Tag Archives: Amos

The Necessity of Judgment

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This week on the Strangely Warmed podcast I speak with Matt Benton about the readings for the 5th Sunday After Pentecost [C] (Amos 7.7-17, Psalm 82, Colossians 1.1-14, Luke 10.25-37). Matt is the pastor of Bethel UMC in Woodbridge, VA. Our conversation covers a range of topics including professional segues, We Own This City, low anthropology, the parable of the plumb line, false modesty, wickedness, comfort, grace, worthy living, holy friendships, and promises. If you would like to listen to the episode or subscribe to the podcast you can do so here: The Necessity of Judgment

The Orchard Of Scripture

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This week on the Strangely Warmed podcast I speak with Wil Posey about the readings for the 6th Sunday After Pentecost [C] (Amos 8.1-12, Psalm 52, Colossians 1.15-28, Luke 10.38-42). Wil serves as the pastor of First UMC in Murphy, NC. Our conversation covers a range of topics including fruit puns, sermon titles, fishing for a thesis, baldness as a punishment, the feat of death, reading canonically, using the first-person plural, piety vs. mercy, and praying with our feet. If you would like to listen to the episode or subscribe to the podcast you can do so here: The Orchard Of Scripture

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Bedazzle Your Crosses

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This week on the Strangely Warmed podcast I speak with David King about the readings for the 5th Sunday After Pentecost [C] (Amos 7.7-17, Psalm 82, Colossians 1.1-14, Luke 10.25-37). David is a 21 year old college senior who is currently studying philosophy and religion. Our conversation covers a range of topics including plumb lines, persistent pursuits, sycamore trees, justice for the marginalized, easy Christianity, hearing hope, poor parable preaching, and dying to save. If you would like to listen to the episode or subscribe to the podcast you can do so here: Bedazzle Your Crosses

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It’s About God, Stupid.

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This week on the Strangely Warmed podcast I speak with Rev. Sarah Locke about the readings for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost (Joshua 24.1-3a, 14-25, Amos 5.18-24, 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18, Matthew 25.1-13). Sarah is the pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Staunton, Virginia. The conversation covers a range of topics including the idol of being perfect, short term memory loss, being “for” God, and the possibility of God growing tired with all our words. If you would like to listen to the episode or subscribe to the podcast you can do so here: It’s About God, Stupid. 

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Devotional – Amos 5.23-24

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Devotional:

Amos 5.23-24

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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Yesterday morning, while countless Christians were passing the peace, or humming the hymns, or celebrating communion all over the country, a man carried a Ruger assault-style rifle into a small Baptist church in southern Texas and murdered 26 people. Officials have reported that the associate pastor was walking up to the pulpit to preach when the gunfire began and that the victims ranged in age from 5 to 72.

Within a short period of time people all across the country flocked to social media and news outlets to share reflections, condolences, and prayers. Politicians tweeted their thoughts, parents held onto their children a little tighter, and pastors started thinking about how in the world they could address what happened in their own churches.

It was about a month ago that we were all reeling from the news that a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers in Las Vegas leaving 58 dead and 546 injured.

And within a short period of time people all across the country flocked to social media and news outlets to share reflections, condolences, and prayers. Politicians tweeted their thoughts, parents held onto their children a little tighter, and pastors started thinking about how in the world they could address what happened.

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Is God tired of all our talking (and tweeting)? Are the prayers that we offer in the midst of a crisis, and then forget about until the next thing comes, being heard? Is God listening to all of this noise?

What would it look like to let justice roll down like waters in a world that lives in the shadow of the cross? When did we let the words we offer become more important than living lives of righteousness? Is the noise we produce so deafening that we can no longer hear what God has to say?

There’s no easy solution to the recent horrific shooting tragedies. We are clearly a people divided on just about everything these days, and in particular when in comes to gun rights and gun control. But when it comes to the realm of the church, when we think about what this all means for the kingdom of God, we have to ask ourselves if God has grown tired of all our talking.

This is not to say that we should cease to pray. In fact, we should pray without ceasing. But our prayers that we offer to God cannot be limited to words we toss around while our hands are clenched together. Sometimes the most faithful prayers are the ones we make with our actions.

Devotional – Amos 5.14

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Devotional:

Amos 5.14

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.

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A few weeks ago I found myself sitting in a sanctuary filled with pastors and lay people for a class on spiritual disciplines. Our teacher led us through a lecture about the means of grace and the many ways that we can find communion with God through spiritual disciplines. We heard about the value of reading scripture, praying for God’s intercession, and listening to the silence. All in all it was a very informative class, and I believe that many of us left with a renewed spirit and dedication to living prayerful lives. However, in addition to all the wonderful comments during the class, I overheard the instructor talking with someone on the way out and what he said stopped me in my tracks.

A woman stood with the instructor and asked for his advice regarding the fact that God’s love was absent from her life. She claimed to have committed herself to the spiritual discipline of Morning Prayer, but God’s presence was still lacking. The instructor stood there with a serious look on his face and simply asked, “Are you doing all the good you can in your life?”

That question is one that cuts straight to the heart. Though I was unable to pick up on the rest of the conversation, I can imagine that the instructor was trying to make the point that, as we read in Amos 5, if we seek the good, God will be with us. We can pray and commit ourselves to spiritual disciplines, but unless those disciplines are bearing fruit in our lives then they might need to be reconsidered.

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During the time of John Wesley, many Christians were consumed by a faith of the mind. They relied heavily on reason and experience to determine their understanding of God and were content to let God be something they pondered rather than someone to whom they could give their life. Frustrated with the way the church was moving, Wesley pushed for holiness of heart and life whereby spiritual practices and thoughts would become manifest in daily life by doing the good. A wonderful quote often attributed to Wesley shows his commitment to the good: “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”

In our lives, how often do we strive for the good? If God’s presence feels absent, if we want to experience God’s love here and now, then one of the best things we can do is seek the good and discover God’s presence along the way.

Devotional – Amos 5.23-24

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Devotional:

Amos 5.23-24

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.  

Weekly Devotional Image

For me, music makes the worship service. I can listen to a mediocre sermon, but if the organist has been hitting all the notes perfectly I can walk away feeling filled with the Spirit. I can be ignored as a first time visitor, but if the gathered body sings with full vigor I can leave the service feeling that I have encountered the living God. I can witness borderline heretical theology in a bulletin, but if the musicians are truly glorifying the Lord through their instruments, I can believe that the service has been redeemed.

I started playing drums for contemporary worship services when I was in 9th grade. I played all through high school, college, and seminary for a variety of churches in a variety of places. It is difficult to describe the doxological feeling that I experience when playing drums during a service, but suffice it to say that I feel closer to God in those moments than many others. Contemporary services are not for everyone, even I will admit that I enjoy playing for those services rather than experiencing them in the pews, but they help connect a large portion of Christians to the living God in a way that shapes, molds, and grows their faith.

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When I was in college I began playing for the Crave service that was a part of the Wesley Foundation at James Madison University. Every Sunday afternoon the band would get together at Asbury UMC to practice for a few hours before the service began in the evening. We would play songs that got people placing their hands in the air and praising God. We would play songs that got people dancing in the pews. We would play songs that were so familiar and catchy that I could actually hear people singing the words over the volume of the drum-kit.

However, even when we were playing at our best, our music paled in comparison with the one night that we left the church and wandered around downtown Harrisonburg. Instead of gathering for the typical service (3-4 songs, prayer, sermon, communion, 1 song, benediction) we met on the steps of the church and walked downtown to pray for our city. We stopped at specific locations and joined hands to prayerfully lift up our community, and in particular we prayed over the local courthouse so that “justice might roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

You can have the best music in the world at your church, but when the music becomes the only life-giving part of your discipleship formation, when acts of justice and righteousness have gone missing, we limit the depth and beauty that we can experience. Music is most powerful when it points away from ourselves to God, and when it inspires us to be righteous outside of worship.

This week, let us look for the moments when we can let justice roll down like waters for others around us. Let us truly listen to the words of our Christian songs and live them out so that our righteousness can be like an ever-flowing stream.