Prophetic Imagination

Over the past few weeks, we prepared for the coming of our Lord in many ways. One of the most important to our faith in God and our understanding of Jesus’ mission to bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth as well as in Heaven is the work of the prophets. Remember that Biblical Prophets were not so much about predicting the future as they were about proclaiming God’s opposition to oppression and desire for justice for all people. The fifth century B.C. prophet we call Second Isaiah describes God’s passion quite well.

        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 brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year

of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; (from Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11)

Remember, this was the text for Jesus’ first sermon, so let’s pay attention!

Some six hundred years after Isaiah, St. John the Evangelist records the words of another prophet, a man who became one of the first to testify to Jesus as “the light,” John the Baptizer.

            There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a

witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He

himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. . . He said,

“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way

 of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said. (from John 1:6-8,19-28)

As we prepare for and live into Christmas, the Nativity of our Lord, I see us as John the Baptist and Isaiah all rolled into one. “The Lord has anointed us, God has sent us to testify to the light, and sometimes as we do this we are truly voices crying in the wilderness. And yet, cry we must: “prepare the way of the Lord, bring good news to the oppressed, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, release to the prisoners and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance (to the oppressors) of our God.”

As we do this, we often learn one other truth about prophets: they are not usually the most loved people in the community. And yet, because of our baptism, and our covenant with God through that baptism, we do it anyway. “We proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ. We seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves. We strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being. (Baptismal Covenant, Book of Common Prayer, pages 305-305)

We proclaim this in all that we say and do, both as individuals and as a faith community. We proclaim it through our faith, our politics and our personal actions. We remind our elected representatives of God’s call to strive for justice and peace among all people. We remind those with whom we come into contact to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21)  And then we remind them that it all belongs to God!

The Season of Advent calls us to talk the talk, to speak truth to power. Advent calls us to walk the walk, to be prophecy in action. As God’s people we are called in our preaching, teaching, music and protesting to bring about the year of the Lord’s favor.

This is the work to which we have all been commissioned: to name God and to voice God’s enduring concern about human suffering and despair and to proclaim what God has done through Jesus Christ. To prepare the way of the Lord!