Night Travelers: Prophetic Rage for Justice and Restoration

Where does water flow? Down, doesn't it? Water always flows down to the lowest place it can find, which is where our justice needs to flow as well, to the most broken and the most vulnerable. Now, back to the temple where Jesus overturned the tables, the disruption did not destroy the temple, did it? By the next day, the money changers were set back up, and the dove sellers were selling their doves to the poor. One dramatic act would not completely revolutionize the temple. [01:00:59] (39 seconds)  #JusticeFlowsDown

Rage, I want us to see rage not as a spiritual problem, but as a prophetic gift. It refuses to let us make peace with what God hates. Don't you think God hates a lot of what God sees right now? And prophetic rage refuses to let us make peace with what God hates. And so the central question today is this, can rage anger be a form of love and even of prayer? [00:51:00] (34 seconds)  #RageAsPrayer

So go now as night travelers, not fleeing the darkness within you, but carrying it gently like a lantern into the world. The God who met Moses in the fire, Hagar in the wilderness, Jacob in the dark, and Esther in her fear, that same God goes with you. You do not have to have it all resolved to walk forward, walk anyway, and may the light you find in the turning illuminate not only your own path, but the way home for someone who is still afraid to look. Go in peace. Amen. [01:09:34] (35 seconds)  #CarryLightIntoDark

Now, Luther's prophetic rage, it didn't destroy his faith, no, it deepened his faith. It it it it prompted him to sort of launch one of the greatest reforms the church has ever seen. He believed in a God that was larger than the institution, more faithful than the system, more trustworthy than the leaders who were betraying their very calling to serve the least of these. His rage was fuel for great reform. Prophetic rage builds as injustice goes unnamed. [00:49:34] (42 seconds)  #RageFueledReform

Well, the same people who are showing up on Sabbath, singing the songs, performing their sacrifices, spending lots of money, the same people who are exploring the poor during the week, the same people who are propping up systems of injustice. So God was hot. Outside of the temple, justice was being trampled, the poor exploited, and the people leading the charge were the ones singing on the Sabbath, and God said, Enough. Let justice roll down like mighty waters. [00:52:34] (46 seconds)  #EnoughOfInjustice

Jesus did this because some things need to be named, said out loud, and our silence is often a form of complicity. We must refuse to normalize what God hates. I want you to say that with me, would you? We must refuse to normalize what God hates. And this is not what the house of prayer is for, to say everything out in the world is just hunky dory. Let's sing Kumbaya. Alright? [01:01:38] (35 seconds)  #RefuseWhatGodHates

What have I made peace with that God hates? What have I normalized that God despises? And maybe your discomfort in the answer can be a signal for you, a piece of information, the beginning of your prophetic rage and your holy action. [01:02:40] (24 seconds)  #DiscomfortIsSignal

Now, we need to be careful with our rage because there's a version of our rage which can kind of be self serving, right, which can put our personal needs and wants and desires first. That's not what I'm talking about here. The test is this, who is the anger on behalf of? If it's me, then that's not prophetic rage, that's just anger. If it's others, especially the vulnerable, the marginalized, then that's holy rage [00:59:46] (32 seconds)  #AngerForTheVulnerable