Aidan McCartney shares his thoughts on prophecy.
I found it very inspiring to spend some time thinking about prophecy. What is prophecy? What might I be called to prophesy about? What could Quakers prophetic message to the world be in 2007.
The first point I came to in our discussion was that prophecy is from God, it is a message that God needs to give to a person or a group of people. It is only through our keen ear for the Holy Spirit and our obedience to God that this message gets out there. This puts an emphasis on us as people of God to be ready to hear and respond to the call. It is helpful for me to remember that a prophetic message is from God and not from me and I pray for humility in delivering the message.
Another thing I sensed through the study booklet is that prophecy takes on many forms. It is not only the preaching of a word of prophecy at a particular time. It can be about how we live our lives, how we are called to react to a situation. It can be a message to a large group of people that turns their world upside down (George Fox) or it can be a desire to bring up our children to know the Lord. (Bridget Butt)
Prophecy can be a scary thing, it can, and probably should, take us outside our ‘comfort zone’ but we are commanded to set our hearts on this gift in I Corinthians 14. This leads me back to my personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I need to know God better, to spend more time in worship, prayer and reading. The more time I spend with God the more I will know where, when and who to prophecy to. It is through the knowledge of my relationship with Christ that I can ‘step out of the boat’ and be obedient to the call.
It is my prayer that the Religious Society of Friends can live out this verse from I Corinthians 14, to set our hearts on spiritual gifts. To desire to know what God has to say to us in 2007 and to act upon it. If we desire these things, even the unpopular messages that call people to account for their sin but offer them redemption through grace then we can truly be a people of God.
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Saturday, 23 June 2007
Young Friends in London look at the study booklet
John Fitzgerald shares thoughts from his Bible study group in London, United Kingdom.
This week, our Bible study group looked at the study booklet for the FWCC Triennial, and considered the theme: 'Finding the Prophetic Voice for our time; (1 Corinthians 14:1).
We each looked at a couple of articles in the study booklet. It was really interesting to find such a range of responses to the theme. The Bible passage in 1 Corinthians 14 was interesting, too; it has quite a few caveats about how the church should respond to prophecy.
I looked in particular at articles from Bainito Wamalwa and Charlie Lamb, partly because I know them both well. I liked what Bainito had to say about how much the Bible has for us in terms of guidance about prophecy. I also agreed with Bainito on how important it is to nurture ministers and prophets in our community.
Charlie made some strong points, arguing that we may have lost some of our commitment to prophecy in our desire to be loving and welcoming to all. I feel Charlie is right to point out that many Quakers find 'sin' a very difficult word, and that this could be problematic for our ability to proclaim God's truth.
In our group discussion, we spent quite a while thinking about how we could identify a genuinely prophetic message. We had a strong sense that a prophetic message might well come as a 'voice in the wilderness', at odds with accepted thinking and traditional culture. But we agreed that simply going against the grain of accepted culture was not in itself a guarantee of prophecy.
While a prophet might shake a church to its foundations, there must also be a way for a prophetic message to be heard and tested- balancing openness with the need for discernment (some useful words in 1 Corinthians 14:33).
We also considered prophecy at a personal level- in essence, speaking out against sin, as Charlie described in his passage. In the modern culture of choice, this can feel very uncomfortable. We hoped that when called to challenge sin, we would have the reassurance that we were being faithful to the Spirit in speaking out.
This week, our Bible study group looked at the study booklet for the FWCC Triennial, and considered the theme: 'Finding the Prophetic Voice for our time; (1 Corinthians 14:1).
We each looked at a couple of articles in the study booklet. It was really interesting to find such a range of responses to the theme. The Bible passage in 1 Corinthians 14 was interesting, too; it has quite a few caveats about how the church should respond to prophecy.
I looked in particular at articles from Bainito Wamalwa and Charlie Lamb, partly because I know them both well. I liked what Bainito had to say about how much the Bible has for us in terms of guidance about prophecy. I also agreed with Bainito on how important it is to nurture ministers and prophets in our community.
Charlie made some strong points, arguing that we may have lost some of our commitment to prophecy in our desire to be loving and welcoming to all. I feel Charlie is right to point out that many Quakers find 'sin' a very difficult word, and that this could be problematic for our ability to proclaim God's truth.
In our group discussion, we spent quite a while thinking about how we could identify a genuinely prophetic message. We had a strong sense that a prophetic message might well come as a 'voice in the wilderness', at odds with accepted thinking and traditional culture. But we agreed that simply going against the grain of accepted culture was not in itself a guarantee of prophecy.
While a prophet might shake a church to its foundations, there must also be a way for a prophetic message to be heard and tested- balancing openness with the need for discernment (some useful words in 1 Corinthians 14:33).
We also considered prophecy at a personal level- in essence, speaking out against sin, as Charlie described in his passage. In the modern culture of choice, this can feel very uncomfortable. We hoped that when called to challenge sin, we would have the reassurance that we were being faithful to the Spirit in speaking out.
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