Not fully got into the full swing of things as yet, what with funerals, planning for the trip to the States, the impending house move etc. However, one thought that that struck me forcibly the other day in connection with Clergy Sabbaticals was that the work of the Pastor is, or should be, very much a balance between that of the prophet and the priest.
The prophet is normally an outsider who comes, for a time, to speak the word of the Lord. He or she generally disturbs others. The priest, on the other hand, is an insider, one who is called to identify with the people and become one with them. He generally comforts others.
I love the life of a priest, being absorbed into the life of St Cuthbert's, it's people, it's ministry and it's context, but don't much relish the thought of being a prophet, though that is also a part of my calling. How much easier to work with the grain - like the priest - than against it - like the prophet. The danger is that one becomes so merged with - submerged by (?) - one's church and community that the Pastor is, as a result, unable to bring a fresh word.
Of course, there is no ultimate contradiction between these two ministries. Jesus Christ had both a prophetic and priestly vocation, but there is a tension and one way to maintain the balance is to withdraw for a season. Hence the Sabbatical.
Your thoughts welcome
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One question you've got to ask is, to whom are you being prophetic? I'd say that church ministers' lives should be and are prophetic (by example, regardless of their ministry) to the world outside the church. Then there's being prophetic to those within the church, which is tricky. It particularly annoys me when certain bishops decide to come over all 'prophetic' in ways that are likely to just split the church: they're meant to be a centre of unity so it's not their role and it's a privilege they forfeit when they start speaking as an official face of the church.
Then again, I think you need to know a fair bit about the congregation before you can start criticizing them. I remember one time at my grandad's church when there was a visiting preacher who started condemning them for all sorts of sins he thought they may be committing. He was preaching at them not to them, he knew sod all and I doubt I was the only person who left with hackles raised.
Dear Mister Bunbury,
Thank you for your thoughtful question.
Allow me to clarify. By prophetic I didn't necessarily mean negative - that it is actually, as I read it, a subsidiary part of the prophetic task. So I quite agree with your obs about bishops and visiting preachers.
The line thought I was feeling for was more related to coming from a different place in order to provide vision, perspective, an alternative world etc. rather than just addressing the obvious needs that people have, important as that is.
Okay, that's interesting. So you can be prophetic to those inside the church in a more similar way to what I was saying about being so to those outside it? I'd better think about it some more.
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