The Importance of Vocal Ministry: Paul’s Gift of Prophecy
September 18, 2018 § 3 Comments
In my last post, I talked about how important vocal ministry is as a vehicle for continuing revelation, and I cited Paul’s discussion of gifts of the spirit in First Corinthians (12–14). But for Paul, the gift of prophecy was one of searching insight into the spiritual condition of the worshippers and of the community, not a message of new direction or of religious innovation, as we usually think of “continuing revelation” today. We have mostly lost this eldering role for vocal ministry.
Perhaps the signature example of this function of vocal ministry is the spiritual awakening of Elizabeth Fry. A sister of the wealthy banker and important evangelical Quaker minister Joseph John Gurney, she was, by her own confession, a silly superficial young woman. Then, in meeting for worship, a visiting minister turned his gaze upon her and spoke pointedly to her spiritual condition. It woke her up to the life of the Spirit. The rest is history.
Now, we probably would not welcome such a message these days. Today we rightly feel that Spirit-led eldering should be done privately, not publicly. But is there a place for the eldering of the community through vocal ministry? For trying to wake the community up to its spiritual condition. Not with harangue (as we sometimes get in my meeting), but with truth plainly spoken—and when led by the Holy Spirit.
Through the Flaming Sword 
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Is, “The rest is history.”, an unintended pun?
Hi Steven,
The pun I hear, relative to this series of laments, is how there is a prediction to imagine history from the trusted homeostasis of the present. The Quakerism of Elizabeth Fry’s time (the late Quietiest period) would not recognize what passes for the denomination today – other than some of the Meetinghouses (& some of the trust fund monies) – as demonstrative of what The Religious Society of Friends is. The longitudinal study of the evolution of the Book of Discipline I did when we served on the Ad Hoc Committee for Renewal in NYYM a quarter of a century ago revealed an overarching continuing revelation-driven desire to be comfortable within the wider society of our evolving Empire/functional religion of CapitalismFail. Besides some of the Meetinghouses and trust funds, what isn’t the effecting the same history?
In NYYM, the first version of the Book of Discipline that those outside of the Meeting of Ministers and Elders could read was published in 1820. This was when Elizabeth was 40. Her transformation from a silly-headed girl to the person who is remembered occurred in a religious structure with a healthy structural tension. There were two Meetings in each Meeting. What are currently called Business Meetings (Meetings for Worship with a concern for business), were Meetings for Discipline. Advices were read. Queries answered in writing. The Quarterly and Yearly Meetings were primarily the Meeting for Ministers and Elders. Discipline and oversight of The Religious Society of Friends was their business. The constructive tension between the dual Meeting RSOF promoted maturation. In such a society there is both space and welcome for the prophetic voice; the gift of exhortation. Such a religious society can lift up and sustain a Fry; can do no other.
Or a history that is the rest of the story of Elizabeth Fry … for which there are no longer ears to hear.
=)
And, ironically/paradoxically, it is the creation and administration of trust funds that tracked the former RSOF into what it is today: a 2nd wave feminized sibling society in which, as Chuck Fager observed, talk, dead Quaker money, and sexual hookups constitute three dominate currents draining the Life from its hope.
Isn’t such the visual ministry of the floatsome and jetsome of today’s history?
sNAILmALEnotHAIL …but pace’n myself
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCeDkezgoyyZAlN7nW1tlfeA
life is for learning so all my failures must mean that I’m wicked smart
>
Thank you, Steven, for lifting up this kind of prophesy/revelation and our need for it.