“Do You Know what I want?
I want justice – oceans of it.
I want fairness – rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.”
From the St John’s illuminated Bible
If you would like to listen to excerpts from the book of Amos first, click here
A map for reference! Amos gandered around here and declared them to be doing an awful job of human-ing.
What follows below is a revised version of the sermon I preached at Jubilee Mennonite Church and River East Mennonite Brethren church July 17th and 20th 2014. You can also listen to the sermon if you click on this link, but I invite you to keep the page open to look at the pictures 🙂
All pictures of bodies of water in this post are sourced from the following blog. They are pictures of the Mediterranean sea at the Gaza strip. The blog provides stunning views of Gaza in “life, love, dignity and strength” as well as two other blog posts full of pictures. http://smpalestine.com/2013/09/13/gaza-in-life-love-dignity-and-strength/
The Message Amos 5:21-24
“I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.
The book of Amos is demanding and challenging. I told a few friends that I had chosen the book of Amos for my first ever sermon, and they shook their heads and asked why I would do that! I chose it because I am interested in talking about the texts that I avoid as a Christian tempted to shy away from unsettling depictions of God. This book is incredibly relevant to the Canadian, and indeed western church today. But it’s upsetting, it cuts deep, and it is challenging. It is not all cheerful, but I promise that, like the book of Amos, this sermon will not end dismally either. I invite you to put on your boots and quake in solidarity with me!
Here is a list of three things that drew me to doing the book of Amos for my (first ever) sermon:
1. It was the page I flipped to
2. It is short
3. As I read, I developed an attachment and soul connection to the message and passion of Amos. He reminds me of my father and mother, who both experience deep love and also deep frustration with the peoples of God. Amos reminds me of Ivo Markovic in Bosnia, who, despite having witnessed enormous injustice and human rights violations during the war in the early 90s, sees the value in humans from all sides of the conflict, and has brought many together through music. Amos reminds me of Desmond Tutu, who has experienced and witnessed some of the greatest human violations, and yet believes no one is evil, but that they rather forget their goodness. We forget our goodness. We forget our link to God, our call from God to be good and to love. We settle into complacency, and a false sense of security. We forget our goodness, and as a result, worship an inaccurate version of God and pursue an imbalanced and inauthentic sense of shalom.
My parents, Jan and Mark Bigland-Pritchard during their 25th anniversary trip to the UK (mostly Wales)
Ivo Markovic
Desmond Tutu
Who is Amos?
(and why it doesn’t matter)
Often, when we summarize a book of the bible, we make sure we understand the context of the book, and also who wrote it and why.
However, here’s a thing about the book of Amos: It doesn’t really matter who Amos is. The writer reveals very little about himself, because the purpose is his message, and he has no desire to distract from it! He claims to be a sheep herder and sycamore dresser (don’t wanna leave those sycamores undressed!), but scholars think he was probably a farm land owner. He was not, however, educated or schooled in prophesying and did not make money that way.
The character of Amos feels deeply called by God to leave his life on hold, and speak a strong, fiery challenge to Israel and surrounding nations. In the midst of the horrifying imagery, though, Amos pleads for God’s kindness. Amos isn’t like Jonah, who shakes his finger at the sin of the nation he’s prophesying to, Nineveh, and who is upset when God doesn’t burn them to a crisp as God had said God would do. Instead, Amos prays and begs God not to destroy the violating nations.
My dad found himself drawn to anabaptism in his young adult years. He was living in England, which isn’t exactly renowned for having a lot of anabaptists, which is why I am no fun to play the mennonite game with (good luck). He was an activist, and at rallies kept meeting a group of people who felt called to activism because of their faith in God. I am inspired by my dad because, while he has a brilliant mind, and could have made a lot of money in some area or other of Physics, he chooses to spend his time, often unpaid, to support or start projects directly linked to his call from God to care deeply for justice in a non-violent way. He, like Amos, spends his life calling, in love and sometimes dismal honesty, resistant and indulgent cultures into caring about God’s desire for balance and justice for all people and for creation.
Mediteranian sea from Gaza, http://smpalestine.com/2013/09/13/gaza-in-life-love-dignity-and-strength/
Structure of the book of Amos
The book of Amos has a number of sections, and is written with lots of fun literary devices. We’re not going to go into that, though, because I want to talk about content more than structure. The basic structure is:
1. Introduction
2. Section about Israel among the nations
3. A case presented against places forgetting God
4. Visions of The End
5. (and a quick hopeful paragraph)
The Message of Amos
At first glance, the book of Amos can sound like this: The peoples of God are doing a terrible job, God won’t stand for it, fiery death is approaching.
However, the message of Amos is this: God is not indifferent. God is intensely present, interested and engaged in God’s childrens’ brokenness. God is passionate about God’s humans. God is serious about God’s humans. God is loving, but God is not passive about God’s humans!
As has been repeated throughout history, throughout cultures, one country had become complacent their comfortable living. The rich of Israel thought their nation had acquired peace and security. However, I’d suggest it isn’t real peace. If there is a gap and disconnect between the wealthy and the poor. It’s not that Israel was indulging in luxury and not paying attention to their religion. They were passionate about religion, but their piety was misplaced! What use is excellent music, well structured service and generous tithes if we are not living in a way that is directly spurred out of knowing, loving, and humbly seeking God? It is similar to Jesus’ criticism of the Pharises. Like the young man who did everything right but gave up God because he couldn’t actually live what he believed.
If one group of people is privileged, and abuses that privilege by seeing other humans as lesser beings, they are not actually worshipping the God that their elaborate and moving worship services say they are. In his commentary on Amos, Allen Geunther remarks, ”Israel’s religion, instead of challenging the moral decline, quietly ignored it…Israel ha[d] forgotten that the Lord is the God who calls his people to moral responsibility”
I very much struggle with the violent and wrathful image of God that Amos portrays. Amos even pleads for God to not act in the ways Amos believes God will act! We can ask questions about the style and context this book was written in, and how much was God and how much was Amos and how much was just story telling appropriate to the culture of the time. However, no matter how we try to navigate the challenge of such a passage, especially as anabaptists identifying as pacifists, I identify with the the need for justice and the deep frustration with those lacking integrity in this story! Absolutely atrocious inhumanities are described in this book of Amos, and it is in part comforting to hear God refuse to accept these things. I don’t know about you, but I have thought and heard echos in others asking “Why does God let people do awful things?” – well why does God? That’s a good question to think about. Turning that question around, revealing it to be insufficient, here, God promises that God is not indifferent. God is intensely present, interested and engaged in our brokenness. I heard someone wonderfully phrase the following recently. We ask “Why aren’t you doing anything about injustice, God?” and God says, “I am! I made you! Why aren’t you doing anything about injustice?”
God is intensely present, interested and engaged in our brokenness
Life Application Time
Israel, in a time of “peace,” got lazy and complacent. Can you think of how this transfers to our own culture and even religion? When we are in times of “peace”, we are tempted to get lazy, forget our core passions and values – but this is not real “peace”. Peace involves balance, and when society becomes unbalanced due to greed and wealth, laziness and complacency, there is no shalom.
We are living in a time of such “peace” in Canada. The last people to invade our land were European settlers. However, if we have peace, then why are so many people homeless, why were residential schools only all put out of commission so recently, why are so many aboriginal people and cultures destroyed still, why is resource extraction valued over the lives and livelihoods of communities, and why are refugees refused the help and health care they need? Get deep with me, and close your eyes for a few seconds. Think of a way that the Christian church falls short of promoting God’s love and justice today, in our cultures and country. Keep your eyes closed. Now, plant a seed of imagination, and start thinking about ways the church is displaying Godly love and justice. Imagine boldly how this could grow.
Here’s the good news: I believe that the book of Amos is a testimony to how God is deeply interested in engaging in our lives. If God is deeply interested in engaging in our lives, then God is also deeply interested in both inspiring us and sustaining us as we follow through in whatever God calls us to. Jesus’ life was radical and inspiring – he was dedicated to issues of social injustice too! He didn’t feel superior to the outcasts, and called out those who were religiously pious and yet didn’t get that real belief spurs real action and real love! Amos also called the people of God to live like they believed what they said they believed! Shane Claiborne says, “What if Jesus really meant what he said?” What if we lived like we mean it too? As Simon Sinek said in a TED talks video I was recommended to watch while writing this sermon, “What you do proves what you believe”. What you do proves what you believe.
If we pay attention, our faith and relationship with God will inspire us to action. We will hear God’s calls in our lives to love where we are gifted, to love those needing something we can offer! For me, I feel a call to use my tool box of the arts. I can use the gifts and education God has given me in music, arts, theatre, language and communication to offer meaningful relationship, positive conflict, and entertainment. What is in your tool belt? What are the gifts of your personality, experiences and education? Each person has something very valuable. We are the body of Christ, no?
Action
So, what does action mean? I wish it were realistic to do everything, but, as a young person, I’ve experienced a huge amount of sorrow after hearing an inspiring message be given to move me to action. I hear someone, even my father, speak about the radical way we need to live in order to allow a livable future for the next generations as the environment suffers, and I am all ready to grow all my own food, sew my clothes, source everything locally, organically, non-GMO, and in respect to the other animals on earth. I am all ready to make all my own house-hold cleaners, shampoo, and bike everywhere year-round. I am all fired up, I get home, and then a wall of depression and resistance hits. It hits because I know I cannot do all of that at once, and anything less than all of that does not feel like it is enough. So here’s what we need to do: Sit on our beds (and benches) and ponder.
When learning to play the piano, many of you may have experienced the wonder of Hannon exercises. They are a series of piano exercises intended to make all the fingers equally strong, and they get harder number by number. You cannot start number 5 before you have mastered number 1 through 4. By the time you get to number 20, number 1 is simple and ingrained in your fingers and being!
Living radically for God is like that. Yes, sometimes God calls us to big dramatic changes, and will equip us to do those big things if we listen and feel called to them. However, often it is helpful to start with one simple thing. Many of you know this from your lived experience. Maybe you are concerned about food, and want to commit to getting all of your eggs from a local farm, where you could even go visit the chickens. Maybe you are concerned about clothing and child labour in foreign countries. Perhaps you could find an elder in your congregation, or a sewing class to teach you, or throw a clothes swap party at your house. Perhaps you feel conflicted and disturbed every time someone asks you for spare change downtown. Maybe you could give in time or conversation with people who approach you, and ask them a bit about themselves. Maybe you could volunteer somewhere that seeks to help homeless people, write a poem to share and inspire other people, or carry some form of food with you that you could give to people who approach you on the street. Start small, and always always keep your ears open to hearing God’s call – through scripture, prayer, your intuition and your communities.
Here comes the hope
Amos ends very suddenly with a surprising twist. After the depressing and disturbing news that everything and everyone is bad and will be destroyed in ways upsetting as their transgressions, God changes God’s mind. Scholars generally believe this section was added on later by editors, but it is still valuable – it speaks to how there is always hope, that in God there is always hope. God can turn any dismal situation around and rescue God`s humans and all of creation…And we are invited to help! We have the honour of being invited into what God is already doing!
The voice of God: Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.
Mediterranean Sea from the Gaza strip in 2013, from http://smpalestine.com/2013/09/13/gaza-in-life-love-dignity-and-strength/
Anna's Hummingbirds 