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Old Testament Reading: Amos 8:1-12 [If you'd like to hear this message you can do so by clicking on audio]

New Revise Standard Amos 8:1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me — a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”1 Then the LORD said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass them by. 3 The songs of the temple1 shall become wailings in that day,” says the Lord GOD; “the dead bodies shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!” 4 Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, 5 saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the Sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, 6 buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” 7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. 8 Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt? 9 On that day, says the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. 10 I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day. 11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. 12 They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.

Sermon: “Why don’t you have a glass of wine with us?” Rev. Paul R. Seebeck

Late last week a group of friends were sitting on the back patio of a Capitol Hill home in Washington, DC. They’d just finished a grand feast of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp, and now were sipping on some fine red wine. Suddenly a hooded man slid through an open gate and put the barrel of handgun to the head of a 14-year old guest. “Give me your money or I’ll start shooting,” he shouted. The five other guests including the girls’ parents froze. Then one of the guests—a 43-year-old Christina Rowan blurted out, “We’ve just finished dinner. Why don’t have a glass of wine with us?”

The robber took a sip of their $50 dollar bottle of wine. “Damn that’s good” is what he said. The girl’s father told the man to take the whole glass. Rowan offered him the whole bottle! Now the intruder took his hood down, took another sip, and helped himself to a bite of soft creamy French cheese. Then he tucked the gun pointed the girl’s head into the pocket of his nylon sweatpants. “I think I came to the wrong house,” he said. “I’m sorry.” Then after a long pause he asked, “Can I get a hug?”

Rowan was the first to respond, she stood up and wrapped her arms around him. Then it was the father’s turn, then his wife, and as two of the other guest stood up to reach out to the robber, he took another sip of wine and said, “Can we have a group hug?”
Cops who came to investigate after the intruder left found the empty crystal wine glass in the alley behind the house. The told reporters, “the folks should have squeezed him and held onto him for us.”

There a couple of images I’d like us to hold onto for a moment in our imaginations as we look at our passage of scripture this morning in Amos. The image of a gun pointed to the head of a precious 14-year old girl near the end of lovely summer barbeque. Everybody frozen for a moment as they see the life of this 14-year old girl – and bad news—flashing into front of them. In a sense this must’ve been how those hearing the message of Amos felt – as if they had a gun to their heads – as Amos hurls out the bad news.

Now hold on to the other image found in the response of a 43- year old woman. Seeing the gun to the girl’s head, with most of the group in fear confessing they anticipated some of kind casualty she chooses to respond “Would you like to have a glass of wine with us?” “Here take the whole bottle.” “You need a hug, I’ll be the first to reach out to you.” This woman’s response is entirely different than the response of those in Amos who heard and saw bad news.

In our text, Amos begins his terrifying news with a lovely image of a basket of summer fruit – just like the marinated steaks, jumbo shrimp, and fine red wine. But then like the gunman appearing out of nowhere, he does a sudden artistic play-on-words that gets the full attention of the listener, tying together this image of summer fruit with the end. In Hebrew these two words sound somewhat alike, the word for fruit is “gavits” and the word for the end is “gets.” The Hebrew mind immediately would’ve heard this play-on-words and would’ve known what Amos was implying – as summer fruit is ripe, so Israel is ripe for change. The end, “the I will never again pass them by again” carries the weight of doom.” In this 4th vision of Amos, there is an accounting between Israel and their God. The implication is that Israel’s existence as they know it will end.”

What’s fascinating about this that Amos receives four visions that detail the destruction of Israel. Starting in chapter 7 each comes with increasing intensity. After the first two visions though Amos asks God to be merciful, and God relents promising the prophet that what was seen will not come to pass. But in the third vision and fourth vision Amos emphasizes God’s righteousness and judgment – no longer asking for mercy.

What’s going on here? What caused Amos to stop asking for mercy? And why did this destruction of Israel eventually occur? And why do answers to these questions matter to us?
This truth is Amos’ message may have more to say to us than we dare admit; for it is timeless in the sense of its power to disturb – kind of like having a gun pointed at your head.
His words of doom came during a time of great prosperity under King Jeroboam the II.. The Israelites who were descendents of those who had escaped from Egypt as slave, began to turn their back on the poor and dispossessed. The ancient rule of Israel was to leave the leftovers of harvest for the poor, but now even those were packaged for sale. There was a large-scale conspiracy among the merchants of the day to “squeeze” the customers to increase profit margin. Lying and cheating were par for the course. Increasingly the “haves” grew ethically corrupt, while the “have-nots” became impoverished, driven further into debt, and forced into slavery.

If there had been a Wall Street Journal back than the headlines might have read something like this:

“Dow Jones Average Hits a New Record High”
“Unemployment at Lowest Rate in Decades”
“Housing Starts at a Ten Year High”
“Interest Rates Lower”
“Consumer Confidence at All Time High”

Sounds eerily familiar with the 1990’s doesn’t it? And even though we live in a post 9/11 world – with war in Iraq, with war on terror, some of those headlines linger on today. The Dow Jones Average just cracked the 14,000 barrier this week. Yet on the back pages of the same newspaper could be true horror stories about American workers – who are predominately Latino by the way – not being paid for the hours they work. Or those who are homeless without health care, being taken from a local hospital and dumped at Skid Row, dazed and confused, left there because a mission agency at least has a bed where they can sleep. I could keep going but I think you get the picture.

But allow me bring it closer to home, while we experience the benefits of a downtown condo housing boom, that include million dollar homes for some, some 200 poor residents get displaced. By the way there was an excellent editorial in Friday’s Spokesman Review about this disturbing news calling on leaders of our community to cooperate in working to solve this problem – encouraging us to not lose focus on the inadequate supply of housing for those who require low-income housing means – even as we recognize the positive impact that higher end units have on downtown and our economy.

The article encouraged government, social service agencies, non profit groups (churches are in that group – smile – by the way) and developers to work together at finding workable solutions for those on the margins – and now this my language – for those whom God cares about.
This is what didn’t happen in Israel. Even as Amos was asking for and receiving God’s mercy for the Israelites in the first two visions, the people continue to have little regard for the poor, shifting their focus from fair business practices to making money at the expense of righteousness. It all unravels after Amos receives his third vision and begins talking less about God’s mercy and more about God’s judgment. Take a look with me in Amos 7:10-13 – at the response of the religious leader in the Northern Kingdom, where people were now worshipping golden calves that had been put in the sanctuaries by their King.

{10} Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. {11} For this is what Amos is saying: “‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’” {12} Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. {13} Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”

It is after this attempt by the religious authorities to silence him that Amos stops asking God for mercy, even as Amaziah refuses to listen, to pray, intercede for the children of God. Instead this religious leaders pays homage to the King, to the current power structure in the land.

It makes me wonder how we do at listening to voices we might not agree with? Do we attempt to silence them, or are we willing to consider our ways and how we might be missing the mark of what God desires from us and for us?

Israel’s punishment is spiritual – they will no longer be able to hear God speaking to them for a time, and eventually they will be destroyed by the Assyrians and enter into a period of exile.
This is a disturbing passage that is full of bad news, yet I find it fascinating that when asked God extended mercy. Amos didn’t stop asking for mercy because of a flaw in God’s divine character, he stopped asking because he was cut off, silenced not by God, but by the refusal of humanity to hear and see itself.
How do you receive and respond when you hear or see bad news?

The Rev. Tony Campolo was in Hawaii recently. Late one evening – actually it was about 2 o’clock in the morning – he couldn’t sleep. So he walked to the closest diner near his hotel. As he was enjoying his cup of coffee a group of women came it, it was clear they were ladies of the night – prostitutes. As Tony listened to their conversation, he heard Irene tell the ladies that it was her birthday tomorrow. Once they left Campolo went to the manager of the diner and asked him if he knew Irene (yes) and is this the time that she regularly comes in (yes). Then would you mind if I bring in a birthday cake tomorrow night/morning?

The next night at 2 am Tony was waiting for Irene and friends with a birthday cake. There was a great sense of celebration. Everybody wanted Irene to immediately cut into her cake. But she was in tears. Finally when she was able to speak she asked them if she could take the cake home, as it was, in once piece. “You see,” she said, “I’ve never had anyone make me a birthday cake before. But I promise I’ll bring it back tomorrow night in once piece, and then we can celebrate.”

After they all left the manger of the diner asked Campollo what he did for a living. “I’m a minister.” “No you can’t be,” was the man’s reply in disbelief. “What church?” “The church that follows the example of Jesus and brings birthday cakes to prostitutes at two in the morning” said Campollo. “Nah a church like that doesn’t exist,” said the manger. “Cause if it did I’d belong to it.”

How do you respond when there’s a gun to your head? Maybe it’s time for us to ask God and those who are around us, “We’ve just finished another great meal, we are ripe and full, but why don’t you have a glass of wine with us?”
May we be overwhelmed at how God responds to us responding to those around us – may we hold on freely inviting others to join us in God’s mercy and grace – always available through Jesus Christ – for the sake of righteousness and justice. Please pray with me.