Today’s Scripture Reading (December
13, 2014): 1 Corinthians 14
I am
intrigued by poll numbers. As Obama’s approval numbers dip even among his core
supporters in the wake of the tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri, one things becomes
very evident. None of us want to hear the truth, what we want is to be told
that we are right. It happens in my office almost every week. Someone comes for
“pastoral advice,” but the reality is that they are not seeking my advice, they
just want to be told that they are right. They want to know that things should
be different, but that there is nothing that they need to do, no responsibility
that they need to bear in order to make things right. We don’t want to hear the
hard news, and we never want to know how it is that we could improve – all we
are looking for is someone to encourage us that future – our future – looks bright.
And that we are on the right path.
One Sunday
evening, when I was out for a walk, I came upon a storefront church. A service
was still going on, and to be honest I had had a tough week and so I thought
that maybe, just for a moment, I could stand inside the door and just listen to
what was going on in the service. Inside, songs were being sung, but in between
the songs were moments of prophecy. So I listened. One lady prophesied that one
of the teens in the service was going to one day be a major recording artist,
God had spoken and it was going to happen. Another prophesied that a young man
in the service would soon be bound for Hollywood for a career as an actor.
Another unemployed man was told that he was going to one day be the CEO of a
fortune 500 company. And the stories went on. All of them revealed the same
optimism. It wasn’t just that there was a job out there, it was that there were
incredible opportunities that God had for his people. And interspersed with the
prophecy were snippets of prayers spoken in tongues – none of which were being interpreted.
The evening
events inside this small storefront church were so far removed from the model
of the Biblical prophecies of which I was familiar. The one call that was
missing on this night of prophecy was any kind of message urging a return to
God. On this night, God was the billionaire grandparents blindly handing out
gifts to his grandchildren with absolutely no knowledge of what was going on in
their lives. There was also no mention of God’s love – just his gifts. This small
congregation was solidly focussed on the hands of God and what he was doling
out and they were ignoring the wonderful experience of his presence.
It is the
culture in which we live. I can’t think of one area of the world that does not
need to hear a clear call to battle, not one segment of our society that does not
need a word spoken about the responsibility we have for this planet and for our
collective futures. Paul seems frustrated in this passage by the emptiness of
the words that were being spoken in Corinth. For Paul, it is long past time for
the Corinthian Church to stop their collective navel gazing and began to get
ready for the battle that was before them. It was past time for the church to
end the disease of selfishness which had them firmly in its grasp, and lift up
their eyes and see the needs that were all around them.
This is the
role of a true prophet. And it is what we need to hear today. The call that I
continue to hear is that the world is simply the way it is – and there is
absolutely nothing that we can do about it. And that is just not true. But we
need to hear someone who will clearly call us to live beyond ourselves –and tell
us how we need to change so that this world can be a better place.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1
Corinthians 15
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