Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

"I Will Diminish": Humility as the Prophetic Benchmark

“I pass the test … I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel” (Lord of the Rings, II.7, p.357).

“The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less” (John the Baptist, Jn 3:29f).

I think the most ironic phrase in the English language is, “I was humbled.” When we use it, we might as well say, “I felt really proud.” But I get it. I was humbled recently to have lunch with pastor and author, Vern Heidebrecht. I.e. I felt proud to be invited into his company. In fact, I was actually humbled in that I had that “I’m-not-worthy” feeling to have someone I consider as a seasoned man of God treat me so graciously. And this will be part of my point in this article.

When I Walk into the Room: Confessions of a Burden-Bearer -- by Eric H Janzen

 As I approached the door I scanned the amount of vehicles parked outside the house, which told me there were a lot of people inside. I rang the door bell could hear laughter and voices in conversation, all the sounds you would expect to hear from an ongoing party. The door opened and as I was invited in I inwardly sighed, “Here we go.” I walked into the room, looked for a seat in a corner, sat down, and began attempting not to feel. This never works, and by the time I left the party I was feeling a vast range of emotions that I knew would eventually wash into one of feeling weary and tired. “I hate parties,” I told myself.

 The above is a true scenario replayed many times in my life. It describes many of my experiences being in groups of large people. It was not until I was in my mid-twenties that I would discover language for this problem. I had no understanding of why I was affected in this way when in groups of people. I coped as best I could, which to be honest was not well. The problem, it turned out, was that I was a burden-bearer and a keen discerner, but did not know it.

Pathos and Prophecy -- Abraham Heschel

Prophecy consists in the inspired communication of divine attitudes to the prophetic consciousness. The divine pathos is the ground-tone of all these attitudes. Echoed in almost every prophetic statement, pathos is the central category of the prophetic understanding of God.

To the prophet, God does not reveal himself in an abstract absoluteness, but in a specific and unique way--in a personal and intimate revelation to the world. God does not simply command and expect obedience; He is also moved and affected by what happens in the world and he reacts accordingly. Events and human actions arouse in Him joy or sorrow, pleasure or wrath.

Beloved... prophetic message via Eric Janzen

    Beloved, there is a table set for you and an invitation to come to that table.  A seat has been prepared for you and upon it is written your name.  What I have for you is abundant life; the Life of my Son; the Life of my Spirit.   

    I want you, beloved, to stop giving your loyalty away so easily.  I have been calling you, asking for your whole heart, your whole mind, your whole soul and spirit. 

Ignorance is the mother of violence, fear is it father - Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

Ignorance is the mother of violence, fear is its father. Combined, they work together to undermine faith. Much of the world's religions, including much of Christianity, has become based in fear and ignorance, and this is one of the greatest promoters of atheism. But atheism, too, is based in fear and ignorance. One who has a genuine faith in Christ no longer subscribes to fear and ignorance, and no longer hates, wishes to persecute or resorts to violence, either physical, emotional of verbal. As the apostle so clearly tells us, "we have not been placed in bondage to a spirit of fear," and our beloved father John the Evangelist enjoins that "there is no fear in love; rather perfect love drives out fear," and "whoever still has fear has not been made perfect in love."

-- Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

What's Coming? by Eric Janzen (for Fresh Wind 2008)

As I listened to the Lord about what to expect in the coming year, this is what I heard the Lord saying last night and this morning.

Last night he asked me if I could hear the wind.  It was quiet and peaceful outside and I could hear it, so I said, “Yes, I can hear it.” He replied:

“This year you will hear the wind of my Spirit.  This past year was a year of anticipation, building hope in my promises, hope to see the activity of my Kingdom becoming more evident. The coming year is about the Good News and seeing this anticipation not only increase, but begin to be met.  It is important to remember that the Gospel is what is paramount. The presence of my Kingdom goes hand in hand with the Gospel.  Too often the Good News is used as a bludgeon to wound (be saved or else… be saved or go to hell… be saved or be rejected… etc). What does the Kingdom look like to people then?  The Gospel opens the wedding table to the poor, the shamed, the outcast, the wealthy, the broken, and even those who are whole. 

Message for 2008 to the Church

You have been living, drifting on the surface.
You have been living in the desert with only a sip here and a sip there.
You have been waiting season after season for evidence of a fertile womb.

Like streams of fresh clean water that appear to people of the desert,
like sudden fertility to a barren woman,
the alive word will appear.

Do not tire of promises.
Man's promises are slung together with words and intentions;
God's promises are the true living fabric of what He has called into being.

Believe,
no longer will you only have the reputation for being alive (Sardis), but you will be ALIVE and people who don't know Me will talk to each other about your LOVE.

Valley of Dry Bones by Doug White

"The hand of the Lord was upon me
    And He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord
    And set me down in the middle of the valley
    And it was full of bones.
    And He caused me to pass among them round about
    And behold there were very many on the surface of the valley
    And lo, they were very dry."  Ezekiel 37:1-2

    I have never experienced the horror of the battlefield.  I have been blessed to have been born in a time of relative peace and in a land that has known peace and security within it's borders.  I can't begin to understand the carnage of war and the devastation of a battlefield.

    But I have read the accounts of those who have.  In many cases the horror of the devastation left those witnesses choking on words in a vain attempt to describe the indescribable.

    A fifth century Roman historian described the scene of a Roman city that had been sacked by the armies of Attila the Hun.

    "The stench of death was so great the we could not stay within the city.  We camped outside and away from the city walls to escape it."

Walter Brueggemann's 19 Theses

1.     Everybody lives by a script. The script may be implicit or explicit. It may be recognized or unrecognized, but everybody has a script.

2.     We get scripted. All of us get scripted through the process of nurture and formation and socialization, and it happens to us without our knowing it.

3.      The dominant scripting in our society is a script of technological, therapeutic, consumer militarism that socializes us all, liberal and conservative.

4.     That script (technological, therapeutic, consumer militarism) enacted through advertising and propaganda and ideology, especially on the liturgies of television, promises to make us safe and to make us happy.

Watchmen versus Watchdogs by Brad Jersak

Many of the newsletters and articles that I’ve written throughout 2007 have been a repetitive reminder to the church that these days call for an upgrade in our discernment. I’m convinced that we must vigorously test the spirits (1 John 4:1-4) to see whether their messages originate in God. We do this both to guard ourselves from swallowing that which is toxic AND to avoid dismissing that which is essential. Sifting for truth enables us to watch for and watch out: we want all that God has for us—we want only what God has for us. 

That being said, one of my intercessors alerted me to the distinction between two types of discerning watchers. In prayer, she was shown the vast difference between those whom God has appointed as “watchmen” and those who’ve appointed themselves as “watchdogs.”