The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 12

Peace BreakFasTs

Prophetic Hope,

Holy Spirit. We cannot "organize" the Holy Spirit. We must
admit that we are amazed about how the Spirit works and that
we are agents of that work.
Then our challenge is to praise God for blowing on us,
continued from page 11
moving us, commissioning us, and getting God's work for love
and justice done through us. We must resist the temptation
wind will blow us, who God's wind will blow into fellowship with
to claim credit for what the holy Spirit is doing. Sails do not
us, and how God's wind will blow obstacles from before us.
deserve credit for moving sailboats. Sailboats move because
We have this assurance. God's wind will blow! God's wind
the wind blows! Without the wind, sails are powerless to move
is blowing! And, God's wind blows in ways the holy Spirit
sailboats! Without the holy Spirit, we can do nothing.
chooses to make prophetic changes happen in our lives.
We must also, as peter did at pentecost and as Moses did
God's wind blows to make prophetic people shed light
with Joshua, help others understand that prophetic work is
on unjust situations powerful people would rather keep under
always done according to the ways of the holy Spirit. Joshua,
cover. God's wind blows to use prophetic people to uproot
the people who thought the Galileans were drunk and nicotraditions, customs, and practices powerful people want to
demus show that even religious people are not accustomed to
maintain. God's wind blows to send prophetic voices to dishow the holy Spirit works.
turb our complacency and complicity about poverty, cruelty,
So one important obligation of prophetic people is to do
inequality and any other oppression.
what Moses did for Joshua, what peter did at pentecost, and what
God's wind blows us! And the paradox is that, like Joshua,
Jesus did for nicodemus. We must understand and then help
we who should be most excited about the work of the holy
others understand that the Spirit of God is not domesticated.
Spirit are often unhappy about how the Spirit operates.
God's Spirit is not house-trained. God's Spirit is always free.
God's wind is blowing women, gay, lesbian, transgender,
Among other things, that will require us to admit that we
bisexual and other queer people, people who have been preare not in control! like sailboats, we are on the water for God,
viously incarcerated, and people who have been overlooked or
but we do not control the wind. We do not define how strongly
deliberately shunned by religious people in the past to challenge
God's Spirit will blow us. We cannot dictate to God's Spirit
the politics, commerce, and religion of empire.
when to act, where to act, or how long to work through us. We
God's wind is blowing! our challenge is to be good sails!
are not in control of God's Spirit. The holy Spirit controls us!
our challenge is to be, like all other prophetic people beWhat a paradox! We are puny vessels. God's Spirit
fore us, initially amazed. God's Spirit chooses to work through
transforms our puny and faint-hearted resources in amazing
us. We do not recruit the holy Spirit. We do not schedule the
and powerful ways. let us thank and praise God. let us be
obedient as the Spirit moves us to make
God's prophetic differences in our daily
experiences. let us live and rejoice in the
in March of this year, Judson
powerful paradox of prophetic hope today,
press released a book by
tomorrow, and always! Amen.
Judge Griffen titled The Fierce
urgency of Prophetic hope,
-Judge Wendell Griffen is a BPFNA~Bautistas
with a prologue by Walter
por la Paz member and the pastor of new Millennium
Brueggemann, foreword
Church in Little Rock, AR. Copyright 2017 Wendell
by Allan Aubrey Boesak
Griffen. Used with permission. Note: the comments
and afterword by emilie
and perspectives shared by Rev./Judge Griffen are
M. Townes. The book can
his personal opinions. They do not represent, and
be ordered online at www.
should in no way be ascribed to, any other person,
pyramidbks.net, the online
organization, or entity, including any member or entity
store for a black-owned
of the Arkansas or American judiciary.
little rock, Ar, bookstore
endnote
and art gallery named
1. To read more about this encounter, see
pyramid Art, Books and
"Let Us Reason Together" by Judge Griffen
custom framing. To read
in Baptist Peacemaker, Vol 37 No 3, July-SepWalter Brueggemann's
tember 2107, pages 20-25. Read Gwenyth
review of the book, see
lewis' account of the rally on page 14.
Baptist Peacemaker, vol 37 no
2, April-June 2017, pages
20-21.

Baptist Peacemaker

JAN-MAR 2018

http://www.pyramidbks.net

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018