Thank you for regularly picking up your pen to make an investment. You may not consider yourself a prophet but your words have a way of piercing souls and WAKING the listener!
As I ponder your question and read your response, I'm not wondering over the whereabouts of the prophets. You are one whether you want to be or not. Your words are prophetic words, your sensibilities are propehtic sensibilities, your truth-telling is prophetic truth-telling, and your assessment of this moment is a prophetic assessment. You may sit in a scholars chair and wear a scholars hat, but your scholarship connects us to the heart of the prophet. Thank you my dear sister, for courageously sharing the heart of a prophet.
Dr. Weems you say you are not prophet, yet your words resonate prophetically for me. You say you cannot see the new, yet there is a hopeful tension you name in the possibilities of what comes next. Whatever you call yourself and however it manifest, I am grateful.
My dad taught that prophets were the truth tellers.
Though he never claimed that for himself, he was always a truth teller, even when it cost him his job or mental health. I miss him and yet he is with me, nudging me to see, to act, speaking through the most unlikely people. I delight in this.
Pastor Weems, thank you for your thoughtfulness and truth telling in love.
I am in a book group reading The Tears of Things by Richard Rohr. It’s based on the prophets, so this was an especially timely piece which I shared with the class. It fit well with today’s discussion of Jeremiah. Thank you for sharing your insights.
Abraham Joshua Heschel on Prophethood: "To us a single act of injustice--cheating in business, exploitation of the poor--is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophets it is a deathblow to existence..."
To expand the Prophet's role into individual responsibility to uphold justice is excellent!
I am far from a prophet, but I can say you are right that calling out the sins of the Church is not a job anyone volunteers for.
I would much rather have a feel good message, but in times of corruption in the church like we have now, there must be people brave enough to proclaim ALL of God’s word—including the parts that condemn our sin.
Here is the good in all this; God is in the process of separating His sheep from the wolves in sheep’s clothing. We are in the times spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:11 when God sends “a strong delusion that they should believe a lie” to those who “take pleasure in unrighteousness”. When all this is over the world will see the difference between true Christianity and the Americanized false Christianity MAGA Christians proclaim.
Dr. Weems, your distinction between preachers and prophets is crucial and it made me question: could prophetic witness have moved beyond institutional boundaries?
Investigative journalists exposing corruption, organizers demanding justice for the marginalized, activists insisting we consider our obligations to creation. They may lack theological vocabulary, but they perform prophetic functions: naming systemic sin, advocating for the vulnerable, calling for repentance.
Is it possible the Spirit’s prophetic work has always exceeded ecclesial control and in an era where the church has sometimes been complicit in injustice, the mantle has fallen elsewhere? Or does something essential get lost when prophecy becomes untethered from covenant community?
This is a question I have asked for a long time, and find myself asking more and more. Thank you for your prophetic call to God’s people to rise up, and to listen for the voice of the prophets now! I love that you challenge each of us to consider the prophetic decisions that we will need to make in our own spheres.
Thank you for this writing! It says what I have not been able to find words for. I also appreciate the challenge to use my voice, art, gift, personal in ways that are prophetical.
Thank you for regularly picking up your pen to make an investment. You may not consider yourself a prophet but your words have a way of piercing souls and WAKING the listener!
As I ponder your question and read your response, I'm not wondering over the whereabouts of the prophets. You are one whether you want to be or not. Your words are prophetic words, your sensibilities are propehtic sensibilities, your truth-telling is prophetic truth-telling, and your assessment of this moment is a prophetic assessment. You may sit in a scholars chair and wear a scholars hat, but your scholarship connects us to the heart of the prophet. Thank you my dear sister, for courageously sharing the heart of a prophet.
Dr. Weems you say you are not prophet, yet your words resonate prophetically for me. You say you cannot see the new, yet there is a hopeful tension you name in the possibilities of what comes next. Whatever you call yourself and however it manifest, I am grateful.
My dad taught that prophets were the truth tellers.
Though he never claimed that for himself, he was always a truth teller, even when it cost him his job or mental health. I miss him and yet he is with me, nudging me to see, to act, speaking through the most unlikely people. I delight in this.
Pastor Weems, thank you for your thoughtfulness and truth telling in love.
I'm grateful that our paths have crossed.
Most, including those in the church, don’t want the truth anymore.
I am in a book group reading The Tears of Things by Richard Rohr. It’s based on the prophets, so this was an especially timely piece which I shared with the class. It fit well with today’s discussion of Jeremiah. Thank you for sharing your insights.
Your words are cause for reflection and introspection. For that, I am always grateful.
Abraham Joshua Heschel on Prophethood: "To us a single act of injustice--cheating in business, exploitation of the poor--is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophets it is a deathblow to existence..."
To expand the Prophet's role into individual responsibility to uphold justice is excellent!
Insightful and challenging words! Thank you.
I am far from a prophet, but I can say you are right that calling out the sins of the Church is not a job anyone volunteers for.
I would much rather have a feel good message, but in times of corruption in the church like we have now, there must be people brave enough to proclaim ALL of God’s word—including the parts that condemn our sin.
Here is the good in all this; God is in the process of separating His sheep from the wolves in sheep’s clothing. We are in the times spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:11 when God sends “a strong delusion that they should believe a lie” to those who “take pleasure in unrighteousness”. When all this is over the world will see the difference between true Christianity and the Americanized false Christianity MAGA Christians proclaim.
Dr. Weems, your distinction between preachers and prophets is crucial and it made me question: could prophetic witness have moved beyond institutional boundaries?
Investigative journalists exposing corruption, organizers demanding justice for the marginalized, activists insisting we consider our obligations to creation. They may lack theological vocabulary, but they perform prophetic functions: naming systemic sin, advocating for the vulnerable, calling for repentance.
Is it possible the Spirit’s prophetic work has always exceeded ecclesial control and in an era where the church has sometimes been complicit in injustice, the mantle has fallen elsewhere? Or does something essential get lost when prophecy becomes untethered from covenant community?
This is a question I have asked for a long time, and find myself asking more and more. Thank you for your prophetic call to God’s people to rise up, and to listen for the voice of the prophets now! I love that you challenge each of us to consider the prophetic decisions that we will need to make in our own spheres.
Thank you for this writing! It says what I have not been able to find words for. I also appreciate the challenge to use my voice, art, gift, personal in ways that are prophetical.
Thought provoking! "And it’s dangerous work"...
Beautifully written! Sincerely questioning, clearly spoken, honest and forthright.
So hard, so true, and, in an odd way, so comforting. Thank you.
Thank you for your vulnerability and these words.