Prophets

Prophets use words to remake the world.

The world-heaven and earth, men and women,

animals and birds-was made in the first place by

God's word. Prophets, arriving on the scene found

that world in ruins, finding a world of moral rubble

and spiritual disorder, take up the work of words again

to rebuild what human disobedience and mistrust have demolished.

These prophets learn their speech from God. Their words are

God grounded, God energized, God passionate. As their words enter

the language of specific communities, women and men find themselves

in the presence of God, who enters the mess of human sin to rebuke and renew.

Left to ourselves we turn God into an object, something we can deal with,

something we can use to our benefit, whether that thing is a feeling or an idea

or an image. Prophets scorn all such stuff. They train us to respond to God's presence

and voice.

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