Pastor’s Corner

 

Throughout the course of history, God has spoken in many ways. God spoke

in Creation, saying “let there be light.” God spoke through the Scriptures.

Because we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, we also believe that God

speaks to us today, even if we don’t always get the full picture. Two of the

main voices that have testified to God’s work were priests and prophets.

Priests were (and are) the voices that lead worship, that carry on with the

tradition and tend to rest easily in how church currently is. Prophets, on the

other hand, are outsiders to the tradition who speak the truth – no matter

what. In the Old Testament, the priestly writings were in books like

Deuteronomy; the accounts of prophets are found in books like Isaiah,

Jeremiah, and Micah. Much of the New Testament is an account of how

Jesus, as the Messiah, was the greatest priest and prophet at the same time

God spoke notably through the prophets when the church or the people of

God turned away from justice and love. Every generation has new prophets

that speak out for the sake of those who remain voiceless; every generation

has priests who tell the story that history has passed down to us. It takes

both voices to make a faith rich and vibrant. You need the Elijahs and the

Martin Luthers to testify to truth when we are in error; you also need the

steady voice to tell you the basics in the first place.

In a way, there’s a bit of priest and prophet inside of all of us. It’s important

to remember the tradition and to celebrate the way that things have been

done, the priest inside you says. It’s also important to make sure we’re

doing things in the best possible way to honor God, the prophet in you might

well add. It’s sometimes a tension, but it is a creative one. Theologically, it’s

the tension between love and justice. We all know that God is just; we all

know that God is merciful. But, sometimes, it’s hard for us to envision both

parts at the same time.

There’s a reason so much of the Scriptures is written from both perspectives

– we all need both. In general most people or churches subordinate the one

to the other. Some churches are all about making everything new and end

up throwing out the baby with the bathwater, all in the name of being

prophetic. Perhaps more common is the priestly church that works very hard

to “do” church the way that it has always been done before.

The truth is that it takes a lively balance of both in each of us. It also takes a

lively balance of both voices in the church to advocate for keeping the good

(priests) and improving where possible (prophets). It’s yet another reason

our Disciple tradition intentionally makes space for all voices at the table.

You never know when you’ll be sitting in between a righteous prophet and a

wise priest. Both voices, though different, have a perspective about God’s

eternal truth that is worth listening to. Sometimes I think that faith is

trusting in the Holy Spirit to lift up the conversation in between the two

perspectives such that the priests and the prophets themselves become

transparent to a greater good that’s in the middle. It’s why we never come

to a destination in what we believe, because God is still present guiding us.

It’s why we still study and pray, why we still learn and grow. God still has

light to shed upon us – if we’ll be open to it – whether we’re priests or

prophets or still learning to be both.

Pastor Alex