Today we will move into a new chapter "Awaiting Babylon" in Walter Brueggemann's book "Out of Babylon."
The entire prophetic literature is to be understood as a sustained summons to Israel to repent and return to Torah obedience. Israel, however, was hard-hearted and confident of its own destiny in the world, and consistently refused to heed the poets.
In a parallel way, the United States as empire has had a long tradition of summoning poetic voices that have warned about socio-economic exploitation and political injustice. The list of such poetic, prophetic utterers out beyond imperial categories is long and honored. Contemporary voices that belong to such a risky honor include Martin Luther King, Jr., Daniel Berrigan, Michael Lerner, William Sloane Coffin, William Stringfellow, Jim Wallis, Jim Forbes, Gordon Cosby, Will Campbell, and many others readily named. Like that ancient empire however, the United States empire, living in a cocoon of self-justification, has been largely immune to such warning.
The voice of the prophet is not always heard within the flow of the day. Our minds and our lives can be so caught up in how things are moving along and how we will stay up with the flow of the ordinary stuff of the day that these voices that attempt to wake us are not heard. Then again, when they are heard, they are odd voices that speak of things in a way contrary to what is considered the voice of 'reason' or the voice of 'security.' It is easy to become a hard-hearted people. That does not mean a 'nasty' or brutal or vicious people. Rather, it is a people who no longer hear and move to the sound of the God of all people who is always calling us to turn around and be involved in the healing of the world. It can be so hard to see that the world as we know it is broken and in need of healing. And yet, the prophets keep calling out and point out what is right in front of us - that which we have come to make a part of ourselves.
Connection: I always wonder what it is that helps a person have their switch flipped. What is it that helps you hear the words of the prophets and poets of the day? Is it because you already see the brokenness and the distress and the words of the prophets help amplify them? Is it that the words strike you like a whip that snaps you into moving in a new direction? The prophets voices and words are still singing out among us.
O God, open up our ears and our live and turn our hearts to move into the realm of your gracious rule where mercy and loving-kindness burst into life among us. Amen.
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