The Hebrew prophets
spoke sternly on God's behalf about the gulf between the Divine Will and the
people's political, religious, and economic activities. The prophets warned the
community that if they continued to live contrary to God's Will in specific
matters, future divine reckoning and intervention would follow. The prophet
Amos was active from 786 to 746 BC. For the most part, Amos was compiled
by his disciples." [Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary, p. 475]
In addition to impressive
worship, the Episcopal Church's lay and ordained ministry includes a central,
prophetic dimension that speaks to - and acts on - issues of justice. [Note:
Prayer Book pages 305, 417, 550, 823 (#27)]
"The gospel finds concrete
expression in every culture in which the church takes root. It addresses us
where we are and, when we respond faithfully, transforms the culture of which
we are a part. The gospel takes concrete form from the church's liturgy and
through the liturgy shapes and forms us. In this way the liturgy serves not
only to glorify God but also to sanctify us, and liturgical formation - the way
ritual action forms and shapes us as Christians - is one of the concrete
expressions of the Spirit's work of sanctification. Because the world remains
fallen until God's kingdom comes, however, the church - when it is true to its
calling - remains to some extent a counterculture in every culture in which it
is planted. It is always the ekklesia - the people of God 'called out'
of the world. As such it can never simply accept cultural forms as it finds
them, but must transform them so that they are reshaped by the cross and
resurrection of Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit."
[Stuhlman, Occasions of Grace: An Historical and Theological Study of the
Pastoral Offices and Episcopal Services in the Book of Common Prayer
(1995), p. 12.] What cultural forms present in the areas served by this parish
need transformation? What is your prophetic ministry?