A Rainbow of Prophets

Prophets are God’s people who are chosen to demonstrate to all the rest of us the power of God’s love. Often prophets do this just by being whoever they already are. There are famous dramatic stories in the Old Testament about burning coals and voices in the tornado and even the sound of sheer silence (I might have made up that bit about the tornado, but you get my drift), but if you look at what prophets actually did, you will see that they walked around a lot (Isaiah walked naked for three years), they ate, they dropped in on people, they slept, and they gave their best advice about walking in love.

There are prophets among us always as well. People of my generation will recognize a few names, the most famous probably being Rosa Parks, who famously sat down. But what about Jim Obergefell, whose suit established the right to marriage equality in the US? What about recent Jeopardy! champions Amy Schneider, Mattea Roach, and Rowan? All they have done is smile and play a game—on television with millions watching! As I said, all they did was to do what they do, to be who they are, visibly. (I know, when I write about Jeopardy! it seems to unsettle people, but let’s face it, an average of 9.2 million viewers watch that show five days a week; and these viewers are everybody everywhere. Jeopardy! is so important that even way back when I was a hospital chaplain and set out to visit everyone scheduled for morning surgery, I was instructed by the senior chaplain to be sure I did not visit anybody during Jeopardy!).

Well, we have more prophets this week, and in their actions and beings we have more evidence of the ubiquity of God’s love. We have seen the work of hundreds of thousands of voters, acting and being and walking in love to bring forth greater domestic tranquility, less bullying, reinforced justice. And we saw what has been called a rainbow wave—“for the first time out LGBTQ candidates were on the ballot in all 50 states—as well as D.C., Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/11/lgbtq-midterms-2022-candidates/ ). Who are the prophets here? The candidates, the voters, all of us? Yes, indeed, to all three.

It is in these small ways we know we are walking in the dimension of love, that we can hold fast to hope, that God is always creating “new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17), that we must not be “weary in doing what is right (2 Thessalonians 3: 13), that as we go God always will give us words and wisdom (Luke 21:15), and that we must always give thanks and rejoice (Canticle 9 Isaiah 12:4-5).

Of course the hard work has only begun, but that is how each day begins. There is always the hard work of remembering to walk in love even in the face of bullying and Injustice—especially in the face of bullying and injustice. Just do what you do, be who you are, emulate the prophets all around you, walk in love.

Proper 28 Year C 2022 RCL (Isaiah 65:17-25; Canticle 9 (Isaiah 12:2-6); 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19)

©The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.