Our typical understanding of prophecy is like what we see in the Harry Potter movies, where there is a little crystal sphere that holds a wispy vapor that is predicting the future–prophecy, we think, is sort of like fortune telling.
Biblical prophecy, however, is nothing like that. The prophets were sent by God not to predict the future, but to warn the people of Israel that if they didn’t change their ways, their path would inevitably lead them to pain and destruction. It would be like a bridge being out and you yelling at a speeding motorist that they need to turn around or they’ll drive off into the ravine–you’re not predicting an inevitable future, but rather calling them to the reality of their reckless behavior.
Today, as we celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I’m reminded that he is a modern-day prophet. I re-read his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” this morning, and it is an indictment to my heart. King’s letter was written to eight clergy who four days prior had published an open letter in the Birmingham newspaper calling Dr. King to stop his non-violent protests and leave–calling for a more “realistic approach to racial problems.” The Episcopal Bishop of Alabama was one of the authors of this first letter.
Dr. King’s articulate and passionate response includes what I consider a prophetic warning that has, unfortunately, come true. Read this excerpt with me:
There was a time when the church was very powerful–in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.”‘ But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent–and often even vocal–sanction of things as they are. But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.
There was a time when the church was very powerful–in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.”‘ But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.”
By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent–and often even vocal–sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.
You do not have to look very far to see the results, sixty years later, of the church’s inability to “recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church”–how many of our children and grandchildren now look with disappointment, even “outright disgust,” at the institutional church.
May we hear the voices of our prophets, and turn from our path to God’s path, and live into our Epiphany call to bring light wherever there is darkness around us.
Blessings and Peace,
Fr. Keith+ (P.S. If you’d like to read my sermon from this past Sunday, “Come and See!,” where I explore some additional thoughts about the institutional church and our mission at St. Andrew’s, you can find it here.
