Seminary Journal 2008 (August) - Virginia Theological Seminary

coming down, how come Moses had
to go and do it? It fi nally dawned on
me that God was telling the truth.
Now I knew he was, I just didn’t know
what it meant. What God was trying
to get Moses to understand is that
Moses had to go to tell old Pharaoh,
“Thus saith the Lord God of Israel.
Let my people go,” but that it wasn’t
Moses’ mission at all. It was God’s
mission. Moses was simply doing the
work of God. It was God who was going
to Pharaoh through Moses. “Thus
saith the Lord God of Israel. Let my
people go.” Moses could not have infl
icted plagues on Egypt…God could.
Moses couldn’t part the Red Sea…God
could. Moses couldn’t set the captive
free…God could. Moses was going to
Pharaoh, not on his own mission but
God’s.
Authentic prophecy: It’s mission-focused…
focused on God’s mission and
God’s word in the world, not on our
own. And I will admit to you freely,
that is where I have made the most
consistent mistakes in my ministry. It
is when I think I’m a bishop because
I’m Michael… You know, I think I’m a
bishop because I’m cute or because I
wear nice clothes.
I was coming back from Memphis and
I got stranded overnight. It was a Saturday
and I needed to be in Greensboro
on Sunday, so I made arrangements
with my assistant to pick me up
at the airport in Greensboro and take
me to the church where I was going
Sunday morning. I realized that my
vestments were not in the car. I called
my wife, Sharon, and said, “I need
you to get my vestments for Sunday.
I have a series of services so I’ve got
different vestments I need you to get.”
She said, “Ok” and took the cordless
phone to go back into my vestment
closet, which she calls my drag closet
[laughter]. (I hope this is not being
recorded.) [laughter] So, we’re back
in the closet and I say, “First, I need
an alb.” And she says, “What’s that?”
I said, “Long white robe that looks
like an angel robe.” She said “Ok.”
“I need a cincture to go with that,”
and she said, “What’s that?” “That’s
the rope thing.” And she said “Fine.”
Then I said, “I need a red stole.” And
she said, “There are three of them back
here.” So I told her, “Give me the one
with the cross.” She said, “Why do
you want that one?” And I tell her,
“Because it is Lent…Give me the one
with the cross.” So she gets that. Then
I ask for a chasuble. She asks what
that is and I tell her it is the “poncho”
thing. She gets the poncho thing and
eventually gets the stole. I also tell
her I need a purple chasuble because
I have another service because it is a
Lenten service and she says, “What do
you need that for?” “Sharon,” I say,
“just get me the purple chasuble…”
She says, “Fine.” Then I say, “I need
you to get my white mitre,” and she
says, “What is that?” and I say, “That’s
my hat… it is up on my shelf.” She
looks up there on that shelf and says,
“There’s a whole bunch of them up
there.” And I say, “Sharon, I know
that, get me the white one.” She says,
“I see the red one.” And I say, “No, the
white one.” So she gets that and I say,
“There is another one up there, a gold
one, I want that one.” Sharon: “What
do you need all this stuff for? You are
a bishop without all this.” [laughter] I
hate it when she is right. I told her, “I
know I am the bishop without it, but
it’s a lot more fun with it.” [laughter]
The truth of the matter is at the root,
deep down, we don’t need that stuff.
I am not a bishop because I’m cute…
I’m a bishop because God wants to do
something. I’m a participant. I’m not
the main player. I make my greatest
mistakes when I think this is a drama
and I’m in the lead role. Authentic
prophetic witness is the daring to
live out real discipleship… struggling
however tentatively, to follow
in the way of Jesus and witness to his
remarkable love in this world.
Conclusion: Prophetic Leadership as
Real and Radical Discipleship
Let me bring this to a conclusion. Two
or three years ago, our then-presiding
bishop Frank Griswold called while I
was up in Kanuga, at a Province Four
bishops meeting. My assistant Margo
told me, “The presiding bishop called
and wants you to call him. It is pretty
urgent.” I called him and he said,
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bird dog you
but if it is at all possible, I need you
to go to the enthronement of the new
Archbishop of Burundi. I would like
you to go because the archbishop is a
good friend.” He wanted to be supportive
and have a few bishops go.
And I said, “Well, I don’t know, I need
to check my calendar.” And he said, “I
was on the phone with your secretary
and I’ve already checked your calendar.”
And I said, “What
was on it?” and he told me, “Well, you
had a Durham Bulls baseball game in
the afternoon and that was about all.”
[laughter] So I said, “Well…Ok, that
takes care of that Sunday…I’ll work
on my schedule.”
New York was handling the visas, and
all I needed was some shots, so I ran
and got my shots and did everything
that was needful to do to make this
a quick turnaround. The trip was in
about two weeks, so there was not a
lot of time to maneuver. I was getting
ready and all of a sudden I stopped
14 VIRGINIA SEMINARY JOURNAL AUGUST 2007