The Prophet’s Call

Preaching on Micah 3

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother: one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.”

It’s a passage that disrupts our common image of an unambiguously pacifist Jesus.

Jesus says it, because 700 years earlier, the prophet Micah said the exact same thing. Micah said it because the covenant between Yahweh and Israel is built on a social ethic.

While the covenant is partially a legal tradition like others, with norms about specific acts and behaviours, its heart is a set of responsibilities for the nation as a whole. The covenant judges the nation on how it treats the widow. It judges the nation on how it treats the orphan. It judges the nation on how it treats immigrants in their midst.

And while it ultimately creates space for a king and a high priest, political and religious authorities; it also creates space for the prophet. On Yahweh’s behalf, the prophet is anointed to announce when the nation had failed in its covenantal responsibilities to all, describe the consequences and explain how they might succeed.

One of the first prophets to have their testimony written, Micah was from Moresheth and began to prophesy in 736 BCE, condemning the reigns of Kings Jotham and Ahaz.

Woe to you leaders, Micah announces, on Yahweh’s behalf, responsible for the deaths of my people. You will call out to me, but I will turn my back on you.

Woe to you, also, who have prophetic responsibility and use that authority to prop up the status quo, who call out ‘Peace’ on behalf of those who ensure that you are fed and that which enables your continued comfort, and who do not call out on behalf of those who are actually suffering. The sun will go dark for you, and you will live in darkness. You will no longer have any access to the divine.

Woe to you who have built up cities and nations through the subjugation of others and who assume that Yawheh is on your side. Your cities will be destroyed, your holy places will be broken, and there will be wild places where your civilization used to be.

God threatens the destruction of the places built on continued injustice. God threatens that those responsible and those who fail to respond will no longer have access to the divine. God puts themself purely on the side of those who are suffering.

Do not assume, Jesus says, that I have come to bring Peace.

*

Since we last spoke, hundreds of thousands of people, across the states, and around the world, have been putting themselves at risk because they won’t stand the continued violence against black people, especially from law enforcement.

In many cases, the police haven’t been able to stop the brutality, even at the police brutality rally.

While our calls for criminal justice reform, both in the United States and in Canada, are crucial, I don’t believe they are sufficient if they aren’t met by behavioural shifts to address anti-black racism within the lived-reality of our communities.

I’d like to lift up the words of Michael Blair, the Executive Minister of the Church in Mission Unit of the United Church of Canada – from Facebook.

“Friends, I have been wrestling about what to say about the events of this past week, but not only this week - the violence that has shaken many of us to the core. There is a desire to know what to do, how to respond. Grateful for many who have reached out to see how I am doing. Its appreciated.

Yet, I need you to know that George Floyd's cry: "I can't breathe," is a daily reality for many of us black folks. It is important, yes to be angry at the physical violence of a knee to the neck. And know that your silence at the systemic and unending racism that black folks experience daily, is in itself an act of the knee to the neck...

I can't breathe, when you leave it to me to name the racism that is in your face yet you keep silent... When you take the system as a given, and don't question assumptions or the way things are, and are silent...you leave me gasping and fighting for air...

I can't breathe when you want me to represent and you do not ask why there are so few people like me around...and you keep silent. I can't breathe when you dismiss me, by not seeing colour...your silence is a knee to the neck

I can't breathe when you see pictures of the institutions you are a part of that only show white people...and you stay silent and don't ask why... I can't breathe when you tell me we all have red blood, and diminish my experience.

If you are serious about taking steps to name anti-black racism and racial violence (not just the physical) then your starting point is a commitment to stay silent no more...”

Friends: hearing Michael’s words, let us not be silent.

*

Beyond God condemning unjust power, and threatening to break bonds entirely with those who bless the unjust status quo, and to break up cities and nations built on injustice who assume that God is on their side, I am moved by Micah’s claim: ‘I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might.”

There is might in not staying silent. Though they may feel embarrassed, or turbulent internally, or tired, or anxious, or consumed by overweening guilt, as we might, Micah reminds the Israelites that there is power in living out God’s calling and covenant.

He will need that strength, because the iniquities he names will only be shifted by lifetimes of naming them in the face of institutional violence and interpersonal awkwardness. That work was begun by the prophets who came before him and will be continued by the long traditions of prophets yet to come.

Jesus’ ministry begins when he announces ‘the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. The Lord has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’

His ministry concludes with him in the Temple, ‘making a whip of cords, driving out all those that sold and bought in the temple, with the sheep and oxen, and overthrowing the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves.’

His ministry ends at the cross. We remember that, as Christians, we gather together under a symbol of the over-reach of the state’s law-enforcement mechanisms in response to a prophetic voice of a person of colour. There are crosses in the world.

But there is resurrection too. When the prophets cease their silence, there is strength.

*

I remember preaching about the Black Lives Matter movement in 2015, after the Charleston Massacre.

Five years ago.

It happened to be on the Sunday after Bree Newsome Bass climbed a flag-pole outside of the South Carolina state legislature in order to remove their confederate flag. When a police officer demanded that she come down, she responded: "In the name of Jesus, this flag has to come down. You come against me with hatred and oppression and violence. I come against you in the name of God. This flag comes down today.” As she was arrested, she recited the 23rd Psalm.

In living out the prophetic calling, there is strength.

I would also like to share some words of guidance for the white members of the United Church, from Adele Halliday, our national Team Leader for Discipleship and Witness.

“Some of you have asked how I’m doing. Here, I need you to be pastoral. I have been re-traumatized by the video of a modern-day lynching. I am terrified that I will be one of the Black women shot by police in their own homes. I am full of grief for parents who have had to bury their Black children. I am infuriated that the police were weaponized against a peaceful park walker through a dishonest emergency phone call.”

“Some have wondered what you can do to support me. I need you to be prophetic. I need you to acknowledge and name the realities of anti-Black racism and white supremacy in Canada, and stop falsely postulating that we are better than the United States. I don’t want your sympathies, your guilt, or your attempts to mollify my emotions. I also don’t want you to make this about me, as an individual. Instead, don’t be silent. Say that Black Lives Matter! Interrogate the disproportionate inequities faced by Black peoples in Canada and around the world. We are part of a faith tradition where prophets name truths – I need you to do that too.”

“Some have wondered what role churches play. I need you to please: Pray. Preach. Protest (and repeat). I heard a few people say that the only thing we can do about racial injustice is pray. Don’t get me wrong, I am a praying person, and deeply believe in the transformative power of prayer. So, while I may get down on my knees and pray to God, I also then need to get up and preach. I need to protest. I need our churches to not only pray on Sundays, but to also offer a prayer through a lifetime commitment to systemic change. Please keep doing this work long after the current display of anti-Black racism has faded from the news cycle and our social media feeds.”

Friends, let us be pastoral – let us check on our black friends, and hold space for their pain. Let us reach out with tenderness and care.

Let us pray, let us preach and let us protest – this week, and long into the future. Let us remember what we have seen these last few weeks.

And let us be prophetic – there are inequities faced by Black people here in our community, and around the world. Anti-black racism and white supremacy are real and prevalent. It is wrong. That violence doesn’t fit God’s vision or our covenant.

Let us be willing to take up the strength of a prophetic calling.

Let us announce together: Black Lives Matter.

Amen.