O seer, go, flee away, Year C, Pentecost 16, Amos 6.1a, 4-7

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

It’s not profitable to be a prophet.

True prophets don’t win a lot of popularity contests.  And rarely are they welcome in the King’s courts.

Amos was one such prophet.

Later on in the book of Amos, Chapter 7, we hear this exchange between Amaziah, the Priest of Bethel, and Amos:

12 And Amaziah said to Amos, "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom."

14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, "I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, 15 and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel. '”

Amos had a very unpopular message.

He preached against the economic injustice in the land of Israel.

And he warned about the judgment that was to come, the destruction of Israel and the deportation of its people. 

One of my college professors posed a question.  “Why do you suppose that we have the book of Amos in the Bible, and not the book of Amaziah?  Why, when Amos had such a harsh word of judgment against Israel and Judah, did they in the end view his words as holy, and not Amaziah?”

The answer is that truth endures.

History is the judge between false prophets and true.

A true prophet’s words stand the test of time and are validated in the events that follow.

The reason we have a book of Amos is that the Kingdom of Israel was destroyed as he said it would be.  His words proved to be true.

What does he have to say to us, today?

And were he here in our midst, would we want to listen? 

Probably not.

Prosperity is one of our gods, afterall.

Bill Clinton once famously declared, “It’s the economy, stupid!”

That’s what concerns us.  Are we doing well?

One sermon that could be preached on this text would focus on issues of economic injustice and inequality in our land, as the rich just keep getting richer and the poor, poorer.

One example:

The average wage of a McDonald’s crew member is between 8 and 9 dollars an hour.

The average profit from owning a McDonald’s franchise is one million dollars a year, per store, per location.

Some would lift that up as a prime example of the disparity in our land between rich and poor.

So there’s one sermon.

And all four of the assigned readings for today deal in some way with the issue of poverty and riches, and economic justice.  Those are hard words for people such as us who live in one of the richest nations in the world.

Many would maintain that economic justice is not an appropriate topic for the Church, in spite of the focus that the Bible has on it.

We want to hear a message about love and forgiveness, not justice and mercy for the poor.

Alas, alas, alas for us.

Another question we might ask when dealing with the prophets is “who are the prophets in our day that we should be listening to?”

There are those of us preachers who would like to think that the message we have is a prophetic voice that needs to be reckoned with. 

I mean what preacher does not in some way want to declare “Thus saith the Lord!”

But the chances are that the true prophets will not be found wearing fine robes and earning a salary and benefits package.  And rather than aspiring to be a prophet, the word they carry is most often a burden. 

Amos said, "I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, 15 and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel. '”

I think we may have one such prophet in our midst, though only time will tell.

She might say:
“I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s daughter, but I am a child, a sixteen year old girl with Asperger’s Syndrome, who has been given a word to share that the adults in this world don’t want to hear, but that they need to hear, because everything depends on it!”

I am talking about a Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg.

She began her quest to raise awareness and action on climate change by staging a strike, skipping school one day, and sitting in front of the Swedish Parliament building.

That simple act, and her message has ignited a movement, both of those inspired by her and who share her concerns about our earth, and also of those who hold disdain for all talk of climate change.

Whereas last year she sat alone outside the parliament, this year millions around the world joined her climate strike.

And she spoke at the United Nations.  Here are a few of her words:

"My message is that we'll be watching you.

"This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

"For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

"You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe. . .

"You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.

"We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.

"Thank you."

Is Greta Thunberg, the great grandchild of a well respected Lutheran pastor and teacher from Sweden, a prophet in her own right?  Is her calling to bring to us a message of warning, that we refused to listen to when it was Al Gore carrying that message.

Time will tell.

History will be the judge.

The risk for us all, though, is that we are dealing with serious consequences if the entire globe on which we live is at risk.

There is another issue regarding climate change that resonates with Amos’ prophecy.

Climate change is also an issue of economic justice.

This is the issue:

The poor, who contribute the least toward global warming, will suffer the most, while the rich who consume most of the fossil fuels that result in the warming of our planet, will suffer the least. That’s troubling.

I have firsthand experience with that.

My employer provides the cabinetry for an ocean front development in the Bahamas.  These homes range in value from a few million, to 20 to 30 million dollars.

They were hit hard by Hurricane Dorian, that category 5 hurricane.

But they were not the ones that are truly suffering.

People who can afford to build a 20 million dollar home, can afford to rebuild it.

It’s the poor people on the island that lost their lives and homes, and livelihoods.

The poor are also the most vulnerable to climate change.

Others will suffer as well.  I talked with a farmer back in my home town of Wessington Springs lately.  “How’s it going?” I asked.

“Well, if the rains would just stop.  .  .”

Climate change is affecting the weather in the Midwest, the bread basket of our country, and in turn, the productivity of the land.

But why talk about such things in Church?

The reason is simple:  God cares about our lives and our well being.

God created this world, and God cares for this world, and God has given us dominion over this world.

It’s a God thing to be concerned, then, about the health of this world. 

A few final thoughts:

I don’t know all the answers.

But I know I am part of the problem.

I also know, that all those windmills that dot the landscape across eastern Washington are not causing me to suffer, but are part of the solution to global warming.

I know that I need to repent.  And to do my part to improve the world in which I live.

I also know that the Church has obsessed over many things.  But perhaps nothing is more important than the health of our planet.

And finally, this may be the one thing that we are judged on, both by history and by God, for so much is at stake.

Is Greta Thunberg a real prophet, or a false prophet?

If what she says is true, we damn well better listen because the future of the world depends on it.

If not, what harm will have been done if we have devoted time and energy to development of clean energy and healthy environments?

That’s the thing.  We can care for the planet that God has created, and still thrive.  If fact, our wellbeing and the planet’s wellbeing go hand in hand.

To care for the world in which we live, will in the end, benefit those of us who live in this world.

Amen

Year C, Proper 21, Amos 6. 1a, 4-7, Luke 16.19-31, The Great Chasm

A USA student went to Brazil as a foreign exchange student.  One of her first lessons was about the vast disparity between the rich and the  poor in Rio de Janeiro.  She had learned about the poor in Latin America, and particularly about the slums in Rio-- though her host family would never have considered taking her there.  She was aware that her host family was well to do, but she had no clue how rich they were.  That is until one day it was announced that they would go shopping that weekend.  She expected that they'd simply head into town.  To her amazement, they went instead to the airport where they boarded their private jet and flew to Paris for an overnight shopping spree.  Such is the disparity that exists, the chasm between the rich and the poor.

In the early 2000s, I had the opportunity to travel twice to Russia.  As an outsider looking in, one of the most immediate impressions was that this was a land of priceless treasurers, and incredible poverty.  Historic palaces bear witness to the incredible wealth of years past, in contrast to the serfdom of the masses.  The communist era sought to equalize the wealth distribution in the country, but in truth did little to improve the lot of the common person.  And in the post-communist era the vast majority exist on little to nothing, while the new rich (the Russian mafia) rival the world's wealthiest.  One passes by beggars in the street to enter museums filled with Rembrandts and Picassos.  Such is the disparity that exists, the chasm between the rich and the poor.

In our own country the gap is widening.  Politicians talk about the 1%.  Major corporations such as Monsanto dominate world markets.  I had the opportunity once to do a commission for a German couple who had a summer place in Gig Harbor, where I was a "starving artist" woodworker.  At the time this couple was in the Forbes top ten of the wealthiest people in the world.  They had just acquired the A & P Grocery stores, and considered it to be a good tax right off.  I still am amazed to think about the time when Erivan and Helga Haub stood in my living room as we finalized a deal on what would be my largest commission.  The wealthiest of the wealthy in my modest home.  Quotable quote:  They had invited a prominent Gig Harbor businessman and his wife for an afternoon of relaxing by their pool.  Helga turned to Erivan during the course of the conversation and said, "Isn't it great being in Gig Harbor where we can thoroughly enjoy ourselves socializing with the peasants."
Such is the disparity that exists, the chasm between the rich and the poor.

But just when I become convinced of my own poverty, I remember a visit from our friends in Russia.  Our congregation had paid for their way to come and spend a few weeks with us.  As they walked into our home for a meal one evening they simply exclaimed, "Yet another palace!"

The Bible doesn't take lightly this chasm between the rich and the poor.  One of the most radical concepts was for a year of Jubilee.  Every 50 years wealth and land would be redistributed and all would be equal again.  It probably was never observed.  

Amos declares that the exile awaits for the wealthiest in Judah who are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.  And in our Gospel lesson, we have Lazarus and the rich man, each with their differing lots in life, but who will find in the life to come that their fortune has been reversed.  Does God care that much about economic justice and equality?  

Acts gives us an account of a great economic experiment of the early church.  "All who believed were together and had all things in common;  they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need."  One must wonder how widespread this situation was, and how long it endured.  Probably only for "one brief, but shining moment. . ."

Last week's Gospel declared emphatically:  "You cannot serve God and wealth."  Liberation Theology emerged from Latin America to claim and emphasize the Gospel as "Good News for the Poor", but understandably, with the exception of a few "bleeding heart liberals", it gained little traction in the North.  

The uncomfortable and inconvenient reality is that if we listen to the prophets, or Jesus, we cannot ignore the concern expressed for the poor.  There is an 800# Gorilla in the room.  The question is:  Is that Gorilla the dominant power of the rich over the poor that will continue for all time?  Or the hand of God that will act with retribution against the rich and in favor of the poor?

This text should make us uncomfortable.  Or perhaps hopeful.  It all depends.  But if we believe the witness of how God has acted historically, and that God will continue to act, we best be prepared for the possibility that redemption may affect economic injustice and oppression.