But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:23-24
We are now providing a Monday post that we pray will be a resource for you in your daily life of faith.
For the next few weeks, we are reading and learning from the prophet Amos. We invite you to join with us by taking time to read the book of Amos, perhaps in various translations.
Here is James B’s introductory sermon from Jan 10 to help guide your time. You can also listen/watch the video here.
Hear the Roar. Amos 1-2
What are you feeling after what happened at the Capitol this week?
How did your spirit respond to what politicians said before, and then what they said after?
How did it make you feel earlier in the day to see a huge crowd pressing against the Capitol building with a token police presence when those same steps, the Mall, and the Lincoln monument were covered by an overwhelming armed presence during the BLM protests this summer?
How do you respond to “Jesus saves” signs alongside a noose and Confederate flags?
If you were angered and appalled and saddened by what you saw then there is someone that I would like you to meet.
The Prophet Amos.
And if you don't feel that way then there is someone I would also like you to meet.
The Prophet Amos.
Last Fall, we decided to focus on the book of Amos for our Winter 2021 sermon series and it now amazes me how the Spirit times things. For we will see as we get to know Amos over the next few weeks that he has much to say to us today.
Amos was a farmer who tended sheep and fig trees. That was his profession. He had not gone to prophet school or planned to be a prophet, but the Lord gave him a vision that he was compelled to share with Israel. Kind of a gutsy thing to do considering he didn't live in Israel--he lived in Judah.
This is during the 8th century before Christ’s birth and Israel had become a divided Kingdom: there is Israel in the North that had broken away from Judah in the South because they didn't like some of the taxation and demands being placed upon them by Jerusalem.
So, not so famous Amos was family but the kind that you don’t care if you see. Especially, if he shows up in those fig stained, sheep smelling farmer clothes. Because, mind you, Israel was doing extremely well. The attention of the stronger military powers in the greater region were distracted by other distant wars which meant it was a time of freedom and boundary expansion for Israel.
These prosperous times played well into their perceived identity.
They were, after all, the people that God had brought miraculously out of Egypt into the promised land and declared to them that he was their God. And they knew a day was coming, a judgment day, when God would flex his muscle, set the world right and place them In the catbird seat.
They were God’s special people.
And things were going very well for them --businesses were making good profit, people were building houses for themselves, often many houses --decorating them with artisan furniture made of leather an ivory.
And talk about worship! It was the talk of the town: celebrations and feasts were packed events.
People bragged about the offerings and sacrifices they made and the music -- the music was the subject of much excitement and attention.
Of course, there is another side to all this.
Such wealth was not accumulated without exploiting others. The poor were really poor, Exploited and when broken and no longer of economic benefit, discarded.
There were property schemes that prevented the poor from getting property.
Legal schemes that kept them from advancing.
And business schemes that allowed those with wealth and property to limit any competition. The leaders, themselves being affluent and vested with power, did not take their responsibility to govern very seriously but instead focused on skin care and parties.
That very active religious life had become unmoored from the living God.
As a result, the show was the thing. It did not matter whether you were at a feast for the Lord or going with your son to a prostitute in the temple of Baal.
The people of God had fallen asleep in the comfort of salvation and prosperity.
How do you wake up a sleeping people?
How about unleashing a lion?
That is the vision that God gave Amos.
The first line of his vision that he records is, “The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers.”
God has some roar --traveling from Jerusalem a hundred miles from where they were and going another 50 beyond them to Mount Carmel—and still hot enough to wither vegetation.
That is an image that can kind of blow you away.
But the unsuspecting shepherd, called to be prophet from outside the country, is strategic in the way that he imparts the vision that God has given him.
He doesn't come directly after his northern family with the Lion’s roar of impending danger.
He begins by talking about the neighbors: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon and Moab—all places they felt superior to and were glad to hear had been put on God’s short list for judgement.
Let the Lion roar!
For the neighbors really had done horrific things:
Obliterated foes with excessive force. Enslaved and sold whole communities. Relentlessly held onto and fed hatred for their neighbors. Broke their word and treaties with people they are close to.
Destroyed the helpless, including the slaughter of pregnant women for ambitious gain
The Israelites are likely saying, “We like this guy-- this new Prophet from down South! Tell us more You make us feel special!”
And, Amos does tell them more but now he begins to speak a little closer to home about their family members next door in Judah and he even begins to blur the lines between Judah and them.
In the passage that Natasha read, Amos begins as he did with all the other countries -- with a little saying: For three sins even for four I will not relent.” This is not an arithmetic statement but a Hebraic idiom of saying, “not only a great quantity but even more!” Certain numbers like 3, 7, 12 and 40 our numbers of completion, numbers used to say they contain everything.
So when you say 3 even 4 there is a sense it is a staggering number that goes even beyond what you think of as being complete --it's overflowing. So, in addition to tons of other sin, what is the overflowing evil of the people of God? The Lion roars:
“they have rejected the law of the Lord
and have not kept his decrees,
led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed”
Now you can say, “What’s the big deal? So I'm not listening really close to Bible stories?
I'm not super legalistic? For this God is angry?”
But that is not rejecting the law.
The law in this sense is God's revelation of God's self. The law is not so much legislation and rules but God conveying God's character. Look at the Ten Commandments and you see that the Giver of them must value relationships and justice. You find a God who loves us before we love God. Who is committed to us. Who is the only one knows us and loves us so well that we won’t be twisted and hollowed out as we would if we chose to follow lesser things we make into god’s hoping for a better life.
How does this rejection of God manifest itself?
The Lord says:
“They sell the innocent for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
They trample on the heads of the poor
as on the dust of the ground
and deny justice to the oppressed.”
In short, we see it in social and economic injustice that keeps the poor poor, in debt and even enslaved as they try to pay for simple necessities.
And He continues weaving this injustice with hypocritical religion:
“Father and son use the same girl
and so profane my holy name.
They lie down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge.
In the house of their god
they drink wine taken as fines.”
Rejecting God revealed in the Law, they then find it easy to blend in idols and destructive practices into their belief system. Father and son embrace the idol of sensuality and make themselves comfortable using the garment/gain from someone who is indebted to them (which the law prohibits them from having after sunset), and then mocking God’s grace by worshiping with wine that was likely extorted from others through trumped up fines that are paid to them (not the government).
Rejection of God, abuse of others, social injustice, cheapening grace—all made all the more repulsive because of their special relationship with God.
They twisted what God meant by special.
They thought they were entitled, better than others.
But Israel and Judah are not special in that God loves them more. They are special in that God is choosing to work out salvation for all nations through them and has equipped them to do so. Like in a family: Parents love all their kids but choose one to handle the estate. It doesn’t mean that one is loved more but they do have a special position for a special assignment.
The very thing that they took pride in—their relationship with God brings responsibility—and liability. By bringing them out of bondage in Egypt, walking with them in the wilderness and giving them the law—they are equipped with God’s love and wisdom, faithfulness to live not like those who do not have their advantage/blessing. They are to live differently. They are to live valuing what God values: relationships and social justice.
When that is ignored the Lion’s roars his grief and anger.
That is why the Christian Nationalism we saw on screen on Wednesday is so grievous.
What we saw was something like:
Jesus saved me.
Jesus is the truth.
I accepted Jesus into my heart.
I have the truth.
My country is a divine tool of the Messiah and gives me freedom to have this truth.
Sin is invading and taking over the country to ruin my faith and the country.
So we fight at all cost to maintain purity and preserve my way of life, blind as I may be to the embedded unbiblical colonial values that oppress others.
We are special.
The US is special and basically the closest thing to the Kingdom of God on earth”
But the reality is we do not have the truth.
The Truth has us.
We are Disciples of the Truth /Jesus.
Christian nationalism is counter to the truth.
It is counter to the way of the cross, to giving of ourselves; counter to living generously, counter to not fearing losing a privileged position because we have a greater hope than the US; counter to placing purity over love and justice. The xenophobic prosperity gospel of Christian nationalism is countered to the incarnational Christ born in a manger, raised in a carpenter's family, visited by mind-valuing foreign travelers; counter to the One anointed to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, and to set the oppressed free.
It is always tempting to put ourselves first.
That's why Prophetic voices, scripture and the cross are important. They remind us of the Jesus of the truth we follow--Reminds us of the one who loves us like no other and empowers us to love like we never could.
There is a roar to be heard throughout our land today. Are we going to wake up and love those different from us as He loves us?
Questions to reflect upon this week as you spend time reading Amos
What are you feeling after what happened at the Capitol last week? Take time to journal and talk to God.
What do you hear in Amos’ message that speaks to today?
What do you think or feel when you hear that God equates social justice with embracing the Law ( of God)?
What is an invitation you are hearing from God?