Prophet-ting with God

 

“The prophet knew that religion could distort what the Lord demanded of man, that priests themselves had committed perjury by bearing false witness, condoning violence, tolerating hatred, calling for ceremonies instead of bursting forth with wrath and indignation at cruelty, deceit, idolatry, and violence.”  Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets

 

Today, we remember that as people of faith, we can get caught in cycles of maintaining the status quo that causes hurt and harm.  I want to be careful not to think the prophets are for “those” people, rather than “we” people. 

 

No human organization is perfect.  We will have moments when our brokenness causes us to do things or say things that are not grounded/guided by God.  It is healthy for the church to look to be prayerful, honest, and open, especially about our values.  As a church, we say that at the center and core of our church is worship, welcome, belonging, caring, justice, and faithfulness.  The truth is that there is no finish line with these values.  We will be working on living these values for years to come.  We will never finish “worship”, just like you will never finish the internet or Netflix.  Worship continues to evolve and expand as we bring new experiences each Sunday.  Nor is there ever a “perfect” worship service, especially while I am leading the service.  To be honest and humble that our efforts to delight God do delight God.  God doesn’t have a scorecard to rate and rank the worship; God joins in the holy moment fully with all its goodness and less-than-perfect polish-ness. 

 

Take time today to think about our values alongside our humanness.  May you have moments of grace and love that see the beauty of messiness as we seek to enflesh these words in these days.  Amen.