A dozen or so years ago I attended a "stewardship conference" in Daytona Beach at the behest, and on the dime, of a denominational office. Several of my colleagues from the eastern U.S. were there, as well. One evening at dinner a fellow clergy-type bragged about how in a recent sermon he "railed against Bush (President George W.) and his policies." I thought to myself, "That poor congregation."
As a veteran by then of a couple of decades of preaching I once made that same mistake, although I was much younger when I did so. It was during the Reagan Nightmare (see, I did it again!), and the Lectionary served up a belt-high fastball with some Old Testament text about "old men" doing things with idols that were detrimental to the life of the community of God's people.
Well (as Reagan himself was wont to say), I swung at that fastball and couldn't resist declaring something to the effect of, "Until we say 'No!' to nuclear weapons we are as guilty of idolatry as President Reagan and all the other old men who think weapons and the threat of war provide our salvation!"
There was an audible gasp from someone in the congregation and Mary told me later that another person said, "I guess we know who he's voting for." Yep, it was Walter Mondale that time.
When it comes to preaching it seems to me there is a fine line between "prophetic" and pathetic. I was on the wrong side of that line, as was the guy who did his railing when Dubya held the keys to the White House.
For a semester or two at my seminary there was a theology professor visiting from Great Britain. I no longer remember his name, but from what I recall of the class I took with him we wrestled with this notion of prophecy. We were assigned to write a paper dealing with then-current issues, giving theological reflection and a prophetic word. The professor clearly didn't like what we wrote. Citing example after example from our efforts he kept making comments such as, "Where is the prophetic message? Everybody is against racism and sexism and all the other 'isms' you decried!"
Maybe not everybody... But, he made his point, and all these years later I still think about that.
As I understand prophecy it's not so much simply predicting the future, but rather has more to do with seeing the world and its realities through the eyes of God, or through a heart that is in tune with God. That is, "How does what is happening in the world line up with God's intentions for life, and what are the likely outcomes or consequences when there is a disconnect between the two?" Identifying all of that, as I see it, gets into the realm of prophecy.
Ah, but there's the rub: How do we know what God intends? It's there in the Bible, you say?
I challenge you to listen to sermons or Bible exposition by a dozen or so preachers coming at the text from various theological slants and tell me about God's intentions.
It seems to me that one can judge authentic prophecy by how much it challenges the status quo. If it's always "those people over there" who are offending God and likely to spend eternity screaming in burning agony while breathing in Sulphur fumes, then that's not prophecy. If our outlook and actions are challenged, and we're called to higher regard for others, and to be more mindful of how what we say and do have detrimental effects on the lives of people near and far, then prophecy is coming our way.
After all, in biblical days (and even in our lifetime) prophets weren't given medals and parades. They were put to death.
Prophecy, however, is not simply about negativity and rear end-kicking (although that may be an effective way to get our attention).
Prophecy, as stated earlier, points to God's intentions, and THAT is abundant life for all of God's Creation. To me, that is a clear message of scripture. God creates in love and desires for that love to fill every corner of life. It's not for White middle-class and higher Americans only. It's for everyone everywhere, only we have a tendency to mess that up as if there isn't enough of anything to go around.
So, problems abound. Conflict and tension ignite non-stop bitterness and violence. We have to get ours (and more, actually) at the expense of others. Then we bemoan our troubles, we demonize "them," and happiness eludes us.
I used to know a guy who sensed he was on the wrong path with all of his acquisitions and claimed privileges. He made a major life adjustment, taking on the challenges of living in service to others. When I brought him in to talk to student groups during my days running a seminar program his ideas always generated the most thinking and discussion among the students.
His message was straight-forward and, I would say, prophetic: "If you want to change the world, the first thing you need to do is change yourself."
