Baw da bump ba ba….
I
am sure each of us here can finish that little jingle. For years now it has woken up our taste buds
and made our mouth salivate. In just a
little jingle we can smell the golden fries salted to perfection, we can see
the special sauce dripping off the beef patty.
Drive down the interstate and catch a hint of the golden arch and we
know that a Flurry of fun awaits our senses.
Walk in to this particular fast food joint all around the world and you
can simply name your number and you know what you are going to get: a
consistently greasy, appetizingly unhealthy, piece of heaven. The people working with Ronald have figured
out the way to promote their product—a little jingle, a golden sign towering
about the landscape, and they have us hooked.
They have perfected the art of promoting—of being prophets—of their own product.
We
do pretty well this day in age at promoting—being prophets—of our own product,
too. Facebook, Twitter and the
Blogosphere have allowed anyone and everyone to put their entire life on the
Internet—most of which people just really don’t need to know. From when we are
going to the bathroom to the latest pimple on our forehead to our horoscope to
Lady Gaga’s weight to our BFF, relationship
status , what we like and want to share—we
have become pretty good prophets our own product. All people need to do is visit our Facebook
page or follow us on Twitter and they get a pretty good idea about what is
important to us, about what we promote and what has value in our life. Perhaps, maybe, there is something more in
our lives that we could be promoting.
I
was at the lake this last weekend and I saw something that one normally does
not see in late September in Minnesota (mostly because the lakes are
practically frozen by this time). A
local church was baptizing a number of people in the water. The preacher walked in with the folks and
fully submerged them. They were
completely dunked in the water, and when they came out, they were not the
same. Of course they were soaked and
gasping for air. But at that moment
their soul had changed. They had been filled
with the Holy Spirit. And from that
Spirit they were called to give their lives totally and completely in following
Jesus—being his prophets here on Earth; to promote Christ to the world.
Now
most of us do not remember our own baptism.
We were but infants. But the
effects are the same: in our baptism we were
created as new people. We can no longer
be about promoting ourselves or our own product, we are now called to promote,
to be prophets, of Christ.
In
the first reading today Moses has found himself in quite a struggle. The people he is supposed to be leading to
the promised land are losing their patience.
They have been wandering for far too long. They are tired. Giving up hope. Complaining. They are turning away from God,
and towards idols. And Moses is in over
his head. He simply can’t seem to handle
all that the people are asking of him. Like a miracle, the spirit goes out on many
people around Moses. The Spirit empowers
them to help Moses. To guide the
people. To carry out the Lord’s work. To be prophets for God. A few people try to stop this work of the
Spirit, and yet Moses says very emphatically: Would that all the people of the
Lord were prophets.
We
find ourselves, too, in a time of great wandering, complaining, struggling and
turning from God. The perilous times we
find ourselves in seem to be overwhelming humanity and even us as Church.
Violence
envelops the world
Narcotics
invade our homes
Anger
abides on our televisions
Trafficking
tears away innocence
Laws
limit our religious freedom
Conflicts
cut at our marriages
Relativism
ravishes our values
Individualism
isolates the lonely of society
We
wait around for God to act. We wait
around for leaders to arise. We wait
around for the perfect political party to solve our problems. We wait around for a miracle. And God says to each of us, to each of the
baptized, not just priests or the ones with money or the good looking ones or
the smart ones or the witty ones or the talented ones or the strong ones or the
secure ones---to each of the baptized, God says: Would that all of my people
were prophets.
Would
that all were prophets and forgave those who have harmed us
Would
that all were prophets and sought out help for their addictions
Would
that all were prophets and embraced the moral code of the Church
Would
that all were prophets and returned to God in the sacraments
Would
that all were prophets and noticed the suffering of millions of unknown voices
Would
that all were prophets and loved their families through it all
Would
that all were prophets and supported those on the margins of society
Would
that all were prophets and shared food with those who go hungry
Would
that all were prophets and cared carefully for what God has created
Would
that all the people of the Lord were prophets
As
a newly ordained priest one of the real gifts that I have been given is the
chance to visit with our homebound folks.
To bring them communion. To sit
with them. To listen to them. Many of the people that I have been able to
visit are approaching the final stage of their life. They have been struggling with some kind of
illness or disease and are slowly losing the battle. At this point in their life many of them are
very reflective. They are taking a long look
at the life they lived and wondering what difference it made. Most of them can see that when they die to
this world the thing that will remain is the memory people have of their life
and the people whose lives they were able to touch. Coming close to the point of death, they see
more clearly what kind of prophet they were in this life. They see who or what they promoted. They see how well they were able to live out
their baptism.
Most
of us will not find ways to be prophets promoting Christ through some jingle,
or a golden arch, or Facebook, or even Twitter.
The greatest means that each of us has to be prophets of Christ is the
very example of our lives. When we reach
the end of our days will we be able to say that we lived our lives to promote
Christ, to be his prophets, to bring his love, compassion, forgiveness and
peace to this world?
Would
that all the people of the Lord were prophets.
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