Anyone interested in being a prophet?

A prophet says things no one wants to hear.  That includes me.  That includes you.

A prophet is blessed (or some would say, cursed) with such clarity of vision that all the broken, stained, deceitful places we manage to overlook are as real as a cow in the middle of the highway.  You simply can't ignore it and getting around it is a tricky business.

A prophet speaks in God's name and calls us to turn away from our practices that dishonor God and God's purposes in this world.  "Stop doing that!" says the prophet and the people throw stones. 

We don't want to give up our comfortable habits; our settled in routines; our positions of power and authority.  We pretend the problems don't exist (racism or sexism) or aren't that bad or will go away in time (civil rights).  "Stop doing that, NOW" the prophet says and we call him/her a crank or a crazy. 

Jesus was recognized as a prophet among his own people.  We recognize that Jesus calls us to stop living the way we are.  Worst of all, we recognize that if Jesus was right, we would have to work hard to live as he lived.

So, people say to me, 'all the church does is make you feel bad.'  Well, yeah.  God calls us to live an authentic life in service to God and our neighbor (which we only do haphazardly) and a prophet makes sure we know God is talking to us.  Interested in the job?  We're not even interested in the prophet's advice!