Through Prophets and Sages

"Again and again you called us to return. Through prophets and sages you revealed your righteous Law. And in the fullness of time you sent your only Son, born of a woman, to fulfill your Law, to open for us the way of freedom and peace..." (The Book of Common Prayer, Eucharistic Prayer "C", page 370.)

Yesterday, I was praying with a group of clergy in our diocese. We broke bread together and shared the cup using a Eucharistic Prayer that I've always found particularly relevant to the season after Epiphany. The language is perhaps a bit dated - it starts off with talk of "the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home." But of course our "new" Prayerbook was published in 1979 so if it sounds a bit like the seventies, that is hardly a crime.

I like the cosmic language. I also love the part that comes in lieu of the prayer of humble access: after asking God to open our eyes to see God's hand at work in the world about us the prayer asks God to "deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal." Priceless. In any decade.

Liturgical language shapes our belief. What we pray is not only rooted in what we already believe, but when we pray words again and again they become part of how we think about God and shape our faith in ways we might previously not have imagined.

And no matter how well we know the words, repetition allows us to occasionally hear new things in new ways.

I had that experience yesterday with the words quoted above - and in that phrase "through prophets and sages." If I were asked to edit the Prayerbook, I'd replace all uses of the word "Law" with Torah. Because to most Christian ears, Law can sound as if it's opposed to Grace. We have St. Paul to thank for that. But Torah isn't really best understood as Law, and certainly not as "legalistic." Torah is instruction. It is teaching. How might Christians be re-formed if we prayed, "through prophets and sages you revealed your righteous teaching?"

I love The Episcopal Church. We are at a season in our life together of really wanting to value the prophetic voice. Of recapturing what was lost when we tended to embrace being "chaplains to the dominant culture." We are pretty good at channeling Isaiah and Jeremiah, Micah and Amos and Hosea. At least that is my experience of this denomination I love. Even when preachers focus on the gospel readings, they are focused in on Jesus, that "young and fearless prophet."

But Torah is not only about the prophetic voice. It's about the wisdom of the sages. It's about teaching - instruction or to use another word, about formation. I find that most people in our time don't respond very well to "thus saith the Lord." I think we need the sages - the wisdom teachers who also reveal God's righteous Teaching.

We need the scientists who explore space and the smallest particles. We need poets who raise big questions like "who made the grasshopper...this grasshopper I mean." We need theologians who invite us to consider: sages like Jesus of Nazareth who asked us to "consider the lilies and the birds..."

Through the prophets and the sages, we are more grounded in a tradition. We are less likely, I think, to be accused of being partisan political hacks when we take a stand for the sake of the gospel. I wonder if it doesn't help us to find common ground, not only ecumenically but with people of good will beyond the Church on this fragile island home we share?