We are currently experiencing the longest season of the liturgical year: Ordinary Time after Pentecost. As I went through today’s readings, particularly the first reading and the Gospel, I was reminded how I tend to disengage from an active and hope-filled version of faith during this time of year. The relative quietness of this long span of Ordinary Time can cause me to fall into robotic methods of faith that don’t particularly lean into a Gospel-centered, restorative hope.  

 If you, like me, have a habit of extracting as much revelation and meaningfulness as possible during Lent and Advent, I especially invite you to examine with me how the extraordinary prophetic energizing of Jesus and the prophets can rouse us from monotony and numbness. 

Firstly, I would like to briefly introduce us to philosopher Walter Benjamin’s concept of homogenous, empty time, where time flows uninterrupted in a way that makes its passage relatively meaningless, only to be used as a tool to count the days and structure history. This empty time is contrasted by messianic time, which is by nature revolutionary, disrupts oppressive narratives, and forces us to focus our attention on a very hopeful and urgent “now.” This messianic time ruptures through by the message of the prophets and the ministry of Jesus.

In today’s first reading as well as the Gospel, we encounter such prophetic witness. God is sending out Ezekiel to minister to an exiled and hard-hearted Israel, and Jesus is returning to his hometown of Nazareth, only to be met with scrutiny. In the case of Ezekiel, verse five states that the people will know that a prophet is among them, whether they listen to him or not. Despite Ezekiel’s rejection, he continues to minister to them. Now, Jesus returns to his hometown after he had already been teaching and performing some miraculous healings elsewhere. Even so, he is questioned about why and how he is doing all of these things. However, notice what Jesus did when he was met with rejection: He moved on due to their unbelief. He went to those who had faith in him and they were the ones who welcomed his teachings and received healing.

I would be lying if I said that my own sense of belief becomes terribly limited during the less reflective times of the liturgical year. It is readings like these that, while they might not seem hopeful, remind me that the work of prophetic ministry continues on 24/7, 365 days a year, whether or not I am receptive to it. The prophetic message is there, and we can choose to receive restoration from it if we allow it.

It is Walter Brueggemann’s book The Prophetic Imagination that explains this prophetic energizing. In his book, the reader is guided through how Jesus and the prophets invite us into living in a greater alternative purpose through imaginative prophetic ministry and grief, countering the systems of despair and numbness that the dominant culture keeps us trapped in. 

Brueggemann explains, “It is the task of the prophet to bring to expression the new realities against the more visible ones of the old order. Energizing is closely linked to hope. We are energized not by what which we already possess but by that which is promised and about to be given” (14).

For those of us who are followers of Jesus, we cannot let our unbelief numb us from the prophetic message that newness is within reach. Even in later chapters of Ezekiel, despite the constant hard-heartedness of the Israelites, God sends visions of restoration and hope. And we know, of course, that Jesus continues to preach, heal, and call us to form beloved community.

Brueggemann states, “God has time for his people and God insists his people take his time seriously. The church in a word and by steeply clock announces what time it is and that we must live in God’s time” (48). I believe that living in God’s time means being called to not disengage from the “every day.” It is critically important to listen to prophetic energizing, especially during the seasons that tend to lull us into a sense of false comfort and temporary happiness. We are promised a world much better than that.

Closing our ears to prophetic witness keeps us in homogenous empty time, while heeding it allows us to be pulled into kairos – a holy present where messianic time ruptures through. Prophetic witness does not tell us to wait for Lent to be repentant and lament, nor Advent for being joyous in anticipation. It tells us any and all seasons are viable for reflection and newness.

Though we, like the people of Israel, can oftentimes be stubborn and un-open to new possibilities, and though we may have numbed ourselves in the monotony of the counting of days, we must cling to the hope that prophetic energizing brings. Instead of being hard-hearted and scandalized by those who dare criticize the systems of death that we are all too familiar with, yet too stubborn to move out of, let us welcome the teachers, healers, and visionaries with the type of faith that allows space for miracles and alternative ways of being. It can be extraordinarily difficult to shift our imagination to believe in a world that can seem impossible to achieve. However, we should take these ideas that can be stumbling blocks and lay them as the foundation of our faith and hope for beloved and restored community. Surely there are prophets among us urging us to do so, and there is always time to listen to their wisdom.

Another world is possible if we have the courage to imagine it and speak it into existence. Prophetic witness is not a thing of the past. So, who are the ones that are currently inviting us to enter into this newness?

The Center for Prophetic Imagination (CPI), located in Minneapolis, MN, is an organization co-founded by Maki Ashe Van Steenwyk who serves as the executive director and course instructor. The Center for Prophetic Imagination “works to subvert the existing social order through deep discernment culminating with creative action.” They not only follow in the tradition of the prophets, but also use the prophetic wisdom of historical and current liberatory and abolitionist movements to invite us all into deep discernment alongside the Holy Spirit. CPI invites those whom they encounter into discernment that leads to action, and solidarity that leads to a transformed community and collective liberation.

CPI leaders and partners include theologians, organizers, artists, writers, educators, and more! The Center for Prophetic Imagination currently offers a two-year certificate in Spiritual Direction in Social Transformation, as well as opportunities for retreats, talks, and sermons by Ashe Van Steenwyk and other staff.

You can read The Center for Prophetic Imagination’s full manifesto here. 

Another World IS Possible by Ricardo Levins Morales depicts a person crawling from a world filled of extraction and suppression into a world of justice and solidarity.  This, along with much other of Ricardo Livens Morales’ art, places the importance of the work of sustainability, anti-oppression, and community collectives.

Being able to visualize and actually believe that there is a way of doing things differently invites us into the prophetic task of embracing and building the holy, alternative, and restored community that God desires for us.

Ricardo Levins Morales is a Minneapolis-based artist, and you can learn more about him and see more of his artwork here.