A sure way to enhance the relevance of the organized Christian community is to rejuvenate the prophetic ministry. I will briefly explain this that may need to be developed further elsewhere. These thoughts are offered here to initiate a conversation.
I taught (between 2000 to 2007) in the University of Alberta a course titled “Community Action and Introduction to Christianity”. In this course I explored Christianity as a “religious faith” that goes beyond “merely taking care of our individual souls”. In other words, Christian faith was understood there as a concern that takes “social transformation” as an integral component, and therefore I explored the different forms of “Christian social activism” that I classified into two broad categories: One, the “Charity Model” and the other, the “Justice Model”.
I found I had little or no difficulty in presenting the first one. Charity, or Christian love, is so central to the teachings of Jesus and Christian faith! Therefore, Christian communities in their personal and congregational lives, made sure, that they keep this component alive through their support to the “Food Bank” and other similar humane causes! And generally it works not too bad though they almost never critically evaluate either the programme or their charitable contribution! All that makes them feel good! Even in the global level that works well with all Christians!
If Christians did not accept that as an important element of their faith they would not have gone to the extent of “beatifying” Mother Teresa, “the saint of the gutters”, who died in 1997. But Archbishop Oscar Romero, died in 1980, who promoted the “justice model”, by becoming “a voice of the voiceless” which many Christian Activists identify as “Prophetic Christianity”, does not get that attention which “Mother Teresa” gets!
My task here is to high light the importance of this particular stance of Christian ministry! And that is what I mean by “rejuvenating prophetic ministry”. If Mother Teresa performed a difficult Christian Ministry then Archbishop Romero was involved in doing a dangerous Christian task!
Book of Amos alludes to three types of leadership – or three patterns of actions provided by these three types of leaderships. The three types of leadership that we encounter in that little book are royal, priestly, and prophetic, all well meaning, and also found elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures, are rooted and emerged from two very opposite perceptions of current events, or visions. So when Amos spoke his message, Amaziah, the priestly colleague of Amos, viewed the message as something that was disturbing the status quo, very subversive and undermining the orderly rule of Jeroboam, the King. (Cf. Amos 7:10-17) In that controversy and conflict, we see the priestly ministry of Amaziah expressing a wholehearted support and a total solidarity with the royal responsibilities of Jeroboam the King while Amos was in complete solidarity with the poor, or the people in the margin. So the prophetic ministry of Amos was in conflict with both the royal and the priestly ministries!
I say all these to confirm that prophetic concerns are part of the Christian Tradition that is rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures! And Jesus of Nazareth comes in that great line, paying with his death for starting a conflict with the priestly and royal ministries of his time!
My mission in this short space is to highlight the need to rejuvenate a Christian Ministry that resembles, in spirit, the prophetic ministry of Amos and Jesus of Nazareth. And I intend to do this without going into too many technical details about Amos, a prophet who lived eight centuries before Christ, or the book attributed to him. But Amos and the book containing his prophecies will be a fascinating springboard for those who want to explore, seriously, a prophetic mission in today’s world of intense consumerism that in many respects is not very different to the world of Amos! I believe to look at Amos is not only relevant and appropriate but also urgent in the present context where organized Christian community is becoming irrelevant in the eyes of many.
Temptations of Amaziah and the priestly order of Jesus’ time were conforming too much to the perceived order. I call that conformity to the dominant culture that benefited only those in the centre while creating cracks in the margin. Amaziah and the priests of Jesus’ time derived their visions primarily through their focus in the centre while Amos and Jesus considered the importance of looking at those in the margin – “the least among you”! And therefore their actions, which of course include what they said, came into a complete contradiction to the dominant culture! This is what happened in the case of Archbishop Oscar Romero too! So to “rejuvenate” the prophetic ministry would mean, to use Pauline phrases, “not to be conformed” but “to transform” the dominant culture with the values embedded in the. In that we see a prophetic ministry as counter-cultural!
The task of prophetic ministry is then nurturing, nourishing, and evoking a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us. This means the Church must have a voice about the current events – not just when someone is trying to remove the Gideon Bibles from the Hospital bedside! Church should become a watchdog! Church must observe and critique the political and social development that cause “marginality” of people that eventually leads to the need to establish “food banks” only to soften the sting but never removing the cause!
Justice issues must become “Church” issues, not simply left to smaller interest groups! But the whole Church must become a living organism that mobilizes the people to speak and act together for the benefit of all people! Our vision, and therefore action, should be related to current events.
Prophet is one who watching the current events proposes “a radical alternative” – “a complete reordering” – “a changed social system” – presuming “a changed set of social priorities and social appetites”. Prophet “anticipates nothing less than the dismantling of the presently-known world for the sake of an alternative world not yet embodied”. Prophet refuses to put “a band aid”!
To rejuvenate the prophetic ministry Christians must become “excessively conscious” of justice issues! Justice is one of the major themes of the biblical prophets. “He has told you, … what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8) “… But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)
Walter Brueggemann, a man who spent his entire life reading the biblical prophets defines biblical justice as “to sort out what belongs to whom, and to return it to them.” In my conclusion, then, I offer you an interesting story from Brueggemann who in turn borrows and re-tells to drive his definition of justice:
“I recently heard a story which speaks of forgetting to whom things belong. A very proper lady went to a teashop. She sat at a table for two, ordered a pot of tea, and prepared to eat some cookies, which she had in her purse. Because the teashop was crowded, a man took the other chair and also ordered tea. As it happened, he was a Jamaican black, though that is not essential to the story. The woman was prepared for a leisurely time, so she began to read her paper. As she did so, she took a cookie from the package. As she read, she noticed that the man across also took a cookie from the package. This upset her greatly, but she ignored it and kept reading. After a while she took another cookie. And so did he. This unnerved her and she glared at the man. While she glared, he reached for the fifth and last cookie, smiled and offered her half of it. She was indignant. She paid her money and left in a great hurry, enraged at such a presumptuous man. She hurried to her bus stop just outside. She opened her purse to get a coin for her bus ticket. And then she saw, much to her distress, that in her purse was her package of cookies unopened!”
Justice concerns are precisely a right reading of social reality, of social power, and of social goods.
I taught (between 2000 to 2007) in the University of Alberta a course titled “Community Action and Introduction to Christianity”. In this course I explored Christianity as a “religious faith” that goes beyond “merely taking care of our individual souls”. In other words, Christian faith was understood there as a concern that takes “social transformation” as an integral component, and therefore I explored the different forms of “Christian social activism” that I classified into two broad categories: One, the “Charity Model” and the other, the “Justice Model”.
I found I had little or no difficulty in presenting the first one. Charity, or Christian love, is so central to the teachings of Jesus and Christian faith! Therefore, Christian communities in their personal and congregational lives, made sure, that they keep this component alive through their support to the “Food Bank” and other similar humane causes! And generally it works not too bad though they almost never critically evaluate either the programme or their charitable contribution! All that makes them feel good! Even in the global level that works well with all Christians!
If Christians did not accept that as an important element of their faith they would not have gone to the extent of “beatifying” Mother Teresa, “the saint of the gutters”, who died in 1997. But Archbishop Oscar Romero, died in 1980, who promoted the “justice model”, by becoming “a voice of the voiceless” which many Christian Activists identify as “Prophetic Christianity”, does not get that attention which “Mother Teresa” gets!
My task here is to high light the importance of this particular stance of Christian ministry! And that is what I mean by “rejuvenating prophetic ministry”. If Mother Teresa performed a difficult Christian Ministry then Archbishop Romero was involved in doing a dangerous Christian task!
Book of Amos alludes to three types of leadership – or three patterns of actions provided by these three types of leaderships. The three types of leadership that we encounter in that little book are royal, priestly, and prophetic, all well meaning, and also found elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures, are rooted and emerged from two very opposite perceptions of current events, or visions. So when Amos spoke his message, Amaziah, the priestly colleague of Amos, viewed the message as something that was disturbing the status quo, very subversive and undermining the orderly rule of Jeroboam, the King. (Cf. Amos 7:10-17) In that controversy and conflict, we see the priestly ministry of Amaziah expressing a wholehearted support and a total solidarity with the royal responsibilities of Jeroboam the King while Amos was in complete solidarity with the poor, or the people in the margin. So the prophetic ministry of Amos was in conflict with both the royal and the priestly ministries!
I say all these to confirm that prophetic concerns are part of the Christian Tradition that is rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures! And Jesus of Nazareth comes in that great line, paying with his death for starting a conflict with the priestly and royal ministries of his time!
My mission in this short space is to highlight the need to rejuvenate a Christian Ministry that resembles, in spirit, the prophetic ministry of Amos and Jesus of Nazareth. And I intend to do this without going into too many technical details about Amos, a prophet who lived eight centuries before Christ, or the book attributed to him. But Amos and the book containing his prophecies will be a fascinating springboard for those who want to explore, seriously, a prophetic mission in today’s world of intense consumerism that in many respects is not very different to the world of Amos! I believe to look at Amos is not only relevant and appropriate but also urgent in the present context where organized Christian community is becoming irrelevant in the eyes of many.
Temptations of Amaziah and the priestly order of Jesus’ time were conforming too much to the perceived order. I call that conformity to the dominant culture that benefited only those in the centre while creating cracks in the margin. Amaziah and the priests of Jesus’ time derived their visions primarily through their focus in the centre while Amos and Jesus considered the importance of looking at those in the margin – “the least among you”! And therefore their actions, which of course include what they said, came into a complete contradiction to the dominant culture! This is what happened in the case of Archbishop Oscar Romero too! So to “rejuvenate” the prophetic ministry would mean, to use Pauline phrases, “not to be conformed” but “to transform” the dominant culture with the values embedded in the. In that we see a prophetic ministry as counter-cultural!
The task of prophetic ministry is then nurturing, nourishing, and evoking a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us. This means the Church must have a voice about the current events – not just when someone is trying to remove the Gideon Bibles from the Hospital bedside! Church should become a watchdog! Church must observe and critique the political and social development that cause “marginality” of people that eventually leads to the need to establish “food banks” only to soften the sting but never removing the cause!
Justice issues must become “Church” issues, not simply left to smaller interest groups! But the whole Church must become a living organism that mobilizes the people to speak and act together for the benefit of all people! Our vision, and therefore action, should be related to current events.
Prophet is one who watching the current events proposes “a radical alternative” – “a complete reordering” – “a changed social system” – presuming “a changed set of social priorities and social appetites”. Prophet “anticipates nothing less than the dismantling of the presently-known world for the sake of an alternative world not yet embodied”. Prophet refuses to put “a band aid”!
To rejuvenate the prophetic ministry Christians must become “excessively conscious” of justice issues! Justice is one of the major themes of the biblical prophets. “He has told you, … what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8) “… But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)
Walter Brueggemann, a man who spent his entire life reading the biblical prophets defines biblical justice as “to sort out what belongs to whom, and to return it to them.” In my conclusion, then, I offer you an interesting story from Brueggemann who in turn borrows and re-tells to drive his definition of justice:
“I recently heard a story which speaks of forgetting to whom things belong. A very proper lady went to a teashop. She sat at a table for two, ordered a pot of tea, and prepared to eat some cookies, which she had in her purse. Because the teashop was crowded, a man took the other chair and also ordered tea. As it happened, he was a Jamaican black, though that is not essential to the story. The woman was prepared for a leisurely time, so she began to read her paper. As she did so, she took a cookie from the package. As she read, she noticed that the man across also took a cookie from the package. This upset her greatly, but she ignored it and kept reading. After a while she took another cookie. And so did he. This unnerved her and she glared at the man. While she glared, he reached for the fifth and last cookie, smiled and offered her half of it. She was indignant. She paid her money and left in a great hurry, enraged at such a presumptuous man. She hurried to her bus stop just outside. She opened her purse to get a coin for her bus ticket. And then she saw, much to her distress, that in her purse was her package of cookies unopened!”
Justice concerns are precisely a right reading of social reality, of social power, and of social goods.
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