'Deliver us from Evil'

We have gone a whole week with no funerals - so that's a good thing. It seems as though our thoughts and prayers are moving to a new 'frontline': to headteachers and their staff, as they try to work out locally how to implement the Government's strategy for children to return to school next week. (Though it must be remembered that teachers have never stopped working! They have been keeping their pupils resourced with various educational materials at home, and also running local 'hubs' for children of key workers, and children 'at risk'.) This is a major headache for headteachers especially: they are caught up in a political storm for one thing; but of course their main priority is for the safety and well-being of their children and their staff, while dealing also with the concerns of many parents. Decisions have to be made in the local context. Heads try to agree on a concerted policy, to avoid confusion; they will also be constrained by logistical concerns regarding the practicalities of their own building. They need our prayers and support. I hope parents, naturally concerned primarily for their own children, will be understanding of what teachers are having to cope with.

I have been thinking about the word 'deliverance'. George VI started it for me, reading his VE Day speech in 1945, when he spoke of a 'great deliverance' at the end of the War in Europe. Deliverance presupposes there is a 'deliverer'; it also means there is a 'deliverance from' and a 'deliverance for'. King George clearly believed that God had delivered our nation from the tyranny of Nazism: he had called for a Day of Prayer in 1940 when the entire British army were trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk. Many of us pray now, for deliverance from Coronavirus - and, more than that - from all that afflicts the human race, and spoils the life God always intended for us. To believe in and know there is a God who sustains the universe, and wants only what is for our good, is a huge blessing at a time such as this.

But I am specially interested in the 'deliverance for...' question. Having been delivered, what then? For King George, this was first a matter of thanksgiving, of gratitude. I believe that thanksgiving is actually a gateway to prayer. Rather than come to God with a list of requests, it is good first to be thankful. The King went on to speak of the tasks that peace would require. There was a nation to be rebuilt - and a world. The immediate post-war years were times of severe austerity, but also times of significant re-formation. The NHS itself, of course, was one of the outcomes. I wonder what benefits will emerge from this latest deliverance.

Currently, our morning Bible readings take us through St Luke's Gospel. Here, the first significant  'mighty work' that Jesus does is the deliverance of a man who had an evil spirit. (What this means in today's language of mental and spiritual health, we don't know.) What interests me is, 'What happened next?' As so often in the Gospels, we are not told! But I would love to think that this man, now delivered, went on to live a life which was happy, fulfilled, and profoundly thankful.

We are taught by Jesus to pray, 'Deliver us from evil.' What evil do we desire to be delivered from today? And how will we use our new freedom, when that prayer is answered?