I want to start by saying, if you disagree here... just click that "X" on the right hand side of this page. There's no need to leave comments that will be deleted anyway. I love you all and will not tolerate hate on my page, in my sight, in my life or those of my neighbors.
Here we go.....
I want to discuss Amos. Yep, that OT prophet. He actually never considered himself a prophet. Amos was a fig farmer and a shepherd. He had such a great heart for oppressed people and spoke up for those who did not have a voice people would listen to. He was a good guy from the old southern kingdom of Judah.
Amos felt lead to go to the northern kingdom of Judah and some of the other surrounding nations to warn them about some things they were doing that would surely bring God's wrath and wreck their lands. Of course when we try to tell people to be cautious or warn them, there's this little side of resistance within each of us. In this case, Amos was met with much resistance from the Israelites.
Why were the Israelites so resistant? Let's get into that... king of Israel, Jeroboam had been so good at his job that Israel was extremely rich in all sense of material and money you can imagine. So much so that all sense of morals, ethics, justice, righteousness were gone. This caused lack of growth for Israel. When I say lack of growth.. I mean as a united people.
Amos was so angry about the chaos in Israel that when God spoke to Amos and informed him to go and warn them of what is to come, he did. He told the privileged people who took advantage of their neighbors and did not show them love to straighten up. He rebuked Israel because they had plain and simple forgotten God.
In the book of Amos, specifically chapter 5 we find God extremely angry with Israel. Here, I learned that the Israelites were not rejected because of their rituals being improper, wrong or even that they were doing this to honor any other gods. God was pissed because of the lack of justice and righteousness. They were not loving their neighbors. They were down right just not doing good things. They would go on acting as if they were great. We could call this a time of "rampant destruction and moral decay".
God through Amos basically told Israel that without justice and righteousness, the relationship with Him is non-existent. He says, "Take away the noise of your singing!.. Let justice flow down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream..." (Amos 5:23-24)
Are you catching what I'm throwing here?
I am talking to the church. I am reaching out to my brothers and sisters-in-Christ. Don't get mad or defensive. If you are getting this way search your hearts, ask for clarity from God on why. I implore you to search your hearts. I know I have done so.
We have much to learn from Amos. As injustice rips its way through our world, we need not turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. Prayer, teaching, preaching yes these are fundamentally necessary but at what cost when we sit and watch injustices and suffering?!
I want to set some things straight about my heart as of late. I am being brutally honest. My heart has been broken for our world. I have sat in prayer, in thought, in quiet meditation for my place in this fight for God's grace, peace, understanding, and righteousness to flow down like raging waters from Heaven.
I am white, I am privileged because of this. I don't have shame because of that. But I recognize it. I don't use it as an excuse. I am NOW "bent low in a posture of humility" as Latasha Morrison informs us we need to do in her book, Be The Bridge. She also gently guides us to also "talk less", "listen more", and to "open" my mind. You see in our world, humanity does not need pity or shame from us who are white. We need not say "I don't see color". We MUST start to recognize that we HAVE to see it. We HAVE to recognize it. We HAVE to change. We HAVE to start reconciliation. We talk about love and YES LOVE! But it means nothing if we love and no one knows we love.
Church - let's learn from Amos. Learn from your brothers and sisters-in-Christ who are suffering. It is time we need not be quiet. It is time for helping our neighbor, loving them, bending a posture of humility and understanding that for love, there is justice. For love, there is righteousness. For love, Christ died for us.
Christ died for Gregory Floyd, Amaud Arbery, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Dontre Hamilton, John Crawford III, Michael Brown Jr., Ezell Ford, Dante Parker, Tanisha Anderson, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice, Rumain Brisbon, Jerame Reid, Tony Robinson, Phillip White, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Akiel Denkins, Gregory Gunn, Samuel DuBose, Brendon Glenn, Natasha McKenna, Yvette Smith, Kendra James, Amadou Diallo, LaTanya Haggerty... And all of us...
It's time we stand together in love, justice, righteousness.
Are you with me?
I urge you to read the book Be The Bridge by Latasha Morrison. It's amazing and has taught me much about not being silent and having conversation regarding really difficult topics.
With much love In-Christ...
Patti
#JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #Justice
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