I read something in the New York Times a week ago that said American’s anxiety has ratcheted up 150% since 2004 and has more than doubled in just the last 8 years. These results were based on a study of internet searches over the last decade. I thought about this troubling fact when I began working with today’s readings. Here is Jesus saying: “I have come to light a fire on the earth.” If you think I’ve come to bring peace, you’re wrong; I’ve come to sow division. And division we have—division in the world, in the nation, in the church… As highly social beings, dependent on each other for our well-being and survival, division of such magnitude makes us very anxious.
Division isn’t new, of course. In Jeremiah’s time the political situation was at least as contentious and bitter as it is in our own day, just not as global! Judean leaders were divided into factions, with differing views and differing political alliances and waged war to secure their interests just as ours do. In the end Judah fell, Jerusalem and its Temple were destroyed and the movers and shakers of society—the soldiers, craftsmen, religious leaders and nobility—were all deported to Babylon. Only the poorest and weakest remained in the land.
Jeremiah’s account of how he received his commission as a prophet includes these words: “The Lord said to me ‘Before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you….This day I set you over nations and over kingdoms, to root up and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant.” These are words of confirmation for Jeremiah as well as words of division; they are also words of hope. Fire on the earth is destructive, but it is also purifying and regenerative. Some trees like the giant Sequoia and jack pine, for instance, depend on fire to release their seeds so they can germinate. Without fire there would be no next generation. Fire stimulates and revitalizes closed systems, infusing them with new life.
Prophets have a tough job. Their role is to disturb the status quo, to unsettle church and society to bring about needed change. They are devoted to the God who sends them as witnesses to injustice and hypocrisy and demands that they voice God’s disapproval in the public square. When “the norm” needs a course correction, they emerge. They are the whistle-blowers who suffer retaliation from those whose power they naturally threaten. They have power over nations and kingdoms because nothing can ultimately stop the forces of truth and justice. Darkness cannot last forever; the return of the light is inevitable.
In our Church today we have many Prophets and we also have those who are dedicated to maintaining the status quo. As a result there is division in families, in parishes, in convents, monasteries and seminaries. We sit here today in part because of those divisions. For 50 years and more we have carried the Spirit of Vatican II hoping the day would come when Sophia Herself would break through and rekindle the flame of that spirit in the hearts of church leaders. We see a glimpse of that fire in Pope Francis today and in some Church officials who support him! We formed this community of faith, rallying around the vision of women and men serving together, healing the torn fabric of God’s feminine image and reinstating it in the church and the larger world as a matter of truth and justice. Nine years later we are still lending our own prophetic voice to the growing chorus of voices crying for equality, justice and radical inclusivity of all the marginalized in a truly “catholic” and universal church.
The division within the church is still there. The voices of resistance are still loud. But we are here, continuing to live our deepest understanding and conviction that Christ is present as truly in this assembly, as truly in women celebrants, and as truly at this table as in any church Rome approves. The God of disruption and change calls us from within the heart of the Church. Our very existence is prophetic, even when we do nothing more than show up each month. Our presence confirms the authority of Vatican II and calls for a return to core values of ecumenism, religious freedom, priesthood and prophethood of all believers, collaborative ministry, and openness to the Spirit alive and active in our world. Our presence in the Church and the world is prophetic. We witness to the foundational truth that all people are God’s people, that all are needed and welcome, that all must be given a place at the table and all gifts are to be received, honored and blessed for the good of all.
We who belong to this community are called by the same God who called Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos and all the prophets of old to confront their leaders and rally their communities. It is this God who sent Jesus to set the world ablaze and release the seeds of truth and justice to transform the earth. This God—our God—calls us to live into the role of PROPHET. Sophia Christi is one vehicle of prophecy. We are more than a progressive community. We are a sign that God is doing something very new within the Church by calling women to priesthood and continuing to call for renewal of the institutional framework itself! It is our privilege and our responsibility to sing this new church into being. Today we celebrate being one small flame in the blazing fire Jesus unleashed on earth. Let’s continue to be that holy flame in the years to come. Happy 9th anniversary to all of you!
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