David Bazan and David Dark (author of the book, The Sacredness of Questioning Everything) conducted a discussion where they cover our perceptions of God on the Q Website. You can listen to it here. In the discussion they mention an Allen Ginsberg quote. He (Allen) was asked, "how do you become a prophet?" He answered, "tell your secrets."
I have been instructed by good men and women that in order to build my credibility in a world where one's ease of life, respect and income depends heavily on one's credibility, that I need to do so through shrewdness. I'm coming to the point where it's hard to accept that this is the way for me to live. We each have a way to live and some are called to different journeys, journeys that others would never take or ever be able to take.
I don't want to be so tactful that I lose the ability to have a prophetic voice, but I don't want to be so tactless that I lose my voice. Either way, becoming so tactful that one's personality convolutes to the point of not having one, can only end badly. So with this, I want to talk about what it means to live prophetically.
One's prophetic identity is primarily retroactive - one can only know they have been so by looking backwards. Grinsberg's above quote is a bit of a contradiction - purposefully of course. We don't try to become a prophet, we live out our convictions honestly and candidly and bear our secrets instead of relying on shrewdness for the sake of credibility. Prophets could be shrewd but never to the point that their audience missed the point. A prophet, as I understand it, just lives and bears the weight of one's own life without secrets - only then will you be heard, sometimes heeded but mostly unwanted as most prophets were.
A prophet lives as the cutting (s)word, but most people want half-pint prophets it seems. We want a word that is cutting but only if our hand is on the hilt. Many are drawn to conferences and speeches by the people whom they've dismembered to endure the verbal tirade and accept nominal responsibility only to return to our comfortable clamor. The prophet requires no attendance at their conference, because they usually come to you in living color and they don't allow you to return, because a true prophet strips us of our comfortable clamor by their near and compelling presence.
We have three choices it seems. We can move away to avoid the prophet, only to be found again. We can throw the prophet out or kill him/her or we can stay long enough for their presence to cut us deep enough for real substantive change. Prophecy is as much about presence as it is about the spoken word; a complete lack of it or a hyper version of it- either way, the space that they fill or don't fill cannot be ignored.
A prophet steps outside of the community to see differently that which needs to be seen. In effect they are actually joining the margins. They smell compromise and though they might participate to some degree, eventually they blow the whistle. Standing on the margins allows them to never completely leave and by default, their presence remains prophetic. The community throws stairs and stones and the tirade begins....trying with increasing effort and annoyance to push the prophet out completely.
It's important to realize that prophecy is not just for "bad" people, it is for those who's insecurities rule their decision making power too often, who have forgotten to know themselves well enough to name and confess their secrets. Parents, bosses, older brothers, school administrators, day-to-day dictators, the recluse - each and every one of us, given the power, will encounter insecurities, that without restraint, will cause us to need the prophetic in our lives.
Sadly though, the community doesn't want the prophet to belong to them or their margins - they just want the prophet gone or quiet. His or her words or actions are not the only problem - it is the presence of the prophet. If a prophet tells his secrets, those that have their own are thrown off by the prophet's mere presence. Someone who tells their secrets may tell yours. The prophet's presence is a witness of the truth because a prophet who tells his or her own secrets is living out the truth of their own story so robustly that it can only compel some to do the same or repel others to do everything to avoid the path of honesty - even to the point of doing whatever it takes to mute the prophet.
Many times the prophet is killed or maimed by the community as they throw their tirades and dysfunction towards the prophet. The energy and dynamics invested in this process actually pulls the community towards the prophetic voice. The desire to repel the prophet only ends up pulling the community closer to the space the prophet inhabits. Ultimately, the prophet is absorbed into the community along with the prophet's voice of witness and truth.
Sometimes the prophet is absorbed by a mob rushing to kill him or her and at other times, the prophet's words and life take years to move the community towards him or herself. After a time they are absorbed and the community is forever transformed eventually into what the prophet said, lived and inhabited many years earlier. Prophetic voice, prophetic action and prophetic space - these elements will either compel us or repel us, as the prophet lives through them, whether they know they are or not.
To be prophetic, tell your secrets and inhabit the space God has given you - the rest will follow.
I have been instructed by good men and women that in order to build my credibility in a world where one's ease of life, respect and income depends heavily on one's credibility, that I need to do so through shrewdness. I'm coming to the point where it's hard to accept that this is the way for me to live. We each have a way to live and some are called to different journeys, journeys that others would never take or ever be able to take.
I don't want to be so tactful that I lose the ability to have a prophetic voice, but I don't want to be so tactless that I lose my voice. Either way, becoming so tactful that one's personality convolutes to the point of not having one, can only end badly. So with this, I want to talk about what it means to live prophetically.
One's prophetic identity is primarily retroactive - one can only know they have been so by looking backwards. Grinsberg's above quote is a bit of a contradiction - purposefully of course. We don't try to become a prophet, we live out our convictions honestly and candidly and bear our secrets instead of relying on shrewdness for the sake of credibility. Prophets could be shrewd but never to the point that their audience missed the point. A prophet, as I understand it, just lives and bears the weight of one's own life without secrets - only then will you be heard, sometimes heeded but mostly unwanted as most prophets were.
A prophet lives as the cutting (s)word, but most people want half-pint prophets it seems. We want a word that is cutting but only if our hand is on the hilt. Many are drawn to conferences and speeches by the people whom they've dismembered to endure the verbal tirade and accept nominal responsibility only to return to our comfortable clamor. The prophet requires no attendance at their conference, because they usually come to you in living color and they don't allow you to return, because a true prophet strips us of our comfortable clamor by their near and compelling presence.
We have three choices it seems. We can move away to avoid the prophet, only to be found again. We can throw the prophet out or kill him/her or we can stay long enough for their presence to cut us deep enough for real substantive change. Prophecy is as much about presence as it is about the spoken word; a complete lack of it or a hyper version of it- either way, the space that they fill or don't fill cannot be ignored.
A prophet steps outside of the community to see differently that which needs to be seen. In effect they are actually joining the margins. They smell compromise and though they might participate to some degree, eventually they blow the whistle. Standing on the margins allows them to never completely leave and by default, their presence remains prophetic. The community throws stairs and stones and the tirade begins....trying with increasing effort and annoyance to push the prophet out completely.
It's important to realize that prophecy is not just for "bad" people, it is for those who's insecurities rule their decision making power too often, who have forgotten to know themselves well enough to name and confess their secrets. Parents, bosses, older brothers, school administrators, day-to-day dictators, the recluse - each and every one of us, given the power, will encounter insecurities, that without restraint, will cause us to need the prophetic in our lives.
Sadly though, the community doesn't want the prophet to belong to them or their margins - they just want the prophet gone or quiet. His or her words or actions are not the only problem - it is the presence of the prophet. If a prophet tells his secrets, those that have their own are thrown off by the prophet's mere presence. Someone who tells their secrets may tell yours. The prophet's presence is a witness of the truth because a prophet who tells his or her own secrets is living out the truth of their own story so robustly that it can only compel some to do the same or repel others to do everything to avoid the path of honesty - even to the point of doing whatever it takes to mute the prophet.
Many times the prophet is killed or maimed by the community as they throw their tirades and dysfunction towards the prophet. The energy and dynamics invested in this process actually pulls the community towards the prophetic voice. The desire to repel the prophet only ends up pulling the community closer to the space the prophet inhabits. Ultimately, the prophet is absorbed into the community along with the prophet's voice of witness and truth.
Sometimes the prophet is absorbed by a mob rushing to kill him or her and at other times, the prophet's words and life take years to move the community towards him or herself. After a time they are absorbed and the community is forever transformed eventually into what the prophet said, lived and inhabited many years earlier. Prophetic voice, prophetic action and prophetic space - these elements will either compel us or repel us, as the prophet lives through them, whether they know they are or not.
To be prophetic, tell your secrets and inhabit the space God has given you - the rest will follow.
