(a sermon from Advent 2 6th December 2020)
Prophets – Speak Tenderly.
Prophets are people who speak to you what’s on God’s heart – they’re Not people who say This is what’s going to happen. They do do a little bit of that in the Bible – but actually most of the time even when they’re doing that they say – IF you carry on like this, then … it will all end in tears. Which means that most parents have been prophets in their time!
A prophet is someone who speaks to you and gives you a chance to change direction, to amend your ways. The policeman who issues you a speeding ticket – that’s not a prophet – the person sitting next to you who gently inquires about the speed limit along this road – that’s a prophet.
The friend that you turn to to say Help me think this through, am I doing the right thing? If they give you a run for your money, if they challenge you on what’s going on in your heart, what’s the underlying fear, energy, that’s driving the decision, or the indecision?
That person – they are being a prophet to you. Its not that you have to do what they say – but that together they are helping you hear at least your own conscience, and possibly to hear God’s heart. Remember this does not mean you have to do what the other person says!
To be this sort of prophet-friend you sometimes need to have a lot of love in the bank. To be so trusted that when you challenge and say ‘You haven’t thought this through!’ To be encouraging when you’re holding back.
So who has been a Prophet to you? Who has been able to speak God’s heart to you? Who has stopped you and challenged you and said – You know when you say things like that you sound a bit Racist, a bit sexist, homophobic, a bit full of yourself, a bit defeatist? Come on!
It’s not easy because we so don’t want people to say these things to us and we so don’t want to say it to people and it takes a special sort of courage, and I think that a lot of love in the bank needed to be able to say that. And its not easy for us to have open ears and heart to hear it!
Who has been a Prophet to you? Sometimes its children – people who don’t know better and they say something that makes you think – is that how I sound? Is that how I’m coming over?
Sometimes its new people in Church – they don’t know that they’re sitting in your pew – why do we do things like this – it seems weird to New People – Praise the Lord for you – Keep speaking out, I still don’t know who’s toes I’m treading on when I make certain decisions.
So who has been a Prophet to you – I bet at the time you did not thank God for them. But maybe in hindsight.
And who have you been a prophet to? You might have noticed it at the time – been worried about the direction that a friend was going in, reached out, said some things. It might have been intentional.
But I would guess that more often than not it wasn’t. And just you being you, being there, being a listening ear, a good friend, someone to bounce thoughts, hopes , fears aspirations.
No one likes a prophet. They would be under the list of smart-ass and estate agent. No one likes a prophet. The bible is full of prophets that no one listened to at the time. Frankly its amazing that their writings and input is still recorded given how few listened to them.
John the Baptist comes as a Prophet and the message that he gives is that What Isaiah said 700 years earlier – that’s now happening.
But what Isaiah really brings to today’s sermon is How, how to be a prophet.
Moses was a prophet – you can read about him in our Advent book – walking back to Christmas. But he was a sort of Leader Prophet – God told him what to do, he got on and did it. Frankly Elijah, Elisha, Samuel – they’re a bit like Moses in that sense.
But then you start to get a different sort of prophet – take Hosea – he’s the sort of prophet who is asked to speak what’s on God’s heart and to do it by feeling what its like to be God – I mean – feeling what it’s like to be the God of a nation that doesn’t want you for a God, so he marries a woman who doesn’t love him. Ow.
And then you’ve got Jeremiah who says IF you carry on like this it really will all end in tears and No one listens, and then they do listen but they don’t like it so they drop him down a well, and then it turns out that he was right all along so they say ‘Ok, well tell us what to do O Man of God and we’ll do it’, so he does and they then do the exact opposite. I’ll tell you more about Jeremiah another time.
Isaiah is a good safe prophet to start with. He has a long ministry, he says a lot of challenging things but he also says Lots of really nice things – he nearly always gets at least one or two mentions at a Carol service – that’s how nice he is. We love Isaiah. Ok, its possible that he got sawn in half. So that’s not a good ending. I told you no one likes a prophet.
IF God ever asks you to be a prophet say No thank you. Say any chance I could just be a Magi? Or a Shepherd? Please don’t ask me to be a prophet.
Prophets are people who are not afraid of challenging the conversation. Or of raising new issues. A couple of summers ago I was at General Synod and there was this big debate about Downs Syndrome and This house believes that people with Downs are equally made in the image of God as you and I. Something like that. I would rather hope that you’d say Duh, what a stupid debate, obviously. But it had an interesting effect on the Media, the BBC chose to ran a programme they were saving for the Autumn that looked at this issue and it changed the headlines for a few days, and I think it changed, it certainly challenged the national outlook on the abortion of pregnancies with Downs. That’s a really good thing.
That’s a prophetic moment.
Isaiah, in that first reading, is speaking into a time when everything is going to be horrible. When the people of God were going to find themselves physically in exile, miles away from Jerusalem, from Home,
and they’re going to feel spiritually in exile, miles away from God, feeling lost and forgotten. Isaiah speaks home. It wont always be like this.
So when John the Baptist stands up and starts doing his prophecy thing – 700 years later – and by this stage the exile has happened and it has also ended and people have come home but that’s not how it feels, they don’t feel connected to God, they are still in a spiritual exile.
John says is – This is the beginning of the End, the end of the Spiritual exile, or to put it in Jesus’ words – the Kingdom of Heaven is near. This is Good News. I’ll talk more about John next week – seeing as he gets his own candle!
But today – Who is a prophet to you? Be gentle with such people.
And who might you be a prophet to? Pray for them!
And How, how to be a prophet? We are to be good news to them!
Isaiah tells us: Comfort ye my people, speak ye tenderly unto Jerusalem! (Handel’s Messiah)
If you are to be a prophet he’s what you want to be doing – Speak tenderly. We need this. We’re tired, bruised, end of our tether, our resilience has run out. We were okay for the first lockdown, a bit of blitz spirit, a bit of clapping NHS. But then the 2nd wave and the 2nd lockdown and we thought ‘it will be like last time, not a problem I can do this’ but it hasn’t been. It’s been worse and we’re not sure why, and we feel angry or short with others, we feel a little apathetic and demotivated, our spirits are a little lower, our reserves – be it financial or emotional are a lot lower.
And here we are now tentatively emerging.
So if you want to be a prophet start with this advice:
Comfort my people says God. Speak tenderly.
The prophet is the person who is helping you hear yourself, hear God. Helping you write your future, not find yourself locked into the labels that others put upon you. The Prophet is the one who shows you hope and light and faith and love, and speaks tenderly and offers comfort.
Amen.