Wednesday, December 8, 2004
Week Two, Day Four

The prophet Isaiah has influenced other prophets who have in turn influenced one another.  Elijah was one.  John the Baptist is another.  Who are our prophets?  Who speaks to us today?  Are we listening?

 John’s clothing was counter-cultural, as was Elijah’s (2 Kings 1:8).  But more shocking was his message!  Pointed and clear, he spoke (as Jesus did) with visual images the people could understand: a shovel; a winnowing fork; and ‘people are like wheat,’ which can be useful, nourishing and enriching – or not worth ‘a pinch of salt’ – just useless and worthy only to be destroyed. 

John speaks of judgment and a heavy price to pay for failing to listen and obey God by living with faith and compassion all day, every day.

I am reminded of the way our military exerted horrendous force against the people of Baghdad – and called it a campaign of ‘shock and awe.’  John’s message was a message of shock and awe, too.  But he didn’t kill anyone.  He woke people up with his shocking words.  And they listened!  He touched a place in their hearts that had been fogged over – found a truth buried deep inside – and opened people up to the folly of their ways.  Thus moved, they repented – they made a U-turn.  They recognized their need for a new direction in life.

Who is a prophet for you, today?  Who touches your heart?  Mine has been, for a long time, William Sloane Coffin.  In Passion for the Possible  (p. 25) he says,