Sermons

"Speaking with a Prophetic Voice"

A Sermon by Mary Garner
Emmanuel Church, Newport, RI
The Third Sunday of Advent, December 11, 2005

In this morning’s Epistle, Paul writes, “Do not despise the words of prophets”. Our reading from Isaiah eloquently describes the prophetic voice “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.” And finally, our Gospel reading is about John the Baptizer, perhaps the ultimate prophet who came as a witness to testify to the light that is Jesus. John is careful to explain the role of prophet. He says,” I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord”

For Christians, the prophetic tradition informs our very identity. Over and over again, the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures speak out with great fervor and unforgettable imagery. They demand justice for the poor and oppressed and are fearless in confronting kings and rulers who ignore or deny or act against the way of the Lord. They are tireless in their call to faithfulness to Yahweh and the covenant Yahweh has made with the Jewish people. The authors of the New Testament made frequent and inspired use of the words of the Hebrew prophets to proclaim that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all the prophecies, the one long promised by God and long awaited by humanity, who brings redemption and salvation to the world.

During the season of Advent, the church tries to focus our attention on the prophets whose words and actions point to the coming of Jesus whose words and actions are the perfect way of the Lord.

But it would be a mistake to think that prophets belong to the past. Surely, we believe that the words of the prophets that are treasured and preserved in Scripture are meant to be relevant in the lives we live today. If Scripture means anything to us, it is meaningful because it is still true, it still matters, it still speaks to us, still challenges us and still proclaims that Jesus redeems and saves. The words of the prophets call all of us to demand justice for the poor and the oppressed and to confront rulers who deny or act against the way of the Lord. The life of Jesus still stands as the model of obedience to and love of God.

The voice of the prophet is not restricted to long-haired, strangely dressed men who exist only in the pages of the Bible. Throughout history, men and women from all walks of life have dedicated their lives and taken great risks to” cry out in the wilderness”; to be “clothed in the robes of righteousness; to hold fast to what is good.” Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day and Desmond Tutu are modern day prophets whose purpose in life was to make straight the way of the Lord.

At the heart of prophecy is the realization that it is a dangerous business. Confronting the powerful means acknowledging the very real possibility of being ignored, ridiculed, persecuted, silenced or even put to death. To put it another way, if everyone likes what a prophet is saying, he or she is probably not a prophet. But because true prophets have the spirit of the Lord God upon them; because they are anointed by the Lord, the wilderness cannot silence their cry for justice and for peace, for faithfulness to God.

Last month, we had the opportunity to witness examples of prophecy working in the world today. Republican Senator John McCain introduced the Anti-Torture provisions as an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act of 2006. McCain is a former prisoner of war who was tortured while being held captive during the Vietnam War. The bill was passed by the Senate 90 to 9, but faces the opposition of the administration as it goes to the House of Representatives. The bill bans”cruel, inhuman or degrading” interrogation techniques against any person held by the United States government. Some opponents of the bill maintain that in a post 911 world, rules against torture as expressed in the Geneva Convention, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and The United Nations Convention Against Torture are no longer relevant. The Episcopal Church and the National Council of Churches issued a statement in November that states

“Torture, regardless of the circumstance, humiliates and debases torturer and tortured alike. Torture turns its face against the biblical truth that all humans are created in the image of God. It denies the preciousness of human life and the dignity of every human being by reducing its victims to the status of despised objects, no matter how noble the cause for which it is employed.”

Recently there have been allegations that the United States has secret prisons and policies of sending suspects to other countries for questioning; countries known for using torture to extract information. In I Corinthians, Paul exhorts us to have the”mind of Christ”. Christians need to ask themselves what would Christ, a political prisoner who was tortured and executed because he was a threat to national security, what would Christ say about torture?

These prophets refuse to accept that the acts of torture committed in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay and in secret prisons and far off countries are justified because of the war on terror. They hold that Scriptural principles such as Jesus’ call to love our enemies, his blessing on those who work for peace and his instruction to do unto others as we would have them do unto us cannot be ignored or silenced.

At this very moment, four members of the Christian Peacemaker Team, a Chicago based organization working for peace, are being held as hostages in Iraq. Their captors claim that they are spies. They claim that they are there to investigate the treatment of Iraqi detainees held by United States forces. Being a prophet is dangerous indeed, yet these four answered the call to proclaim Jesus’ message of peace, a message that may cost their very lives.

Those who speak out for peace and justice face the danger of being silenced. In November, All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena received notice from the Internal Revenue Service that its tax-exempt status was being questioned because of a sermon preached there on the Sunday before the presidential election. The sermon was titled” If Jesus Debated Senator Kerry and President Bush” and said that Jesus would speak out against the war in Iraq, for eliminating poverty and for holding tenaciously to hope. Though, the preacher did not tell the congregation who to vote for, he did encourage them to take Jesus the peacemaker into the voting booth with them and to vote with their values. The IRS is investigating whether or not the church violated its non-profit status by intervening in a campaign. The church is challenging the IRS and continuing its work for peace and justice. It is frightening to think that churches and preachers all over America will begin to think twice before they speak out for peace and the oppressed. But, I am hopeful that a church that has survived through persecution, the Inquisition, the Reformation, the Enlightenment and secular post-modernism can survive even the IRS.

There is one more thing I need to say. I am not telling you who you should vote for or what political party you should belong to. I am not saying that the church is always right or that people in power are always wrong. And lastly, I am not claiming to be a prophet. I have failed to speak up for what is right too many times and I have walked away from injustice all too often. To be able to preach at Emmanuel is a privilege that is quite intimidating and I believe it should be done with great prayer and much humility.

I believe that all of us here this morning do prophetic work-we pray for the oppressed, we feed the hungry and give shelter to the homeless. Some of us are called to pray and protest for peace, to speak out against war and poverty. Some of us are called to write to our representatives in government to tell them that our love for Jesus means we cannot remain silent against injustice and violence. Some of us are called to give our money and our talents to groups that try to help the poor, the prisoner and the powerless. This Advent, as we prepare for the coming of Jesus, let us pray for those who are prophets, those who make straight the way of the Lord. Amen