12-Step Eucharist Prophets, October 7, 2026, St. Mark’s
The prophets before Jesus were drunk on God, and in their terrible tipsiness, no one was ever comfortable being around them. I’m certain no one here can identify with what that was like! Without any semblance of diplomacy, they roared against phoniness and corruption wherever they found it. They especially terrified the ruling class and priests. The prophet Nathan tells King David to his face that he is a murderer and an adulterer (2 Samuel 12:1-15). The prophet Jeremiah goes straight to the Temple and says, "Do not trust in their deceptive words, 'This is the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord'" (Jeremiah 7:4). Prophets like to repeat things three times, just to make it clear.
No prophet asks for the job prior to Jesus. When God puts the finger on Isaiah, Isaiah says, "How long, O Lord? How long?" (Isaiah 6:11). Jeremiah, without hesitation, suggests that he is way too young for that line of work (Jeremiah 1:6). Moses reminds God that public speaking is not his spiritual gift. (Exodus 4:1-13). 1
Robert Frost's1 poetry reminds us that the prophets prophesy as mystics, and a prophet's quarrel with the world is, deep down, a lover's quarrel. If prophets didn't love the world, they wouldn't bother to keep speaking out against its people’s actions. They would remain complacent like the rest of us and just overlook what is happening. Their quarrel is also God's quarrel.1,2
Theirs is a deep connection to God’s love.
The prophets speak to us tonight to remind us that God will do everything possible to love and care for us.
We are here tonight to remember that there is nothing we have done that God will not forgive. No thing, no person, no addiction, no event, no action can ever separate us from this God of love. Period.
1Frederick Buechner, “Prophets,” Beyond Words.
Robert Frost, “Prophets Prophesy as Mystics, the Commentators Merely by Statistics,” Final Christmas greeting card, 1962, shortly before his death in January.
Joanna Seibert