The Prophetic Risk

It is Sunday evening and I’m thinking about the risk I took this morning, hoping it was worth it.  I spoke a prophetic word to the people of God who gather each Sunday at the church I serve.

When I say, “prophetic,” don’t make the common mistake of assuming that I was predicting future events.  Contrary to the misconceptions of many, Biblical prophecy is not concerned about predictions but with addressing the injustices (and idolatry) committed by God’s people and calling them to account.  The basic Biblical plot which occasions the rise of prophets is as follows:

            God makes a covenant with the people.

            The people break the covenant.

            God sends prophets to call the people back to the covenant.

            The people repent (change their wicked ways), or not!

Today I questioned whether the elected leaders of the state of North Carolina were keeping covenant.  Psalm 72 prays for the king to act with God’s justice toward the weak and the needy.  The Gospel of Luke recounts the words of Jesus, “Blest are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”  Jesus’ final parable in the Gospel of Matthew implies that the nations will be judged by the way we treat the least of these.  Keeping God’s covenant carries with it an obligation for those with power to care for the poor.  In today’s political climate of budget slashing, I perceive that the axe cutting government services is falling sharpest on those who can afford it the least.  If I am right in this perception, then this is contrary to God’s covenant.

The risk of speaking as a prophet is that I may offend someone’s political sensibilities.  In doing so, I cause a division in my congregation and I regret that.  I am by nature a pastor, someone who wants to offer care and compassion to people, to overcome differences and bring people together in unity.  I am by calling a preacher, specializing in a message of grace whose sermons are generally appreciated by most.  I like to proclaim good news that makes everyone feel good!

But there is a line in Luke’s Gospel (6:26), right there in the midst of “Blest are you poor,” which says, “Beware when all speak well of you.”  I have always been haunted by those words.  They are a caution to me not to retreat into the comfortable role of pastoral preacher.  Sometimes God requires a preacher to be a prophet.  Elijah was a thorn in King Ahab’s side (1 Kings 18:17).  So much so that Ahab said one day, “Is it you, you disturber of Israel?”  As the old cliché goes --- sometimes the preacher comforts the disturbed, but sometimes one must disturb the comfortable.  Ahab needed to be disturbed. 

If anyone was disturbed by what I said today, I hope they will nevertheless hang with me for a while – engage me in dialogue, or even challenge me.  Perhaps they will also challenge themselves.  If we fail to hang together in church, disagreeing with mutual respect, then I don’t see much hope for our present societal impasse where politicians refuse to meet in the middle. 

Today I spoke as a prophet.  I was uncomfortable.  What do you know . . . maybe I’m the one who needed to be disturbed?