Sojourners/Call to Renewal

June 26, 2006
"Use Words"
Amos 7

Rev. Wallis and other organizers of this event, Dr. Campolo and others sharing this chancel with me this afternoon, brothers and sisters from many and diverse communities of faith, concerned citizens, it is good to be with you today.

On behalf of the three-quarters of a million members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada, I join the Rev. Steven Gentle in welcoming you to National City Christian Church. In the spirit of our Disciples tradition where we say, "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love"; where we declare that all are welcome at the table, I say to you, welcome. As we gather in the capital city of this powerful and prosperous nation, may this be holy ground where a sacred word of justice and hope may be spoken, where truth is told with clarity and power. Welcome.

Here - in this place where religious and political power meet, let me tell you about a similar encounter long ago, recorded in the biblical book of Amos, chapter 7.

Now, Amos was a farm worker from south of the border, who came to the royal city of Bethel (apparently without any of the proper credentials.) There, at the national temple he began to "speak truth to power." "Power" didn't like it.

In those days, the royal economic system had produced unprecedented wealth. The economy was booming. GDP was up. Trade was strong. Worker productivity was on the rise. From inside the royal beltway things looked grand!

But on the main streets of small towns, in farmhouses, in the busy markets of cities, there was a deep sense of anxiety. Sure, the economy apparently was booming, money was good - for those who had it. But most did not! Most were paying heavy taxes to support the economic and military ventures of the royal elite. (Hmmm. So that's where that idea came from!)

The subsistence farmers and village artisans who had to pay those taxes fell further and further behind. Increasingly, they borrowed from wealthier neighbors to pay their taxes and feed their families and repay their creditors from last year. Trapped in a downward spiral of debt, they put up whatever they had as collateral - their garments, their tools, the marriage value of their daughters, the labor value of their sons, of themselves. As a last resort, they put up the family farm. The fortunate ones became debt slaves, working their own land now as tenant farmers. The least fortunate simply starved.

In this context, Amos, the prophet from south of the border, meets Amaziah, royal priest for the status quo.

Amos in our story today is in full prophetic mode. Twice in chapter 7 he has seen a vision from God of judgment against the nation for its neglect of the poor. Twice he has spoken a word of intercession with God, confessed sin, pled for mercy on behalf of the nation. And sure enough, twice God has relented from punishment.

But the third time is different. The third time Amaziah, religious apologist for the administration, breaks in.

Just like the first two times, Amos receives a vision of judgment. But this time, before the prophet can speak his word of confession and plead for mercy, Amaziah, intervenes:

He says to Amos, "Run back to the land of Judah and earn your bread there and prophesy there. Don't ever prophesy at Bethel again, because it's the king's sanctuary, a royal temple!" Take your doom and gloom, and go away!

This time, Amos does not turn to God - he's too busy responding to Amaziah! But without the word from the prophet, this time God does not relent. Amaziah, attempting to silence the prophet's inconvenient truth, unwittingly seals the doom of his nation.

Twice before the prophetic word saved the nation. Now, silencing the word has set the path to the destruction of the nation.

I tell this story today, because we need some prophets here. We need some words to be said, some voices to be raised, some truth to be told.

I tell you this story today because some of us church people have a problem.

St Francis once said: "Preach the gospel always... - If necessary, use words." A lot of us really like that quote. I've preached on it plenty of times myself.

We like to live our faith in deeds more than talk about it in words. We're pretty good at responding in times of need with acts of mercy. After Katrina and Rita, we saw it. Places of worship located on the roads traveled by the displaced opened their doors. In town after town spreading out from the Gulf, people of faith joined hands to be a helping, serving presence of mercy to people in need.

And this is a good thing.

There is, however, another implication of the St. Francis quote that we have often missed. Which is, that it is, in fact, sometimes necessary to use words to get the message across. Where some of us run into problems sometimes is with the words.

My brother and sister-in-law recently went on a medical mission trip to Brazil from their Presbyterian church in Florida. They're not doctors, but they thought they might get to make appointments or hold equipment or help the doctors somehow. Once there, however, they were assigned to go door to door in villages, telling the gospel story. When they heard their assignment, they looked at the trip organizers in disbelief. My brother blurted out, "But. . . we're Presbyterians!"

They could just as easily have said, "But - we're Disciples."

Preach the gospel always - when necessary, with words. Sometimes we good church people have trouble finding the words. But we need to find them. We need a prophetic word today. The story of Amos tells us that the world may depend on our finding the words.

In a world where the very richest country nevertheless sees 37 million people living in poverty, where around that world more than 1 billion people live in extreme poverty - that is, on less than $1 a day (when was the last time you tried to get a cup of coffee for a dollar?) - in such a world, people need for us to speak up.

They need to know about God who loved the world enough to create it in the first place, who asks us to care for that world as if we loved it, too. They need to know about God who created humans little less than the angels, who gave us to each other for company and community, and who gave us a job to do.

In this faith community, represented by those of us gathered here, we proclaim that God is respected when God's children are respected. God is honored when all God's children are housed and healthy and fed. God is magnified when God's children are dignified with work that works.

We need to find a prophetic word today.

In a world where God's children are hungry in spite of our ability to produce ample food, where disease runs rampant in spite of our knowledge to cure it, where human on human violence continues unabated around the globe, we need to speak up.

We worship God who lives in the world today as the living Jesus, who began his ministry by announcing good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and letting the oppressed go free. Who said at the end of his ministry that the way we serve the Risen Christ is to feed the hungry people we see, to give drink to the thirsty in our community, to clothe the naked next to us.

We worship God who lives in the world through us.

In a world where the dictates of empire say that people are expendable, markets only matter, people need to know about a community of faith where we see the very image of God gently molded on the face of every person and treat them as such. We need a prophetic word today.

In a groaning world, where the powerful take advantage of the weak, where the cult of individualism causes persons to be lost from the embrace of family, of community, of unconditional love, people need us to speak up.

We are bound together today by the same Spirit that on Pentecost danced over the heads and warmed the hearts of disciples, enabling all of the people to hear the gospel in their own languages, convicting them of their need for redemption and binding them into new communities of love. This same exuberant spirit inspires the saints and prophets who live among us now.

In a world that all too often cowers in fear, worries in isolation, sneers in cynicism, a world that believes the worst instead of working for the best, we need to speak up about a community of faith whose hope is Spirit-breathed. We need to find the words today.

In our time together may we hear a prophetic word that empowers us to get with God's agenda of care and community and dignity and work. A word that calls for all children around the world to have enough - enough to survive, enough for basic human dignity, enough to reflect the divine glory that shines in every human being, male and female, created in the image of God! May our hearts burn with Pentecost fire that God might change the world through us.

May we Preach the gospel always - when necessary - use words.