Read that first reading again
– “The Lord called me from birth – from my mother’s womb .. he made me a
sharpened sword…" God said, "Through you I will show my glory.”
That reading was actually
written by Isaiah, but it fits with many of the prophets – and certainly it fits
John the Baptist to a T. He was conceived in a specific place and time to fulfill a
specific purpose: like the reading says – “that God's salvation may reach to
the ends of the earth”.
Now – you may not have
thought of yourself when you read this reading… most of us don’t
see ourselves as prophets. But we are. Every one of us from the
time we were conceived were given a mission. God doesn’t create humans
for no purpose at all – we ALL have a job to do: to give glory to God. We are all called
to be prophets: to stand up for the
truth, but more than that, we are called to spread the Love of God. Do we
recognize when we’re supposed to be prophets? Well.. all the time,
I’m sure… but especially when we see injustice. We have to stand up for
the truth and for the rights of those who cannot defend themselves. We
hear that time and time again throughout the scriptures – and that’s what the
prophets did. Unfortunately people usually didn’t want to hear what
they had to say. There was a lot of opposition to God's word in the world
back then, ….but it might be even worse today….
…Especially this year, with the
election coming up. Unfortunately
there’s going to be a whole lot of conversation that mixes politics and
religion. Nothing is more certain to get people fired up than that.
Have you ever been on-line and read an article or editorial – or went to
a chat room? For those of you who don’t
know what I’m talking about, there are places on-line where stories and
opinions are posted, and anybody can reply with their opinions. It’s amazing some of the things that are said
on-line. You know, if you and I are having a face to face conversation, we're
more likely to stay somewhat civil – to weigh our words before we speak.. but
not on the computer... it's so easy to let my feelings just fly. It’s
kinda scary how quickly most of those conversations get nasty – especially the
ones that touch on religion and politics…. I’m serious – it seems anytime
someone tries to stand up for the Truth, all the people with a bone to pick
show up and start airing their grievances against the church. It’s to the
point that it’s almost predictable that somebody will bring up
the Priest scandals, somebody will rant about how we “worship Mary”
(which we don’t), somebody will bring up their disagreements on the Church’s
teachings about Confession and Divorce and Abortion and it seems everybody
knows a priest or a deacon who gave an awful piece of advice once – and they
use that as their excuse to leave the church.
And now they feel like they have to justify their decision by bashing
the Church….well, the replies keep flying on and on until EVERYbody is ticked
off or hurt.
I rarely read those kind of
posts, because I always come away sad… sad for the people who got slammed
by somebody else’s opinion and sad for the people who are obviously hurting
from some past experience, because they lash out just trying to hurt and tear
down. They obviously care or at least feel guilty or they wouldn’t even
bother opening their mouths. I think in some ways it’s really a cry for
help… but Unfortunately, because THEY have such a nasty reply – people reading
it get all worked up and they come back with an even nastier reply.
When you or I get pulled into
a conversation like that, what should we do? Honestly, I don’t know – but
I’ve been praying about that and I have a few guidelines to suggest we follow.
First – we cannot compromise the Truth. As prophets, No matter how
much we want to be somebody’s friend, we cannot condone a false statement.
However – Second – we should try to see it their way before we
respond. Maybe we misunderstood
their point? Ask them questions about why they think that way. We cannot
condemn them… we must have empathy for the person, helping to guide them to
think of it another way – and then let God reach them through that seed you
planted. We don’t have to have the last word....let God have the last word.
The third thing to remember is that as prophets, our job is not to win
arguments – but it is to win the hearts of people for God. If I let my
humanness and pride get in the way and start arguing and judging, people will
lose respect for me and won’t hear another word I say. I would
effectively lose my voice like Zechariah…. Nobody will listen to me anymore.
All of us can be more effective in standing up for the truth if we
taste our own words before we spit them out... In other words, think about what
response we WANT from the person and consider whether our answer will achieve
that – or just make them more angry.
Sometimes silence is the best answer.
Finally, don’t push their buttons...
in other words, if you KNOW something will make them angry, don’t go there.
Once they’re angry, they’ve lost the will and patience to hear the rest
of what you have to say. For example, if you know somebody is a
vegetarian, don’t start making fun of or condemning vegetarians. If
someone is an athiest, don’t say something like "how can you be such an
ignoramous? If someone leans toward the right or toward the left
politically, don’t be making comments about their favorite politicians... stick
with the issue at hand...
Yes, there may be times we
need to get angry and risk making people angry -- and you could argue that
Jesus did that when he cleared the temple.... but... he only cleared the temple
once. Most of the time, he was non-condemning and compassionate... and because
of the Love that poured from every fiber of his being, people listened,
learned, and changed their lives.
You and I are prophets... we
are the voice of God in the world and the world NEEDS to hear the Truth from
us. God formed every one of us from the time we were conceived to be his
prophets. Remember what our purpose
is? From the first reading: “that God's salvation may reach to the ends
of the earth”. Yes, we need to speak out
against the injustices... but we need to do it in a way that brings back the
lost sheep... not chase them away. We are not out to win arguments, but
to win hearts.
