enough to learn and pray while getting dressed each morning. And it covered the three main sources of evil: the Evil One, evil within me, and evil in the world around me.
As the schemes of Lord Voldemort reminded me of the reality of evil in the world, the Celts reminded me how to pray in the presence of evil. The marriage of Harry Potter and Celtic spirituality provided both the point and counterpoint I needed to engage with evil in my impoverished spirituality.
And so, reminded of my need for protection from evil by the one who loves me best of all, I pray with the Celts before me:
The Son of God be shielding me from harm,
The Son of God be shielding me from ill,
The Son of God be shielding me from mishap,
The Son of God be shielding me this night,
The Son of God be shielding me with might,
The Son of God be shielding me with power;
Each one who is dealing with me aright,
So may God deal with his soul.
Prayer: I get that people are broken and sick, Lord, but I struggle to call anyone or anything evil. Still I am aware of my bent toward sin and I see the effects of evil in the world and of the Evil One detailed in the news each day. Defeat evil in me and elsewhere. Protect us from its destructiveness. And help me resist its influences and injustices. Bring your kingdom and restore your goodness to this weary world. Through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
For further reading: Northumbria Community, Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community, HarperOne, 2002.