For the past two weeks and for the rest of Lent we will be taking a look at a few of the Prophets of the Old Testament at Recovery Worship. People at Recovery Worship don't think much of the Old Testament; you can hear the moans after the reading. "Too much Law, with little or no Grace" they say. "The God of the Old Testament is always mad, and way too much killing" they add. There is Grace in the Old Testament, plenty of it, you just have to look a little header to find it than in the New Testament.
For the past two weeks we have had readings from Jeremiah and his warnings to the people of Israel in the time prior to the exile into Babylon. Back in my days at Gettysburg Seminary I can remember the first day of the Prophets class when Dr. Schramm started the class by saying, "The Prophets are not your friends." Old Testament prophets did not bare good news, they were chosen by God to bring His/Her word to a troubled people. The prophets were not well received, Jeremiah faced many hardships during his ministry. Even Jesus stated the hardships that the prophets faced. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!" Matthew 23:37
The Prophetic Voice is still with us today. The church is called to be the Prophetic Voice in our world, hoping that it will have an influence in a world where injustice, hatred and poverty impact the lives of millions of people. The problem is, as it was in the day of Jeremiah and the other Old Testament prophets, how do we know if the Prophetic Voice we are hearing is from a true prophet or a false prophet? In our debate about sexuality, social justice issues, just war and other hotly debated issues, how do we discern the true will of God in such matters?
Today we hear people accusing other people in the church of not believing the Bible is the Word of God. Some people thump their chest and proclaim that they are true "Orthodox" in their faith, or "Confessional" as if they have the inside track on Biblical interpretation and only they know the true Word of God. The problem I have with all of this is, the more I hear from these folks, read their blogs and web pages; I have come to believe I am listening to false prophets.
I have often wondered if the people Jeremiah was directing his words were like these people, "We have never done it that way" would be a familiar complaint I am sure. There are things in our church today that we take for granted, yet at one point in church history it was the Prophetic Voice, "crying in the wilderness" for change in the church. In 1880 Anna Howard Shaw was ordained in the Methodist Church (today United Methodist Church). I can only imagine the outcry from other denominations, especially us Lutherans. The ELCA didn't ordain a woman until the early 1970's, and there are still some men complaining about woman ordination. It took some time for the Prophetic Voice to break through, and unfortunately still is not breaking through in all denominations. It puzzles me today when I hear female pastors condemning the ordination of openly gay men and women; I guess Biblical interpretation only applies when it benefits you, sad.
As a divorced man I am thankful that the ELCA does not prohibit divorced men from ministry despite Jesus sharp condemnation of divorce in Matthew.
For a long time in the early 1800's mainline denominations supported the idea of slavery, quoting Bible verses to support their views. Thankfully, Prophetic Voices within the church began to be heard and by the time of the Civil War most mainline denominations were fighting for freedom of the slaves.
The list goes on and on, thankfully the progressive theological Prophetic Voice has generally prevailed for the good, and it will continue to prevail. There will always be churches that choose to ignore the Prophetic Voice, to hold on to the Biblical interpretation of Spurgeon and other archaic scholars. However, there are more and more churches willing to listen to the Prophetic Voice of today and open their doors to all of God's children.
See you next Sunday
Pastor Ray,
ReplyDeleteWe have become blog friends, and I now follow your blog through my RSS reader.
I am a 61 year old man, lifelong Lutheran lay person, and 32 years clean and sober. I have presented talks to Lutheran gatherings entitled "I learned all I needed to know about grace from AA". Another Lutheran Pastor from NE Minnesota, Dennis Morreim, has written a couple of books about recovery (although he is not an alcoholic), and he writes of attending an AA meeting to better help his ministry, and he discovered the most grace filled gathering of persons he had had ever experienced. Another Lutheran pastor (my cousin) who serves as assistant to the Bishop in the Indiana-Kentucky synod once suggested, "if you don't believe in resurrection, go to an AA meeting and see proof."
Not all AA meetings or groups are ideal; some can be downright boring and sometimes human judgmentalism creeds in. But sometimes, often in fact, miracles are experienced there when human brokenness and despair meets the healing touch of a gracious God. "When I am weak, then I am strong."
Thanks for your ministry and that of Recovery Church.