Epiphany 4, 2018: We are all prophets

Note: This sermon was preached from notes (not full text) which are included below. This being the annual congregational meeting, the sermon was shorter than usual as well.



Note: if this player won't work on your device, click HERE for an alternative audio format.

Lectionary: Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28

En el nobre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.

DioWMI: Bp. (retired) Bob Gepert said often, “We are all prophets.”
• We will all have a prophetic word to share – at some point… not necessarily a life-long occupation.

Moses quote: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.”
• We heed because God is life. God’s Word is life-giving.
• And God lives in us… speaks through us… loves through us.

Training in scripture and theology does not make one a prophet. It’s the reverse of that.
• the stirring of God in us
• the love we hold in our hearts for God’s people COMPELS us to study scripture and theology – so that – we don’t get in the way of God’s message.

As we see in the Gospel: every time the divine speaks through a human vessel it is
• astounding
• authoritative – beyond knowledge like the scribes

Have you ever been around someone who spoke a prophetic word?
• story about the vestry retreat yesterday and the woman who spoke a prophetic truth there.

All it takes to receive and speak a prophetic word is: open surrender to God
• opening ourselves: remembering God’s penchant for choosing the unlikeliest human vessels
• surrendering: being willing to move ourselves out of the way and give God’s spirit free movement within us

Later: St. David’s Annual Congregational Meeting
• Every person here is a human vessel of the divine

Let’s pray for God to speak to us for 2018. From our Collect: “Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace.”

We will heed the prophetic word given to us by God, and we will be at peace.