Shekinah Glory

Hosea 5:15-6:6

A few weeks back the powerful federal arts commission had some negative evaluations of a statue that is to be erected in memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. in the tidal basin. As a congregation we have given money toward this monument to one of the greatest American ministers and civil rights leaders this country has ever produced. It wasn’t the first time this monument to King had elicited controversy. When all the submissions from sculptures had been sifted through the project was awarded to an artist named Lei Yixin from communist China. Many thought the project should be awarded to an African American artist, but that it should at least be an American who made such an important piece.

Yet, the nationality of the artist was only a small part of the arts commission’s beef with this large work. Because of its scale it was seen as too similar to social realist statues of leaders like Mao Zedong. Yet, the one word that stuck in the minds of many was that the members of the arts commission believed that statue must be softened because in its present incarnation it was much too “confrontational.”

As the final authority on what is acceptable in a public space the artist began his work at making the image of King have less furrowed eyebrows and the appearance of a much more open person. The director of the memorial confusingly reminded the Washington Post that the image that the sculpture itself was taken from was an actual photograph of King himself standing with his arms crossed in front of his desk.

It seems that our public persona of this great man is one of kindness, acceptance and one in which we talk about the dream of racial harmony. These are all wonderful messages, but miss the point of the prophetic image of Martin Luther King Jr. He was a man who defied the laws of this land on numerous occasions, supported striking union workers, believed strongly in the redistribution of wealth and opposed the Vietnam war long before it was popular. He took great professional and personal risks for the moral stands that symbolized his career and ultimately lost his life for those beliefs. Even though we seem to have neutered this man from his beliefs and made him a Disney creation we sometimes use the description of this man as a prophetic preacher.

It is a phrase that I hear a lot amongst my colleagues. I am constantly being reminded that I must not cede my role as a prophet in the pulpit. This is in addition to being a marketer, spiritual guide, strategist, counselor, community organizer and social commentator. Yet, one thing that gets the most fervent talk is the pastor’s prophetic role. Then the talk inevitably turns to this bungled war, torture, the environment, materialism, poverty, homelessness and many other social/political issues that our society faces. Yet, I have come to question whether when these progressive ministers talk about such issues in front of friendly crowds is prophetic at all.

It is only when I read prophets like Hosea that I see that when I preach to people who agree with my position about injustice that it is not prophetic. To be a prophet involves risks. It may get your house firebombed in the middle of the night. Or as with the Hebrew prophets make you eat scrolls that taste like honey, words that burn like hot coals on your lips, play in excrement, confront kings and religious leaders. In the case of Jesus he ended up on a cross for his prophetic vision of ministry to the poor, captive and outsider. It is dangerous to be a prophet.

The reality of Hosea is that one of the most radically prophetic word that a person can utter is that we need to come back to our creator. Whether it is through numerous idols that we have created that block us from our covenant with the divine. Hosea is just another example of why no one really wants to be a prophet. God tells Hosea that he must marry the prostitute Gomer whose name means representing the whole group to show the people of Israel that they have been unfaithful to him by following idolatry. God proclaims through Hosea, “The people in this land have acted like prostitutes and abandoned the Lord.”

Each child that they have becomes prophetically named to tell Israel of their wrongs and the consequences. The first’s name is Jezreel that means God Scatters. Then a daughter is named Lo-ruhamah that means not pitied. Finally, a third child, a son, is named Lo-ammi that means not my people. These are tough words to hear. Isn’t this a God of love? Even so many years later these words do not come easier to our ears. They are offensive; they are not part of the non-confrontational image of the prophet that we would like to memorialize in granite. They are the sounds of the thundering voice of an angry person that is trying to convey the emotions of the divine. It is a divinity that is hurt like a spouse cheated on in the most dramatic way. They are the cruel words of someone in the midst of divorce in the midst of the wreckage of a severely broken relationship.

In the end, in the midst of terribly troubling words Hosea brings a word from God that I believe boils down the point of most prophecy. It is something so stunningly simple that we may think it irrelevant to our great social movements toward human rights and legal justice. Hosea claims all of our calls for justice, the poor, cries to leave our idols, our care for the widow, the orphan or the longing that swords will be beaten into plowshares is rooted in knowing the divine and steadfast love.

Like a good intervention with someone you dearly love, someone who cannot see the destructive nature of their own actions God must rise up individuals that say things that scandalize our prim and proper minds. In the end it matters little to say the right things, have the right creedal formula, can tell right from wrong, know the Bible better than the rest of us, have great power, amassed enough money to be secure, know the right people if you do not know your creator and have a burning love for that same God. In the end, to the prophet, that is all that matters.