John the Baptist always seemed to be a scary person in the Bible. Wild hair, shouting about repenting, making the paths straight, the Lord's coming!
Always prophetic, John the Baptist's story winds throughout the gospels, connected to Jesus almost from conception...
John precedes him, identifies him, baptizes him, defers to him, doubts him, and in death is affirmed by Jesus as "the greatest of the prophets."
Being a prophet is dangerous work... John was beheaded because he would'nt be silent about the sins of the rich and famous.
Defining what's prophetic's not an easy matter. A prophet feels a deep sense of calling, laments the unfaithfulness of religion and society to be what God desires it to be, but also provides a vision for what God wills in the world.
Prophets like John help us get our bearings in the world. They throw cold water and hard sayings in our faces...force us to take stock of our lives and the culture around us.
They say what they see...and CHALLENGE the status quo for all of us.
The Bible's full of prophets...some say the days of prophets ended along time ago... but I would submit that there have been...& ARE prophets still challenging us...
.
Wasn't Rosa Parks acting prophetically on December 1, 1955 when she refused to accept the status quo to move to the BACK of the Cleveland Avenue bus in Montgomery, Alabama?
Her quiet, determined response to one of the great signs of American racism was a prophetic indictment of what WAS the status quo back then.
But you know, being a prophet is dangerous work... Rosa suffered for it, losing her job as a seamstress in a local department store. No one in Montgomery would hire her. Eventually, she moved to Detroit, Michigan to find work.
I'm old enough to remember the status quo of racism in the 1950's and '60s A unequal dual system where everyone was supposed to be free & equal...
In the West End of Louisville we played at Shawnee Park...the black kids at Chickasaw Park. The white kids went to the neighborhood school-Shawnee. The black kids went past Shawnee HS on their way downtown to Central HS.
I'll never forget Grant's department store down on 4th Street a drinking fountain for "white folks " and one right next to it...for"colored folks". Same for restrooms and blacks couldn't eat at lunch counters in the downtown stores.
Church wasn't immune to the status quo of racism I went first 3 grades at St. Vincent dePaul at Shelby & Oak black kids went to Saint Peter Claver a few blocks away. That was the status quo until a man named Martin came along.
A prophet has a deep sense of calling. A sense that their life purpose and what they have to offer the world is coming from a power FAR beyond themselves... Martin Luther King, Jr. was such a prophet. He felt deeply God’s pain and God’s joy as well as the pain and joy of his people.
Prophets peaking against the grain of society, In the midst of storms of criticism, resistance and hatred, A prophet is rooted in the solid ground of their calling. Being a prophet is dangerous work...Martin was silenced by an assassin's bullet on April 4, 1968 in Memphis.
The prophetic is dangerous and comforting all at once, good news for some and bad news for others. It's focused on the world as it is and the world that lies ahead. Then and now, pursuing the prophetic is dangerous business.
From the John the Baptist to Martin Luther King Jr., the prophetic landscape is strewn with the bodies of the dead, some of whom, though silenced, speak yet.
Bishop Oscar Romero was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador on 2/23/77, Romero was selected because he was thought to be the ONE person who would NOT buck the corrupt system that was opressing the poor there. Romero had a change of heart when the government killed 6 of his priests for challenging the status quo.
Being a prophet is dangerous work...On 3/24/80 Achbishop Romero's voice was silenced by an assassin's bullet while saying Mass in a hospital chapel.
A little known Congresswoman from Arizona made a prophetic statement on March 25, 2010, a day after her office was vandalized She said the uncivilized actions and words of a few could lead to something ALOT worse, if political leaders on both sides accepted the uncivilized culture that had invaded American politics as the staus quo...
Being a prophet is a dangerous job... Her prophecy came true last Saturday in Tuscon. Now, we've all heard of that Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords and the six people killed that day.
John the Baptist's testimony's been made his prophesy's come true. We are being baptized with the Holy Spirit to do the work Jesus has done. Feeding the hungry, taking care of the sick, freeing the oppressed.
But how are we doing in our journey?
Being a prophet is dangerous work...and so is the work of being a Christian...our baptism calls us to be witnesses...opening our hearts... giving testimony with our lives is risky.
What kind of witnesses are we?
Do our lives give testimony to the good news of Christ in this broken land and to the world beyond?......
We've heard the ministries of people who've heeded this call. We all know of Teresa of Calcutta who worked diligently with the sick. Oscar Romero who died for the poor of El Salvador and Martin Luther King Jr. who we honor today.
We don't have these people's ministries, Most likely our testimony will not cost us our life as it did for so many...We have our OWN calling...our OWN gifts...our OWN abilities and our OWN testimonies to make.........
How are we doing?
Always prophetic, John the Baptist's story winds throughout the gospels, connected to Jesus almost from conception...
John precedes him, identifies him, baptizes him, defers to him, doubts him, and in death is affirmed by Jesus as "the greatest of the prophets."
Being a prophet is dangerous work... John was beheaded because he would'nt be silent about the sins of the rich and famous.
Defining what's prophetic's not an easy matter. A prophet feels a deep sense of calling, laments the unfaithfulness of religion and society to be what God desires it to be, but also provides a vision for what God wills in the world.
Prophets like John help us get our bearings in the world. They throw cold water and hard sayings in our faces...force us to take stock of our lives and the culture around us.
They say what they see...and CHALLENGE the status quo for all of us.
The Bible's full of prophets...some say the days of prophets ended along time ago... but I would submit that there have been...& ARE prophets still challenging us...
.
Wasn't Rosa Parks acting prophetically on December 1, 1955 when she refused to accept the status quo to move to the BACK of the Cleveland Avenue bus in Montgomery, Alabama?
Her quiet, determined response to one of the great signs of American racism was a prophetic indictment of what WAS the status quo back then.
But you know, being a prophet is dangerous work... Rosa suffered for it, losing her job as a seamstress in a local department store. No one in Montgomery would hire her. Eventually, she moved to Detroit, Michigan to find work.
I'm old enough to remember the status quo of racism in the 1950's and '60s A unequal dual system where everyone was supposed to be free & equal...
In the West End of Louisville we played at Shawnee Park...the black kids at Chickasaw Park. The white kids went to the neighborhood school-Shawnee. The black kids went past Shawnee HS on their way downtown to Central HS.
I'll never forget Grant's department store down on 4th Street a drinking fountain for "white folks " and one right next to it...for"colored folks". Same for restrooms and blacks couldn't eat at lunch counters in the downtown stores.
Church wasn't immune to the status quo of racism I went first 3 grades at St. Vincent dePaul at Shelby & Oak black kids went to Saint Peter Claver a few blocks away. That was the status quo until a man named Martin came along.
A prophet has a deep sense of calling. A sense that their life purpose and what they have to offer the world is coming from a power FAR beyond themselves... Martin Luther King, Jr. was such a prophet. He felt deeply God’s pain and God’s joy as well as the pain and joy of his people.
Prophets peaking against the grain of society, In the midst of storms of criticism, resistance and hatred, A prophet is rooted in the solid ground of their calling. Being a prophet is dangerous work...Martin was silenced by an assassin's bullet on April 4, 1968 in Memphis.
The prophetic is dangerous and comforting all at once, good news for some and bad news for others. It's focused on the world as it is and the world that lies ahead. Then and now, pursuing the prophetic is dangerous business.
From the John the Baptist to Martin Luther King Jr., the prophetic landscape is strewn with the bodies of the dead, some of whom, though silenced, speak yet.
Bishop Oscar Romero was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador on 2/23/77, Romero was selected because he was thought to be the ONE person who would NOT buck the corrupt system that was opressing the poor there. Romero had a change of heart when the government killed 6 of his priests for challenging the status quo.
Being a prophet is dangerous work...On 3/24/80 Achbishop Romero's voice was silenced by an assassin's bullet while saying Mass in a hospital chapel.
A little known Congresswoman from Arizona made a prophetic statement on March 25, 2010, a day after her office was vandalized She said the uncivilized actions and words of a few could lead to something ALOT worse, if political leaders on both sides accepted the uncivilized culture that had invaded American politics as the staus quo...
Being a prophet is a dangerous job... Her prophecy came true last Saturday in Tuscon. Now, we've all heard of that Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords and the six people killed that day.
John the Baptist's testimony's been made his prophesy's come true. We are being baptized with the Holy Spirit to do the work Jesus has done. Feeding the hungry, taking care of the sick, freeing the oppressed.
But how are we doing in our journey?
Being a prophet is dangerous work...and so is the work of being a Christian...our baptism calls us to be witnesses...opening our hearts... giving testimony with our lives is risky.
What kind of witnesses are we?
Do our lives give testimony to the good news of Christ in this broken land and to the world beyond?......
We've heard the ministries of people who've heeded this call. We all know of Teresa of Calcutta who worked diligently with the sick. Oscar Romero who died for the poor of El Salvador and Martin Luther King Jr. who we honor today.
We don't have these people's ministries, Most likely our testimony will not cost us our life as it did for so many...We have our OWN calling...our OWN gifts...our OWN abilities and our OWN testimonies to make.........
How are we doing?
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