Focus

Take a few minutes to push the “pause” button on whatever is going on around you and be still with God.

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Read

Amos 5:18-24 (NRSV)

Alas for you who desire the day of the LORD!
Why do you want the day of the LORD?
It is darkness, not light;
as if someone fled from a lion,
and was met by a bear;
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall,
and was bitten by a snake.
Is not the day of the LORD darkness, not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?

I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

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Reflect

The prophet Amos was called from his job of herding sheep in the southern kingdom of Judah to deliver a message from God to the people of the northern, and more prosperous, kingdom of Israel. These verses comprise one of the most striking condemnations of religious hypocrisy in all of scripture.

As best as we can reconstruct what was happening, the prosperous traders of Israel believed that as long as they went to church on Sunday (Saturday, of course, for them), they could get away with anything on other days of the week.

Whenever I read this text, I am challenged to think about the many ways that I take God’s grace for granted in my own life. How many times this week have I assumed that in my comfort, God would continue to bless me as long as I say a few prayers, and put a few dollars in the plate?

What God really desires of us, Amos says, is that we treat people, especially the poor and despised, with justice and righteousness. This year, as we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, I am reminded that Luther’s critique against the church involved a similar protest against church leaders fleecing the poor for money to build St. Peter’s in Rome.

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Pray

Thank you, O God, for Martin Luther, and Amos, and all the other prophets who call us to make our prayers and our praises effective in lives devoted to justice and righteousness. Help us to heed their call today, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Go with God.