Our Scriptures are quite clear about this—that God is never impressed with prayers when actions are not informed by them. Nor does God spare us from the consequences of our deeds which always, in the end, matter more than the words we pray.
—Bishop Mariann Budde, homily, A Service of Prayer for the Nation
Rabbi Nahum Ward-Lev considers how the Hebrew prophets warned against idolatry, cautioning against the pursuit of power and control instead of trust in the living presence of God:
The prophets saw that idolatry and dominating power are two aspects of the same phenomenon. Both are attempts to exert excessive control: to control God in one case and dominate other people in the other…. Idolatry is a flight from both God and relationship with God’s Creation.
The biblical prophets called out the many false idols that people grab hold of in attempts to feel substantial, secure, and in control. These idols include power, wealth, fame, beauty, knowledge, and possessions. For the prophets, these idols were a double abomination. First, people inevitably resort to multiple forms of oppression—lies, manipulation, bribery, forced labor, theft, murder—in pursuit of these idols. Second, bowing down to these false deities ultimately distances people from Living Presence (God) and from life itself.
Over two millennia ago, these biblical prophets envisioned a different world, a world pressing to be born. In place of imperial culture, the prophets articulated another way of living in God’s Creation. Countering extraction, force, and separation, the prophets lifted up trust, right relationship, and becoming. In prophetic understanding, these three qualities embodied the way of faithfulness to Living Presence, the way of aliveness.
Trust in life itself is essential to aliveness. The prophets repeatedly admonished the people for trusting in wealth and influence, for seeking security in power and possessions—trusting in extraction. Instead, they called people to trust Living Presence by trusting the gift of life, the God-given gift of unfolding, unexpected, ever-creating life. Rather than seeking more things, the prophets called for seeking the more in life. Rather than seeking to be in maximal control of life, the prophets called people to participate in the fullness of life. This is the response to the desire to extract: receive and appreciate the more within life itself.
In Creation as it truly is—a world that consists of multiple layers of interdependent relationships—the call of life is to live in right relationship, not to maximize control. Undue control deadens relationships…. For the prophets, full participation in life cannot be derived from oppressive relationships in which one party exerts undue control over another or extracts in a way that diminishes the other. Fullness flows only from relationships in which all parties have age-appropriate agency. Fullness in relationship emerges from the flourishing nurtured within mutually beneficial relationships. The entry ticket to every relationship is vulnerability to hurt, rejection, and loss. A truly rich life requires that we embrace this vulnerability, that we properly manage our desire for control—that we trust life.
Reference:
Nahum Ward-Lev, “Living Between Two Worlds,” ONEING 12, no. 2, The Path of the Prophet (2024): 17–18. Available in print or PDF download.
Image credit and inspiration: Eddie Kopp, Untitled (detail), 2017, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Prophets break things down in order to make room to create something new.
Story from Our Community:
I’ve long considered myself a black sheep. This lived experience has allowed me to avoid falling in line with the status quo. Yet even in Christian spaces today, where truth-tellers should feel welcomed, I often find myself and others maligned and misunderstood. Too often, we speak of prophets as if they are some lost artifact, whose purpose failed to keep up with modern technology and thinking. It’s refreshing to be part of an evolving conversation about how our relationship with God drives our intuition and hunger for social justice, while acknowledging the often difficult and lonely path that many prophets must walk.
—Heath S.
