Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 12; Isaiah 58:6-14; Matthew 11:16-30; Galatians 6:1-6
For those individuals who are ordained in the United Church of Christ, we have to go through an examination of sorts called an Ecclesiastical Council. This is an event where you stand before members of local churches in the association (both lay and clergy) and answer whatever questions they have for you. My Ecclesiastical Council was held in November of 2003, so it’s been nearly 4 ½ years since my experience of the event. There are still a couple of questions I remember receiving during my examination, however. One such question had to do with the relationship between the pastoral and prophetic roles of a pastor. The answer that I gave that day is the answer I still hold cling to. You see, lots of folks fall into the mistake of conceptually separating the pastoral role from the prophetic role; I don’t. I believe that these roles are intertwined. You can’t truly be pastoral, I believe, if you never challenge the people to grow in their commitment to justice as a natural expression of their faith; nor can you be prophetic until you take the time to establish a pastoral relationship with your audience. When it comes to this issue, I believe it’s a “both/and” rather than an “either/or” proposition. That truth came back to me as I read the words from today’s passage from Isaiah. In speaking of the kind of ritual (in this case fasting) that God wants, the prophet quotes God as saying: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6 – NIV). I realize that every single day I fulfill my pastoral duties, I unconsciously make prophetic statements (or what the secular world would call a political statement). When I offer support and services to an individual without asking to see papers proving their status as a citizen, for instance, that is a prophetic/political statement. When I counsel with a couple in hopes of bringing healing to the lives together without requiring that the members of the couple be of the opposite gender, I am making a prophetic/political statement. Every time I lower the thermostat in my office and risk making a visitor a bit uncomfortable in order to be a better steward of God’s resources, I am making a prophetic/political statement. Today, I invite you to consider the ways in which you are following God’s desires as expressed in the book of Isaiah – especially the ways in which you are loosening the chains of injustice and untying the cords of the yoke. Then, the next time someone accuses you of mixing the pastoral and prophetic/political voices, don’t get defensive. Just thank them for the complement! Til next time…
For those individuals who are ordained in the United Church of Christ, we have to go through an examination of sorts called an Ecclesiastical Council. This is an event where you stand before members of local churches in the association (both lay and clergy) and answer whatever questions they have for you. My Ecclesiastical Council was held in November of 2003, so it’s been nearly 4 ½ years since my experience of the event. There are still a couple of questions I remember receiving during my examination, however. One such question had to do with the relationship between the pastoral and prophetic roles of a pastor. The answer that I gave that day is the answer I still hold cling to. You see, lots of folks fall into the mistake of conceptually separating the pastoral role from the prophetic role; I don’t. I believe that these roles are intertwined. You can’t truly be pastoral, I believe, if you never challenge the people to grow in their commitment to justice as a natural expression of their faith; nor can you be prophetic until you take the time to establish a pastoral relationship with your audience. When it comes to this issue, I believe it’s a “both/and” rather than an “either/or” proposition. That truth came back to me as I read the words from today’s passage from Isaiah. In speaking of the kind of ritual (in this case fasting) that God wants, the prophet quotes God as saying: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6 – NIV). I realize that every single day I fulfill my pastoral duties, I unconsciously make prophetic statements (or what the secular world would call a political statement). When I offer support and services to an individual without asking to see papers proving their status as a citizen, for instance, that is a prophetic/political statement. When I counsel with a couple in hopes of bringing healing to the lives together without requiring that the members of the couple be of the opposite gender, I am making a prophetic/political statement. Every time I lower the thermostat in my office and risk making a visitor a bit uncomfortable in order to be a better steward of God’s resources, I am making a prophetic/political statement. Today, I invite you to consider the ways in which you are following God’s desires as expressed in the book of Isaiah – especially the ways in which you are loosening the chains of injustice and untying the cords of the yoke. Then, the next time someone accuses you of mixing the pastoral and prophetic/political voices, don’t get defensive. Just thank them for the complement! Til next time…
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