Prophet-ting with God

 

Hope, on one hand, is an absurdity too embarrassing to speak about, for it flies in the face of all those claims we have been told are facts. Hope is the refusal to accept the reading of reality which is the majority opinion, and one does that only at great political and existential risk. On the other hand, hope is subversive, for it limits the grandiose pretension of the present, daring to announce that the present to which we have all made commitments is now called into question.”  Walter Bruggemann, The Prophetic Imagination.

 

The prophets walked the line between despair and delight.  The prophets held the tension between heartbreak and hope.  The prophets knew that they were in the liminal space of what is and what could be.  The prophets called for God’s dream not in the future, but as a way of life for you and me and we.  Bruggemann is correct that the prophets could both critique society and self, but also cling tightly to redemption and repair.  When we think about prophets, it isn’t only those who shout and scream, “Repent!”  Prophets laugh with joy that is contagious and connective.  We will be continuing with the prophets in the weeks to come.  We will continue to swim in the justice stream of God’s refreshing love.  This coming Sunday, we will listen to Micah call us to do justice, love, and humility.  I believe that justice, love, and humility are the threads that make the bands of God’s love Hosea will describe as well as the vision Habakkuk needs to write so a runner can read it.  Today, who or what or where gives you holy hope that you admit in the corners of your shy soul?  Where does God’s holy hope reside and rest in you?  How does God’s holy hope fuel and feed your life with God’s grace, we need right here and now.  Amen.