worship + justice

Reading for this week: Amos 4:6-13 and Amos 5. 


In Amos 4:6-11, notice the refrain that repeats: "yet you did not return to me, says the LORD." In these passages, the Israelites are receiving the same kinds of plagues and punishments that Egypt received. The tables have turned, and it's like Amos is telling them: you have become like Egypt - the oppressor who isn't following God's ways.

Notice the number of times that the phrase "in the gate" comes up in chapter 5. The gate is the place where the elders sat to make court-like decisions and people gathered. It was an important meeting place.

If you've stuck with the readings so far, you'll be rewarded by some "good parts" in this chapter. In Amos 5, the word "seek" is repeated 3 times. In verse 4, "For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: Seek me and live." Then in verse 6, "Seek the LORD and live." Verse 14-15 reads,

"Seek good and not evil, that you may live; 

and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you,

 just as you have said. 

Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; 

it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, 

will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph." 

The following speech is more well-known. 

"I hate, I despise your festivals, and 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."

And this, written by Martin Luther King, Jr. in "Letter from Birmingham Jail (April 1963)":

"Was not Jesus an extremist for love -- "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice -- "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the gospel of Jesus Christ -- "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist -- "Here I stand; I can do none other so help me God." Was not John Bunyan an extremist -- "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist -- "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist -- "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice--or will we be extremists for the cause of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill, three men were crucified. We must not forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thusly fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment."

* What would God think of our worship today?

* How do we pair worship with acts of justice? 

* How are we looking out for the poor "in the gate"?

* Is this text anti-worship or anti-liturgy? Or is it the lack of connection between worship and life?