Readings for the upcoming weekend are quite harsh: two spokesmen for God, Amos & John the Baptizer, are meanly rejected and put aside. But many pew-sitters will crave words of acceptance, assurances that they are of worth within the greater picture. What to do? As leaders and interpreters we’re entrusted with honest presentation of what God’s Presence is directing; are there ways to include worshipers as Beloved of God even though the dragons of politics and religion spit their invective?
Around the year 760 BC, Amos, a pastoral herdsman from Tekoa, a village in Judah –the SOUTHERN kingdom–appeared in prosperous Israel–the NORTHERN kingdom– to speak against their military might, their social inequality for the poor, and their empty words of piety. In our present text (Amos 7:10-15), the priest of Bethel (remember, house of God?) Amaziah has had enough of this “foreigner”, and tried to send him back to Judah. Amos stubbornly remained to speak truth to power. He’s been revered by activists ever since for condemning not the People of God, but their practices. Is there a place in our contemporary culture for this prophet?
St. Paul, or some amanuensis writing in Paul’s name, spoke to the Church in Ephesus about the specialness of being children of God through Christ (1:3-14). “[God] has made known to us the mystery of [God’s] will…as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth.” This puts us directly in the mode of being “in the world, and not of it”. Prophets are commissioned to confront the idols. Some of these may be carved of wood or stone, but most are attitudes of selfish hearts.
John the Baptizer pops in and out of the Gospel narratives. Here in Mark 6:14-29, we have a flashback of how John was done in as a reward to a dancing-girl. Here again was a prophet who spoke truth to power, accusing Herod of misusing his carte blanche to steal his brother’s wife. Herod guiltily associated Jesus’ teaching and healing with the ghost of John the Baptist, recognizing at least to himself the extremes between God’s Word and his own. Evil inflicts its chaos–to Mark, there’s little neutral ground, little gray area between the Ultimate Goodness of Jesus and his group and the Total Depravity of the Herodian culture. The prophetic voice in the wilderness was sent to confront this idolatry.
About now, most congregants are day-dreaming of high surf and hot sand, or of dozing in a rowboat on some shady Adirondack lake. They may take exception to a call to confront today’s idols. Our challenge is to announce this vigorous mission on a sleepy midsummer day!
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
My angst with lessons assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com
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