Can there be Quaker Prophets?

Message for worship on the 21st of the twelfth month, 2025 by Elizabeth Terney

Scripture: Luke 1:39-45

During Advent, most of the stories we read come from the Gospel of Luke.

The Gospel of Luke contains and refers to a lot of prophesying.

I think you’ll find that that’s of great interest to us as Quakers. You’ll see why in a moment.

First, what makes a statement or action prophetic? And what makes someone a prophet? A message with a divine source is prophetic. It requires discernment to determine whether the message comes from God. It can manifest as nudges, lingering scriptures, inner visions, unique burdens, bodily sensations, or words coming fully formed.

Religions and denominations disagree on what makes a prophet. Charismatic protestants, mainline Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and many other groups have differing views on what makes someone a prophet. But, hidden in these views is the idea that prophets are rare.

Quakers believe we all have access to the divine source and we don’t use the word ‘prophet’ often.

The scripture read today recounts Mary's visit to Elizabeth, who is also pregnant with a miracle baby. Elizabeth and Mary voice prophetic messages in this passage and in Mary’s Magnificat, which follows immediately after. Elizabeth speaks prophetically when she is filled with the Holy Spirit and says, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

She immediately recognizes that the child Mary is carrying is the Lord. Elizabeth tells Mary that she is blessed for believing that what the Lord spoke to her would be fulfilled. Mary responds with the Magnificat, which strikingly resembles the Song of Hannah from First Samuel. Like Elizabeth, Hannah had been given a miracle baby in her old age, after having been barren.

She also speaks of the toppling of the social order and her blessing given to her by God, who, through that, keeps God’s promises to God’s people.

I would argue that even by stingy traditional guidelines, Elizabeth and Mary are prophets. They are rarely recognized as a such, but that’s the way patriarchy operates, you have to sideline the women.

Traditionally, according to some theologians, a prophet’s call includes a divine confrontation,

an introductory word,

a commission,

an objection from the prophet,

reassurance from God,

and a sign that God is God.

One example is God calling to Moses from the burning bush. The voice from the burning bush is the divine confrontation, God introduces God ’s-self, stating, I AM WHO I AM and gives Moses a commission (to return to Egypt and lead his people out of slavery).

Moses objects, but is reassured by God. God also says, “This shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Mary experiences a divine confrontation when the angel Gabriel comes to her. The introductory word occurs when the angel tells Mary that she is “favored” and that God is with her. Then, the commission, “And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus”. Like Moses, Mary also objects, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel reassures her and gives her a sign, Elizabeth’s pregnancy. God is capable of all things.

Clearly, Mary is a prophet, even by the standards of these stingy theologians, though many fail to recognize her as such.

Some like to argue that her commission was bearing a child, as many women could do, but I don’t accept that women’s bodies or pregnancy are somehow interchangeable and unremarkable.

But I question this stingy definition of a prophet. At Pentecost in Acts, everyone present began prophesying. Paul lists prophecy and prophets in his lists of gifts and roles in the Church. Can not an ordinary person, say a Quaker speaking in open worship, say something prophetic?

Is that not what ministers are asked to do, listen to God and proclaim the good news?

The primary Quaker belief that there is that of God in everyone indicates that we can listen for God, receive guidance, and take prophetic action or speak prophetic words.

We are all able to deliver a message from God.

We are all capable of being prophets.

Two questions remain: do you accept the mantle when it is offered and how do you listen for God’s guidance?

If God asked you do something small, like deliver a message in Meeting, do you have the guts to stand and speak it? For some, it’s quite scary.

 If God asks something a little harder by delivering a concern unto you having to do with the hungry, the unhoused, or the environment, for example, do you take that burden on, do you carry that concern, and do the good work that God has set in front of you?

What if God asks you do something really difficult, like knowingly give up your life, or risk it – will you respond as Mary did, “Let it be with me according to your Word”?

I don’t know the answers to what it means to be truly faithful in modern times.

 But I do know that in the story Luke tells us, Mary was truly faithful, as was Elizabeth. God asked something of them – bear miracle children, raise them, and send them out into a cruel world.

So, how does one become a modern-day prophet? And do you want to?

Quakers receive good training in this – just look at the many descriptions of how to tell if you’re called to share a message during worship.

We are asked to listen from the center. To open ourselves and wait.

If a message starts to form, to ask whether the message is from the Holy Spirit and not from the intellect or the ego. I ask you now, what does that difference feel like in your body?

 For me it’s a pressure around my heart and an urge to stand in my legs.

A message from my intellect or ego usually feels different, like a great idea I just had that I desperately want to share.

 If you’ve received a message from God, what did that feel like to you?

If you're not sure whether it’s an ego message or a message from God, return to centering worship.

God will ask again, if it is a true message.

Is it more than a response to an earlier speaker or to one of the queries?

 If it is a message from God, ask whether it is intended for the community. Perhaps the message is just for you.

Do you feel compelled to speak?

This training in listening carefully and discerning the voice of God from our own egos,

our anxiety or fears,

our intellectual thoughts,

or our need to be noticed or relevant

gives faithful Quakers a regular experience that many faithful do not have.

This is wonderful because, in our crisis-filled world, what we need is not my wisdom or your wisdom, but an authentic prophetic word of God that speaks directly, powerfully, and transformationally at the right moment.

To hear that word of God, we need to do several things.

We need to Wait and Listen

We must first wait before God, in God, and find that clear and powerful guide – the authentic life and power.

We must wait until we hear that voice and then listen carefully to that voice.

There is one voice to focus on – one single frequency sounding in all Creation.

 We are being called to tune our lives to it, but we must listen to hear that call, to hear that guidance.

In my spiritual journey, I’ve reached the point where I can usually open up and feel God’s presence.

I don’t always hear God’s voice or guidance, but it’s something I aim for. I’ve felt nudges to speak words of comfort or ask a particular question. Sometimes, in a crucial moment, mid-prayer, God takes over. Whether I’m praying with a young woman who’s learned she’s probably going to die soon from a newly diagnosed cancer, or praying with a family as their father dies and I can feel the words in my mouth transform into a different type of prayer that they’d better understand, in those cases, I often can’t remember what I said.

In those moments, I feel profoundly grateful and humbled. But, I still work on waiting and listening. I want to receive guidance more regularly. I want to feel that I am as faithful as possible.

In addition to Waiting and Listening, we must Surrender and Trust. This is hard. It’s uncomfortable to think of a living, dynamic being or presence who is closer to us than our own breath. This presence could upend my life as God did with Mary and Elizabeth. Or change my mind about something or enlarge my heart. All of which can be scary to contemplate.

I have a fair amount of anxiety and quite a lively imagination – I can easily picture things going wrong. We must let loose our fears and trust in God. Surrender to the dance God’s asked us to join.

Quaker history is filled with tales of God calling friends to act in circumstances that may have been dramatic or ordinary, big or small.

They may not have changed the world entirely, but they made a difference to someone or someones.

We Quakers,

We Humans,

have the potential to be prophets, but first, we must train ourselves to listen, and then, once we know we’re hearing the right voice, to surrender to it as Mary and Elizabeth did.

I titled this sermon, “Can There Be Quaker Prophets?”

The answer is yes, if we open ourselves faithfully to God and are ready to respond when we sense God’s guidance.

There have been Quaker prophets and I’d venture to say that there are existing or potential Quaker prophets with us here today.

I invite you to open your soul to God today during open worship.

Listen.

Discern if what you hear is God.

Trust.

Surrender.

And do it again and again in all the days to come.