Prophecy WeeK

The week between June 17^th and June 24^th in the Lutheran Christian tradition is a week with a strong emphasis on prophecy.  Prophesying is the act of proclaiming God’s vision for humanity to other people, often when those other people may be diverging from God’s intention.  Thus, prophecy can make us feel judged, discomfited, and convicted. And may arouse resistance to change and even anger at the prophet, the one bearing the hard message that God has for us when things are going awry.

I think one of the most helpful ways to come to terms with prophecy and prophets is to understand them as part of God’s holistic provision for us.  Not only does God “give us our daily bread.” As Luther writes in his small and large catechisms, God also seeks to protect, provide, and preserve us.  The vision and correction that comes from prophets and prophecy is part of that divine impulse to preserve us—to preserve us from our own folly, to preserve us from the consequences of sin.   The words of the prophet may sting sometimes, but the words are part of God’s effort to keep us on the path to abundant, just and meaningful life.

I call the week between June 17^th and June 24^th Prophecy Week because there are some significant events, people, and assigned scripture during this week that bear God’s corrective messages to us.  Before we unpack the four moments,  briefly,  let us pray:

Dear God, open our ears and soften our hearts to the words of your prophets. Help us to not take offense or become defensive, but allow ourselves to be transformed to move ever closer to your vision for your people united in Jesus. Amen.

June 17^th: Commemorating the Murder of the Emanuel 9: On this day, in 2015, 9 African-American siblings in Christ gathered for Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, were murdered by young white man who espoused white supremacist ideas.  The murderer was a Christian who had been raised in an ELCA congregation; two of the dead had attended an ELCA seminary.  Our denomination acknowledges this day a prophetic Day of Repentance, when we are all called to examine our hearts, minds, words and actions and be cleansed of especially racial bigotries and hatred.  We accept God’s word to love one another.

June 19^th: Juneteenth: On this day we celebrate the declaration of the end of slavery in the US that finally, after more than a year, arrived with Union soldiers that reached Galveston, Texas. And we are reminded that must be vigilant to continue to reject the echos of slavery in the form of discrimination against and exclusion of people of color through our history.  Proclaiming the end to slavery was only the beginning.  We continue to work for liberation of all who are suffering at the hands of unjust powers because that is what Jesus proclaimed and did.

Sunday, June 21, 1^st reading: Jeremiah 20: The assigned reading for the 4^th Sunday in Pentecost, Year A, is from Jeremiah 20, in which this powerful prophet of God describes the torment of being a prophet.  God had poured a prophetic message into him.  If he keeps quiet and does not speak it as part of God’s effort to preserve us, then the prophet experiences overwhelming pain: “within me there is something like a burning fire / shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.  And when the prophet does speak, the world derides him and rejects him.  The prophet’s dilemma is not just reserved for the prophets of Bible.  It is the dilemma that each follower of Jesus must contend with: do we keep quiet, but risk being spiritually sickened by stifling God’s word? Or do we speak, and risk conflict with the world? 

June 24: John the Baptist: I first really became aware of the day of commemoration of John the Baptist when I was living in Montreal for several years.  Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day is the Fête nationale du Québec, the national day of celebration of Quebec and quebecois culture.  Originally, though, it was a religious holiday celebrating the prophetic voice and actions of John the Baptist who paved the way for Jesus with his teachings of repentance and reform.  One of the traditions is to light a bonfire, a symbol of transformation and renewal.

As we dwell in this Prophecy Week, let us embrace—however painful—the call to repent, reform and renew.  God so longs for us to realize the future that God envisions for us.