Maundy Thursday
Two days ago, in his sermon to the clergy of the Diocese of Milwaukee, our Bishop exhorted us to "prophesy, proclaim Christ and pray". He challenged us toward a renewal of those three activities within the contexts of our various areas of service. I admit that I've been mentally stuck on the first point of the Bishop's sermon ever since.
What would it mean for a priest to "prophesy"?
Oh, I understand what the word means. The prophetic role in the Hebrew tradition (and continuing with the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus) was to speak the "Word of the Lord" to the powers (political and religious) on behalf of those whose voices went unheard. Prophets needled and agitated the status quo. Prophets critiqued the hypocrisy of scrupulously attending to the ceremonials of religion as a form, while missing the point of the worship altogether. To trample the poor, to ignore the widows and orphans, to treat the foreigner with contempt -- these sorts of behaviors, said the prophets, pointed out the deadness of religion when eviscerated of ethical ramifications. Hollow worship, the prophets argured, is the hallmark of hypocrisy.
People in power (then as now) had prophets on the payroll, but these prophets-for-hire were mostly depicted as subservient to the whims of their benefactors. Prophets who had been captured by "the Word of the Lord", on the other hand, lived on the fringes -- without a stipend or a housing allowance or an expense account or a pension or health insurance. As Jesus said, "The foxes have holes, the birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
Prophets often had a common fate. They wound up running from the authorities, or in exile, or in prison...or dead -- a theme replayed in the 20th century in the lives of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Archbishop Romero -- just to name a few.
In the Middle Class American culture of piety-driven, privatized, individualistic and self-improvement oriented religion there's never been a greater need for prophesying. I simply wonder about the hypocrisy involved when a person who derives her/his livelihood from such a system attempts to critique it. I wonder.
Can any prophesying really take place when sustaining pastoral tenure, growing a parochial budget and attending to the maintenance of congregational/denominational infrastructure occupies the bulk of our time and energy as professional church workers? Do a few formulaic and perfunctory "prophetic soundbites" sprinkled judiciously in a sermon here or there constitute "prophesying"? Are we prepared to have prophetic words confused with partisan agendas?
I have no solution to my conundrum -- just gnawing questions.
Two days ago, in his sermon to the clergy of the Diocese of Milwaukee, our Bishop exhorted us to "prophesy, proclaim Christ and pray". He challenged us toward a renewal of those three activities within the contexts of our various areas of service. I admit that I've been mentally stuck on the first point of the Bishop's sermon ever since.
What would it mean for a priest to "prophesy"?
Oh, I understand what the word means. The prophetic role in the Hebrew tradition (and continuing with the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus) was to speak the "Word of the Lord" to the powers (political and religious) on behalf of those whose voices went unheard. Prophets needled and agitated the status quo. Prophets critiqued the hypocrisy of scrupulously attending to the ceremonials of religion as a form, while missing the point of the worship altogether. To trample the poor, to ignore the widows and orphans, to treat the foreigner with contempt -- these sorts of behaviors, said the prophets, pointed out the deadness of religion when eviscerated of ethical ramifications. Hollow worship, the prophets argured, is the hallmark of hypocrisy.
People in power (then as now) had prophets on the payroll, but these prophets-for-hire were mostly depicted as subservient to the whims of their benefactors. Prophets who had been captured by "the Word of the Lord", on the other hand, lived on the fringes -- without a stipend or a housing allowance or an expense account or a pension or health insurance. As Jesus said, "The foxes have holes, the birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
Prophets often had a common fate. They wound up running from the authorities, or in exile, or in prison...or dead -- a theme replayed in the 20th century in the lives of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Archbishop Romero -- just to name a few.
In the Middle Class American culture of piety-driven, privatized, individualistic and self-improvement oriented religion there's never been a greater need for prophesying. I simply wonder about the hypocrisy involved when a person who derives her/his livelihood from such a system attempts to critique it. I wonder.
Can any prophesying really take place when sustaining pastoral tenure, growing a parochial budget and attending to the maintenance of congregational/denominational infrastructure occupies the bulk of our time and energy as professional church workers? Do a few formulaic and perfunctory "prophetic soundbites" sprinkled judiciously in a sermon here or there constitute "prophesying"? Are we prepared to have prophetic words confused with partisan agendas?
I have no solution to my conundrum -- just gnawing questions.
posted by FrGaryB | 6:35 AM
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