Prophet-ting With God

 

Prophets were in collaboration with creation.  Isaiah and his peaceable kingdom, which tells of lions and lambs living together.  The whale in the tale of Jonah.  Amos splashing and swimming in the sacred river of justice.  Daniel looked into the eyes of a lion, gnashing its terrible teeth.  Ezekiel is out in creation, in a valley with gnarly and gross bones that he preaches to, which makes me wonder if I could do that?  Creation is not a side character in the prophets but a central actor in the redemption and reimagination of what might be.  Creation overflows with God’s wisdom, but we get too caught up in paving over paradise for our creaturely comforts.  We have stopped listening to creation as prophetically teaching and telling us our place in relationship to the Creator.  During our summer with the Psalms, I often invited you to go outside as you read the sentences and syllables so Creation could help the words sink/sing deeper into your imagination.  Reading about lush valleys is easier when the grass is tickling your toes. 

 

That was true not only in the Hebrew Hymnal, but also for the prophets.  Go outside to the trees that have weathered hurricanes, storms, seen election cycles come and go, as well as people so concerned about legacy that they forgot to live a life.  Go outside to the snakes and snails who are not wrapped up in whether their last social media post got enough likes.  Go outside to where the sun rises and sets each day with a rhythm.  Feel the light shining on the rhythm your choices are creating right now ~ liturgy (or the work of the people) is always about the patterns, both on Sunday mornings and in our lives.  The prophets called us out on how we live every day is an act of worship to God.  We are caught in a web of interconnected interdependence and inter-mutuality.  The prophets, with the psalmists, knew that the more we heard the trees and birds and clouds calling their wisdom, the closer we might be to hearing God’s voice once again.  God, who is still speaking but not through politics or preachers or pundits or prognosticators online, but right outside your window.  May God’s blessings go with you as you step into the sacred of creation with open hearts, ears, and lives.  Amen.