IT FEELS LIKE WE ARE LIVING IN A SPLIT SCREEN THESE DAYS. On one hand the world is filled with wonder and beauty. Every day we encounter the kindnesses of strangers and friends. We look around us and we see the normal collage of human experience. We know the generosity of God in the fine print of our lives. We feel the sweetness of God’s Spirit hovering in our lives. We encourage folks working toward the future for their aspirations and hopes. We ache as we are mindful of the suffering that is both “out there” and “in here.” In other words, life feels normal.

On the other hand, we don’t need prophetic gifts to see that the noose of authoritarianism is tightening around us. Its spirit is antithetical to the spirit and teachings of Jesus. We are devastated by the trajectory of our nation. Millions of us are trying to find our faithfulness in this new landscape. We would love to shout a holy “NO!” that stops evil in its tracks. At the very least, we want to make our lives count for Life and Peace and Joy and Kindness and seeking betterment for everyone.

In my own soul searching, I have been reminded of a spiritual opening I had decades ago. It seems relevant to what we are dealing with. And so I want to share the story of my discovery.

As a pastor, I was preparing a sermon for Sunday’s worship. It was my custom to sit and Listen to what Spirit might bring forward. As I was turning over the various facets of the message, I realized that it would be incomplete if I did not address the issue of evil. But I was well aware that though I had private notions about evil, I didn’t really understand it well enough to preach on it. So I asked Jesus, my Inner Teacher, to tell me about evil. And sure enough the following dialogue unfolded:

     “Well, you know that evil cannot create.”
              “Yes, yes. I know that,” I replied somewhat impatiently.
     “Well, do you know that evil cannot destroy?”
              “Ooh, ooh, ooh”, I responded with surprise and bewilderment.
              “I thought that evil could destroy. I thought that is what it does.”
     “No. The primary power of evil is to misarrange things. Then you all do the destroying.”

As I have lived with this insight, I have found it to be true. When communication goes awry, we damage the relationship. When folks aren’t grounded together in that which is true, we cooperate with the chaos that breaks loose. When we are untethered from the love and methods of God, we are tossed around and reactive. When fear, anger, greed, self-protectiveness are given free range, we do indeed become the destroyers.

When we try to be constructive in the face of evil, our instinct is to focus at the point of evil’s results. We spend our energy trying to mitigate the harm and aim our pain—and repair—at the perpetrators of that harm. But if the wisdom of my opening is right, the effective attentiveness should be on the many steps of right arrangement that precede those results. The right arrangement of our own hearts. The right arrangement between our beliefs and our actions. Right arrangements of relationships. The right arrangement of all the facets of our outward life.

This is no small task when we are awash in misarrangement—which is intentional and methodical. It is bewildering and paralyzing when truth is not common ground for problem solving. It is hard not to rise in anger when we see outrageous lies. It is a huge temptation to spew out when we see abuse of power. It is hard to stay centered when we perceive a person or system is dangerous. It is exasperating to try to remain in integrity and love with friends and family that are combatively steeped in propaganda.

But I have come to believe that we have powerful example of overcoming evil in my own Quaker heritage. Early Friends lived in a world every bit as dangerous and misaligned as ours. Yet they were a culture-changing people. They were not perfect people; they weren’t “better” than the folks around them. I suspect that their power came from their fastidious attention to the arrangement of things. They called it Gospel Order. They changed their language, their lifestyles, their customs, their vocations, their manner of worship to align with the Spirit of Christ—no matter what the cost. It was their consistency of right arrangement that was the witness to the world. And it was a power that washed over the power of evil in many cases.

The course of evil is not inevitable. The Spirit of Love and Holy Illumination have a say in how our history unfolds. I have hope that as we are attentive to Gospel Order in our own lives and communities of faith, we too may become radiating centers of redemptive love that can also alter the trajectory of events before us.