Embracing the Prophetic: Courage, Sensitivity, and Truth

Marjorie Kemp lived at the same time of Julian of Norwich who we talked about in a recent video she's a very different kind of person the town of Bishop's Lyn is 40 Mi to the west of Norwich its most notable resident is a prophet named marjerie Kemp her neighbors and fellow citizens consider her an unlikely Prophet at best but is there such a thing as a likely Prophet it is a lonely thing to be a prophet margerie Kim sees clearly how the falsifications of Christianity make it a grotesque parody of itself. [00:01:10]

Marjorie has been led to become a grotesquery herself Richard Lisha writes in acting out her gifts she has created the scandalous form of Street theater performance U uh prophets in many way were kind of performance artists where they would deliberately shock outrage offend people to get their attention why would they do this she is not a recluse no doubt Church authorities wish she were enclosed but to everyone in her path she constitutes a peculiar disturbance these are disturbing people. [00:02:03]

Her signature gift is the gift of Tears she becomes quite famous for this Jesus brother James writes in his letter uh wash your hands you Sinners purify your hearts you double-minded weep mourn whail lower yourself before God and he will in due time lift you up those words sound kind of extreme don't they marjerie is fearless in her judgments whether of backbiting neighbors or high-handed clergy she is a woman who listens carefully to the stirrings of her own soul. [00:03:09]

Most of all her weeping is a form of Truth telling as a prophet she sees pain and Injustice that no one else notices and registers it in the only way she can as Abraham Joshua hesel writes of the Hebrew prophets their voices are always about an octave too high for the rest of society like fingernails on a chalkboard chalkboard was a device for public writing long time ago you can Google it prophets were almost always Outsiders and Marjorie experiences this. [00:04:12]

Her calling to be used by Jesus actually begins when she's coming out of what we would talk about now as a postpartum problem she went insane and for over 6 months was tormented and mad she ended up going through 14 births experiencing poverty uh an indifferent husband insanity and out of this comes a calling to speak to people on behalf of God out of a prophetic gift in particular to talk about ways in which our world our lives are not aligned with what it is that God wants for us. [00:04:48]

The world is a proud Place full of beauty but the prophets are scandalized and Rave as if the whole world were a slum they make much ad do about poultry things lavishing excessive language on trifling subjects what if someone somewhere in ancient Palestine poor people have not been treated properly by the rich so what if some people followed Idols to us a single act of Injustice cheating in business exploitation of the poor is a slight to the profits of disaster. [00:06:04]

To Us Injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people to the prophets it is a death blow to existence their breathless impatience with Injustice May strike us as hysteric we ourselves witness continually acts of Injustice manifestations of hypocrisy falsehood outrage misery but we rarely grow indignant or overly excited to the prophets even a minor Injustice assumes Cosmic proportions Amos says the Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob surely I will never forget any of their deeds. [00:06:47]

The prophet's words are outbursts of violent emotions his rebuke is Harsh and Relentless but if such deep sensitivity to evil is to be called hysterical what name should be given to the abysmal indifference to evil that the prophet bewail the paltriness of our moral comprehension the incapacity to sense the depth of misery caused by our own failures is a fact that no one can elude the prophet is a person who feels fiercely God has thrust a burden upon the prophet's soul. [00:07:38]

Prophecy is the voice that God has lent to the silent Agony a voice to the plundered poor it is a form of living a crossing point of God and man God is Raging in the prophet's words so I offer this as a thought today I know it is not a comfortable it is actually deliberately an uncomfortable a discomforting one God would you give me the gift of of a more sensitive conscience and I want to invite you today to walk through the day and ask the spirit of God to speak prophetic words. [00:08:25]

I got a haircut yesterday and while I was getting a haircut the person who was cutting my hair had her phone ring and asked if it was okay for her to answer it and my initial response was to feel like no you're not supposed to do that you're supposed to be um working for me now I'm paying for this I don't have a whole lot of time and then I got a kind of a twins where I thought about what might this moment be like for her and she had answered the phone in another language. [00:09:10]

There was here was this otherness and afterwards I asked her if everything was okay and what was going on and it turns out that her mom was supposed to be going through an operation and it was her brother on the phone and because of another problem in her mom's health life uh they had to put off doing the operation and because she has to be in the shop cutting hair she could not be with her mom and I thought how different her life is than mine. [00:09:38]

You have a story your story matters deeply to God none of us gets the story that we want but we need God's help David had a prophet named Nathan in his life not easy to be somebody's Prophet I need a prophet you need a prophet we all need that as we walk together in The Fellowship of the withered hand. [00:10:37]