Truth and Meaning: Prophesy

Truth and Meaning: Prophesy

Last week, I posted some predictions for the coming year. I do not consider this a trivial task, or a casual posting to pique the interest of the reader. Through the ages, to prophesy has meant conducting the act of revelation, giving an inspired message from god or the gods or a divine source. Usually a prophecy is associated with foretelling the future, but it can also include messages of inspiration or admonishment towards a particular people or even an individual.

Grammar plays an important role in determining the use of the term "to prophesy." In its transitive form, the act of prophesying implies that the message originates from a deity ("The minister prophesied rewards for the faithful and punishment for the wicked."). In its intransitive form, prophesying derives from the human speaker ("The minister prophesied possible futures in the Sunday morning sermon.") In its intransitive form, therefore, anyone is capable of prophesying — to teach, to predict, or simply to make observations.

In this broader view, any oration in a religious venue can be viewed as an act of prophesying. Ordained clergy, who have generally received extensive instruction in religious matters and gone through a discernment process to prepare them for ordination, might be expected to regularly prophesy as part of the practice of homiletics (delivering sermons aimed at the spiritual needs, capacities and conditions of a congregation). When viewed as a profession, prophesying might be considered an act expected of ministers to offer insight, inspiration and instruction through preaching.

I don’t believe that I need to stand behind a podium in order to prophesy. And because I consider everything I do to be religious in nature, prophesying is any act of speaking or writing to make observations, to inspire or to teach others. This is my purpose in this blog, a purpose I will continue in the coming year. Consider that the last of my New Year’s predictions.

Truth and Meaning: New Year's Predictions

Truth and Meaning: New Year's Predictions

On Christmas Eve, I cited Isaiah from the Jewish Bible. A prophet of ancient Israel, Isaiah foretold many things, including the birth of a baby that would lead the people to a world of perfect peace. As a seer of future events, many people consider Isaiah’s predictions remarkably accurate.

Of course, there have been many prophets over the centuries. Far more predictions have been dismal failures than have hit anywhere close to their intended mark. For every Isaiah, history has forgotten countless others who dared to foretell future events.

So, at the risk of joining the thousands on the trash heap of history, I offer my predictions for 2014. And, perhaps like Isaiah, I offer these predictions not so much in the spirit of clinical accuracy, but in the desire to instill hope in a people whose faith could use a boost.

• In 2014, the trend of electing mental midgets, corporate tools and special interest pawns will decline.
• In 2014, the federal government will heed the overwhelming will of the people and pass comprehensive legislation creating mandatory background checks for all gun purchases.
• In 2014, the kinks in the Affordable Care Act will slowly disappear, silencing its critics into well-deserved irrelevancy.
• In 2014, the voices of women will grow until even the most hard-of-hearing legislators are forced to listen.
• In 2014, long overdue immigration reform will provide a reasonable path to citizenship for millions of future Americans.
• In 2014, progressive leaders and thinking will sprout from the dunghill of reactionary, no-nothingism that has strangled our nation for too long.
• In 2014, Michigan will join the growing list of states removing restrictions barring same-sex marriage.
• In 2014, we will look less for the differences that separate us, and more for the common bonds that unite us. 

I profess no special gift for prophecy — only the spirit of hope for this nation that we will lift ourselves from the doldrums of complacency and fear. I believe in America and I believe in the American people. And I believe that we are destined to be better than we have been in recent years as a nation, as a people and as individuals.