For Sunday, July 5, 2009

Scripture:
Ezekiel 2:1-5

He said to me: O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you. And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard him speaking to me. He said to me, Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, "Thus says the Lord GOD." Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

Psalm 123
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13

"Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house."
He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them."
So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Sermon Title: It's the Journey

"Whether they hear or refuse to hear, they shall know that there has been a prophet among them." It was General Synod, meeting in Columbus, Ohio, in 1997. I was a delegate assigned to a committee to consider a resolution calling for the closure of the US military base on Okinawa. We heard testimony from representatives from the civilian community on Okinawa, about the abuses of power and criminal activity of men stationed on the base. They were asking for our support.
One of the arguments against the resolution was that it would not make any difference what the General Synod of the United Church of Christ resolved, there was little or no chance of the US giving up that military base.
The morning before the resolution was presented to the plenary session, I read this scripture from Ezekiel: "Whether they hear, or refuse to hear, they shall know that there has been a prophet among them."
The prophetic church is called to proclaim God's reign of peace. We are called to speak up for the least and last of God's children, and demand justice. Whether the powers that be hear, or refuse to hear, we are called to prophesy.
Outcomes, or likely outcomes, don't matter. God is asking us to be faithful. It's not the destination that counts so much as the journey. If we walk, step by step, in love, showing mercy, loving kindness, then we will know that we have been faithful, and eventually, the world will know that there has been a prophetic church in our nation, in our time.
The resolution passed.