I had a phrase stuck in my head today. That phrase was “prophets of a future not our own.” After figuring out where that phrase came from, I had to figure out why that phrase decided to poke its head up above the horizon of my subconscious.
The phrase comes from a prayer written by Father Ken Utener for the Mass for Deceased Priests in 1979. The prayer has taken on a life of its own and is now more familiarly known as “Oscar Romero’s Prayer.”
Here is the prayer in its entirety:
It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. . . .
This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God's grace to enter and to do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen.
I am thinking about the first 75 years of Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church. This prayer was written after the church’s founding, but I felt it when I was reading those first documents. The amount of times the idea of passing on faith and maintaining a community for generations was near-constant. This is the work of the Church. Not to pass on a church to our children, but to pass on a legacy of doing good and seeking justice. That legacy looks different for different people, but I see how this church is focused on passing down that ethos rather than just existing for ourselves.
Thanks be to God for the people who tended the seeds that we are now watering. For the people who set down stones upon which we build. This is a project that won’t be completed in our lifetimes.
75 years is the beginning. We will keep working to realize the vision of the Kingdom of God, knowing we won’t get there, but that we are contributing to an unknowably wonderful future.
Peace,
Jeff
Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church is located at 1200 S. Winton Road, in the heart of Brighton, NY. If you're in the Rochester, NY area and would like to learn more about us, we invite you to contact our office by calling 585-244-8585, send us an email, or visit us in person! We look forward to connecting with you!
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