“Finding YOUR Prophetic Voice”: The Changing Melody of Preaching
Over ten years ago, as a participant at the very first Jarena Lee Preaching Academy, our founder, and visionary, Rev. Dr. Valerie Bridgeman, said something to us that literally changed my life in general and in particular as one called to preach the Gospel. Dr. Bridgeman said, “…as we approach the text and the task of preaching, we MUST ask ourselves, WHAT DOES GOD SOUND LIKE IN YOUR OWN THROAT”. This question has shaped how I listen for the Divine and how the trumpet will sound when I am the one playing its truth – either as an instrument of God’s peace or as a holy disrupter, whether from behind the sacred desk as Pastor or within the global arena as a human rights advocate. This question is an essential part of the theological grounding that one receives within the WomanPreach! community. It is at the core of the teaching, nurturing, and careful method of seeing through the eyes of the artist and interrogating the biblical text to help preachers articulate the truth of the Gospel for the flourishing of all God’s creation. It is an indispensable part of the ‘WomanPreach! Way.’
Yet the critical question, especially in such difficult & volatile times, is how can we know what God sounds like in our own throat if we cannot find our true and authentic voice? “Finding YOUR Prophetic Voice” is one of the foundational sessions in our program offerings. In this session, the task of ‘finding’ is not necessarily the work of trying to locate something that is lost but uncovering something that is simply not yet been discovered. We first identify the different voices in our heads that impact our true prophetic voice – and discover the critic, the skeptic, the parent whose whispers still resound in our ear, the ancestor speaking through our tears’ words of strength and resolve, and the list can go on. Then we must ask the tough questions of ourselves, of the text, the context, of God, and then make our way to the authentic place of TRUTH TELLING!
But our voice changes over the years. It evolves. It shifts and expands. It is influenced by the times and our experiences with God and humanity. Who we were and what our authentic voice sounded like twenty years ago will surely be different today. Trauma, tragedy, exhaustion, insecurity, grief, anxiety, holy rage, etc., is an attempt to steal, suppress, or silence our voice. Finding our way to freedom is messy. Finding one’s prophetic voice is the “…ING” work – the unceasing work in the task of prophetic preaching. It is the constant discovery of what God sounds like in your own throat.
As in music, we must listen for the key changes in our own voice. Even though I am a trained vocalist, I sure can’t hit that middle ‘C’ like I once did years ago. Now, I hang out in the alto section, and depending on the day, and my voice may rumble deep like the sound of a bass guitar. And so, it is with our preaching voice. It constantly changes…and must if we are truly to move with God in the work of justice and liberation. So, whether you discover in this season you are like a soprano, keeping the melody and preaching from the mountain top; or in another season where you are an alto, adding the harmony and proclaiming a word of peace for the masses; or your preaching voice is thick and intense, bellowing like the bass line in a song of lament crying out for justice from the valley low place…May there still be echoes of hope for humanity in your proclamation. Regardless of where we find our unique prophetic voice, we are not lost, only discovering what God sounds like in our own throats…and when we do, we trust the God in ourselves and PREACH!!! - Amen.
