“Chris Bell” <> wrote in message news:<>…

Rowland,

I think that there is actually a third religious mind-set – that of the prophet, the one who sees the failings of the world and of the necessity for change, and is not frightened of telling others of this. S/he is not a saint, nor a pharisee for the prophet may not live a saintly life (they are often rude, arrogant, unconcerned by hurting others feelings), nor pharisaic as they look to the heart of our malaise, not the rules and regulations. For that reason there are very few in our churches, as they usually get shown the door rather quickly.

Saints are ‘Creation-centred’; pharisees ‘Fall-centred’. And the prophet? I think they are God-centred.

For the pharisee ‘my people’ = ‘people like me’, for the saint ‘my people’ = all God’s people.

And prophets ‘my people’ = ‘those who will listen’ and the rest be damned.

Only one thing is important: to be a saint.

Not so sure about the last. I think we need saints and prophets, probably pharisees also as long as they are balanced by others. Frost and Hirsch (“The Shaping of Things to Come”) claim we need apostles (=entrepreneurs), pastors and teachers too.

And I doubt you could call Jesus a saint. He was rude to some, distinctly prophetic in his outlook, downright apocalyptic I would say. I can’t imagine many saints condemning a fig tree just because they came upon it out of season, or being as condemnatory as many of Jesus’ parables were. He was never afraid to condemn sin, nor those who refused to acknowledge their sinfulness.

I think we have lost that edge of Jesus’ ministry. I wonder how many sermons have been preached over the last few weeks based on our readings from the Revelation? Not many I suspect, because we are now quite uncomfortable with that style and its uncompromising promises. I think

it is due for a comeback. (It is very popular in mainstream culture – just look at the many apocalyptic movies coming from the US over the last few years, even TV programs). How about it, Rowland?

Chris Bell