"Daddy, S. knows baby talk."
"Really? How do you know?"
"Well the baby said 'whoa whoa' and I said 'S. do you know what the baby said?' and S. said 'Whoa whoa whoa your boat, gently down the stream.' See? she speaks baby talk."
We have been talking in church about spiritual gifts.
"6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." -Romans 12
You look at the lists that Paul provides in different places and it reads like a whose who of Pentecostals: prophecy speaking in tongues, healing. Some seem plausible others not. Is my prejudice showing? In class no one seemed ready to defend these gifts, probably because they have been abused, misused by charlatans and "false prophets" to deceive and mislead. I suspect this is a problem as old as time.
Would I even know a prophet if I saw one? Am I willing to believe? With the revelation of Jesus did prophecy end or are manifestations of god (as some call prophets) all around us? I mean, prophecy can be pretty vague stuff, If there are prophets and prophecy, how do you know when it is fulfilled? Somewhere I read a list of seemingly unfulfilled prophecies from the old testament including Jonah 3:4, 2 Samuel 7:5-17, and Judges 13:5.
I guess I have never really thought about what a prophet is. I suppose I like think a prophet as a kind of fortuneteller, one that foresees doom and gloom, but the more I think about it, a prophet is one that perceives consequences more than futures, consequences of our disconnect with the divine. In a sense, one could consider a prophet as a kind of a witness, one with insight that sees things that have been hidden or ignored.
When I think about prophecy in this way I am sure there are prophets, and that they are all around us. We have all had moments of insight. Is that prophecy? If you know me at all you probably know that I am going to say it is. Sure some will argue that prophecy is more than just insight, but I think that is where we get into danger, elevating gifts over and above one another. Prophecy is is as much a gift as healing, or preaching or sorting out the laundry. So shake my hand brother prophet. (lets hear those prophecies)
3 comments:
I should have bought you this (and a head or two of garlic) for your Birthday:
http://www.threadless.com/product/1171/The_Signs_Are_Everywhere
Maybe next year for the big Four O!!!
I think prophecy is WAY better than the other gifts.
Oh, and, incidentally -- have I ever mentioned that I once had someone (VERY reliable, I might emphasize!!)tell me I had the Gift of Prophecy? ;)
I remember as a small child thinking I could "interpret" Bee's baby talk. In fact, I remember suspecting I had some kind of telepathic link with her, because I was also so young, but I got the sense that it was fading as I got older ...
Here in seminary-land, I have read and heard many recyclings of the discussion of the balance in the Hebrew prophets between what people often call "foretelling" and "forthtelling." On the one hand, predictions, as you rightly point out, of the sad and desolate places where the vissicitudes of our current trajectory are taking us. And on the other hand, exhortation, the imperative voice, calling for change, usually along the lines of "before it's too late."
I'm surprised that for you the idea of a "modern day prophet" does not instantly bring up the name Martin Luther King, Jr. Or perhaps Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Heck, maybe even Al Gore ...
Anyway, I'm with skwarepeg--prophecy is the awesomest gift--well, except that it's the most likely to get you killed ... hmmm ...
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