SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4 2024 - NO PRIVILEGE FOR PROPHETS

Recorded Worship On Youtube

February 4, 2024

Carolyn Smith

No Priveledge For Prophets

I have taken great care to not tell many tales of my kids in these reflections for the

sake of their dignity and agency, but I’m their mama, and kids are cute, and we

grown ups enjoy telling these stories . I have two smart young adults, but I will

always cherish the sweet little voice telling me about a “Callapitter” instead of

caterpillar. And one who complained “we’ve been in this car for hour and hour

and hour!” So cute, learning, not quite right, but learning.

Arriving home, or back to town, these grown kids anticipate the time warp of

their awkward memories, relationships and neighbourhood hijinks, knowing they’ll

be reminded by everyone of “remember when.” A sense of cozy comfort and

privileged welcome if they had a good childhood, but not if there were cracks to

recall.

And any of us might be the ones who have stifled someone’s courage & voice

with outdated expectations, holding onto status quo, clinging to comfort zones,

disrespectfully, or often lovingly through memories.

Sometimes benign, sometimes difficult, it’s common, and one thing that becomes

true: it’s hard to find our Voice with confidence or authority when we’re reminded

of all our short comings and remember whens. Like Jesus in the story today, It’s

hard to come back from being a Sunday School Kid to be preacher. It’s hard to

grow and change, and become an expert or authority and find places to bring

change. And it’s hard to be changed - to be open to hearing, sitting in new

circles, pondering new voices in a way that evolves well rather than striking

defensiveness.

This is vital in families - to cherish old memories and allow evolution, to put up

the family photos AND celebrate one another’s accomplishments and voice. It’s

also the birthplace of understanding that allows a town, a culture and nations to

shift and grow... it’s why we are an Affirming congregation, why we work on

Reconciliation and why we acknowledge this Black History Month in Canada to

encourage diversity of voices and culture and progress, to name and set aside

what needs to be left behind and condemned, and build a community more loving,

with possibilities and privilege shared.

But.... How long, O Lord, how long.... It will never be ‘done,’ but we are doing

something worthwhile at St. Paul’s displaying a community that has a flavour of

justice-seeking, relationship - building with a growing participation of diversity and

friends. Certainly not perfect, so we keep on together bending the arc of our little

universe towards Justice, as a version of Beloved Community.

People living together aren’t usually easily in community - there are Privileged ones

with wealth and status, comfort and power, with a Voice that fears little. There

are the unprivileged ones, lacking these strengths. And a lot of people ebbing and

flowing in the middle, shifting the power, the permission and measure of privilege.

You choose to listen to one voice or another, you put your money into some

products or projects over another, you emulate the measures of privilege that you

think you value. And so the flavour of a community shifts.

Beloved community! Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of it as people redeemed,

people reconciled to relationship: he said “It is this type of spirit and this type of love

that can transform opposers into friends. It is this kind of understanding and goodwill

that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new

age. It is this love which will bring about miracles.”

Sign me up! Because when I grew up, and grew wiser - when I got away from my

youthful innocence, anything less-than brings me dis-ease, sorrow at wasted

opportunity, worry for young people disenchanted, helplessness at voices silenced.

This is true with racial justice, it’s true with reconciliation and world wars, and

drug deaths and poverty. My heart, mind, strength and soul are off-kilter while

these churn, and while I know it’s too big for me to fix, without having my hands

on the Arc bending it as best I can, what happens to my integrity?

if it was easy, and rosy, and people and leaders had listen to Micah and Amos and

Elijah, we’d have been done with Injustice centuries ago. So Prophets will always

need to rise up and their wisdom will always resonate against the backdrop of

what seems to be utter failings.

John read to us from Mark - the earliest gospel written with a sense of ‘Who is this

guy, who does he think he is, WHO is Jesus in the face of status quo and tradition.?’ A

New Testament professor always called Mark the “Grumpy Jesus’ gospel , as he

went about making people & Systems feel mighty uncomfortable while pointing

out the holes in their efforts so we had 3 parts of that story today.

We started with the scandal of Jesus at home - who does he think he is preaching

to the town who raised him???

No privilege here, despite familiarity. What did his oldest, closest folks miss

out on, (before at least a few clued in later on?) What could have been different if

he’d been measured by spirit or maturity other than old memories and status

quo?

Next he instructs his followers to be prophets themselves, to carry a simple

message of peace 2x2, leaving behind all their privilege, out of their comfort zones,

no extra snacks or sweater for the road. Just the bare minimum of a message of

Peace... and if they get run out of town, they’re given full permission to shake the

dust from their sandals. Where do they get the confidence, where do they have

any assurance that this is worthwhile?

Would you go? If you measure this prophetic effort by all that will go wrong

when people can’t hear your message, your voice, you would’t go. If you measure

it by the privilege of meeting good people and creating new relationship, it begins

to sound like a nice day making friends, creating Beloved Community that changes

gently. privilege. It’s like us, preparing to leave our comfort space here, and invite

new people along to create Beloved Community in this town...

If I said Prophet Isaiah or Elijah was in town, we say ‘oooh wow,’ we’d by tickets to

hear them speak. Except they weren’t privileged by celebrity. They were fringe

people in tension with most others. Remember wild John the baptizer as an

outsider, wearing scrubby clothes, barely eating. But everyone knew him, even the

King, not for any recognizable privilege but for his courageous voice. King Herod

took a look at Jesus and instantly recognized a similar spirit to John. He knew John

too well - more of the story would tell you that John had wowed the king in some

difficult circumstances with his wise counsel. Herod liked him. But to preserve

his status and reputation, his privilege, he’d been manipulated into beheading him.

And Herod was haunted by his broken integrity and his shame. What could have

happened if Herod had embraced his mightier strength - that of his integrity - and

made use of his privilege to upend the little kingdom for peace, with John B in a

respected role? Or set aside his shame and call Jesus in for a heart to heart chat?

So what good is your voice? What privilege do you carry? Where are you stuck

on the fringe, feeling weak? If you were told, ‘go 2 x 2 and bring peace to the

community,’ do you recoil? Or reach out with courage? To be a prophet is to be

bereft of privilege in the way many of us would measure it, and still, what is the

privilege of prophetic witness?

Bring a message of Peace. Love with all your heart mind strength and soul. Show up for

the lowest and the least.

Do you believe it, that love overturns injustice? That it heals and reconciles

people? Then YOU have strength, we have strength together. If we steel each

other, 2x2 or more by more, and we do it with mind, soul and strength, with the

integrity of Spirit, and we know it brings beloved community because we’re living

it already, how is that not privilege?

How long O Lord, how Long? ~Forever! We’ll be navigating racial equality and

diversity, sharing a message of peace, seeking a world of justice forever, because so

many don’t seem to value a privilege of integrity of heart/mind/strength and Soul.

And the cost is always high.

But HERE - hearing each other, seeking truth, allowing people’s inner prophet

and spirit to thrive, Here in community, we are privileged to call one another

Beloved.

May it always be so. Amen.

tracy chippendale