Please Note That Most Messages Follow The Revised Common Lectionary
Today's Message However Deviates From the Lectionary

Rarely there comes a time when I feel strongly impressed by God to bring a message from a "Non-Lectionary" text. This is one of those times. This is actually a paper I did for an Old Testament class yet God has seared this message into my heart and like the little boy who couldn't keep a secret I just have to tell it or I'm gonna bust!

I will never forget that day. I sat facing Dr. Jim Radford as my wife sat beside of me. In one hand I had a pair of my 2 year old son’s socks and in the other hand I had my daughter’s passy. My wife and I had been married just a few short years and were serving a wonderful church family. We sat quietly as Dr. Radford spoke.

"Reverend Osborne I am afraid I have some bad news and then I have some really bad news. Your lymphoma has become non-responsive to chemo-therapy. It is evidently a very aggressive form of lymphoma. We can see in the scans that while we attacked this lymphoma with a very radical protocol, it has continued to spread throughout your body. In this non-responsive state, bone marrow transplantation is not only a waste of moneys - moneys that you need now for your final expenses - it would be a tremendously cruel course of treatment with no foreseeable hope." Trying to hold back my tears I glanced at my wife whose face was buried in her hands as she wept bitterly. In the midst of the most joyous time of our lives something calamitous occurred bringing an unrecoverable disruption to our lives.

As I read and re-read the passage from Amos, the feelings I associated with that day came over and over to the forefront of my mind. "This," I think "is how Israel must have felt as they heard the prophetic words of Amos."

Like my wife and I, Israel was enjoying a period in her history that was filled with prosperity and tranquillity. In the midst of a time "they" considered glorious, came words of gloom. Amos’ play on the words "summer fruit" gave forth the imagery of a time which was "ripe" for an accounting between God and Israel.

I remember asking Dr. Radford very specifically if I had done anything to contribute to this dreaded disease taking over my body. His answer was a very firm "No!" He continued to say "Ray there is absolutely nothing you have done that made this happen and there was absolutely nothing you could have done to prevent it."

This wasn’t so with Israel. Not only had Israel caused this to happen but through the prophetic voice of Amos, Jahweh in intricate detail informs Israel of the charges he has set against them.

"Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, 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, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat." (Amos 8:3-6 NRSV)

At the expense of the poor and less fortunate, Israel was enjoying a time of excessive wealth. "Excessive" in the sense that they remained obtuse to the needs of the very people they were abusing. Israel had what I will call a "chosen mentality."

The other day as I sat in my study I heard the pitter-patter of running feet down the hall of our educational building. I heard one very young voice say: "You better not run in here! God won’t like it!" I then heard a second voice which I recognized to be that of my son saying "It’s okay. My Daddy is the Minister here. He knows God."

My son had a "chosen mentality." In his little mind just because Daddy is the Minister," he has an escape from obeying the rules and God isn’t going to get angry. In much the same way Israel had developed a mind set that basically said: "We are the people of Jahweh. Since we are the people of Jahweh we know His judgment and wrath is going to be unleashed on our enemies."

This is why the prophetic voice of gloom and doom from Amos was so poorly received. "He must be mistaken!" they would think. I remember asking my doctor "How can I be so very sick when I am feeling so good?" Amos predicted a time of "mourning." I am sure that while Israel sat in an abundance of wealth she was asking Amos "How can this be? We can’t even picture such a time happening." Yet Amos spoke words of warning from Jahweh of that which was to come - that was the "bad news." The "really bad news" was that it was too late to do anything about it!

"Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. 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?

On that day, says the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. 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. 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.

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.

In that day the beautiful young women and the young men shall faint for thirst. Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria, and say, "As your god lives, O Dan," and, "As the way of Beer-sheba lives"-- they shall fall, and never rise again." (Amos 8:7-14 NRSV)

The Day of the Lord was not going to be a time when the people of Israel went rewarded with prosperity as Israel thought. Quite the contrary it would be a day in which the wrath of Jahweh was going to be evident in their lives and in their land.

Since becoming a parent I have grown to better appreciate the relationship between Jahweh and Israel of more broadly the relationship between God and the rest of the population. As a parent I do my very best to teach my children the difference between right and wrong. When they do wrong I often begin with a word of correction and give them the opportunity to change their set course. If they do not listen I usually take something away from them as a form of punishment and as the most severe punitive action they may get a spanking. When those times occur my heart is really broken that things had to come to that. I can’t help but feel Jahweh’s pain as I read this passage. For the spiritual condition of Israel to have deteriorated to a place where Jahweh basically says "That’s it! No more chances. There is nothing you can do to prevent this judgment," must have broken the heart of God.

I think here as with the rest of Scripture there is timeless truth that we need to take notice of today. We are living in a world filled with prosperity. You and I live in a country blessed with prosperity. I wonder if we can see the desperation in the lives of those living among us?

I was sitting in the home of my in-laws in the mountains of North Carolina watching the 6 o’clock news. Somewhere in Charlotte the camera filmed people who were homeless. One of my in-laws friends made the comment: "I sure am thankful we don’t have anything like that around here!" My wife and I took him for a ride only one mile away to show him boxes at the train station where people were actually living.

All over America there are people just like those whom Israel were abusing. But do we see them? Do we notice them? Etched upon the very symbol of our freedom, the Statue of Liberty are these words:

Michael Christianson is a writer who had a desire to study the life of Mother Teresa. He set his sights on Calcutta. There he studied her work for weeks. One day as he stood inside a make-shift hospital a nun ran past Michael carrying a baby whose hands and feet had been eaten off by rats and had been left in the gutter to die. At this sight Michael had seen all he could stand and bolted out the tent into the yard and sat down on a bench. Shortly Mother Teresa came by and sat down beside of him. "Michael you looked troubled. What is it?" "How do you do it? I mean I am here for a few weeks and I can leave and write my book and turn my back on this. But you do this day in and day out. How do you do it Mother Teresa?" "Michael when you look at these people what do you see?" "I see pain, poverty, disease, hopelessness" was Michael’s reply.
"That’s just it Michael. You and I see two different things entirely."
To this Michael challenged "But how? How can you not see the pain, poverty, and hopelessness?"
"Michael I do see those things. But I see a lot more too. When I look into their eyes Michael I see Jesus. Here - give me your hand Michael." Michael complied. "It’s all right here in these five fingers on your hand Michael."
With this Mother Teresa grasped each finger individually, looking Michael in his eyes. With each finger she spoke one word for a total of five. "You - do - it - to - me."

As I recall this encounter between Mother Teresa and a writer I can just hear the cries of Jahweh to the people of Israel. "Do you not understand? As you abused these my children - you abused me. As you neglect the needs of these my children you neglect my needs." I believe this is what Jesus may very well have been alluding to as he said:
"All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; "for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?

And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?
And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?
And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'
Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'

(Matthew 25:32-45 NRSV)

You've heard the "Bad News." You've heard the "Really Bad News" that God had for Israel. Let me not be a prophet of "Doom and Gloom." For you and I there is "Good News." It's not too late - yet. One day it will be too late but today it isn't. The Apostle Paul wrote: "See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!" Today you and I can choose to make a difference in the lives of people throughout the world. Today you and I can choose to make a difference in the lives of people right here in Stanfield. We can provide hope to the hopeless. That hope is found in only one place - Jesus. Paul also said: "For just as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous." The Bible teaches us that we all are priests. In 1 Peter 2:9 we read:

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim
the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (NRSV)

I am a Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But here's a new idea for you - YOU are ALL Ministers as well! We are all charged with the responsibility of ministering to the needs of each other and our fellow men, women, and young people throughout the world.

The choice is our's to make this morning. God is calling upon each one of us here to make a difference in the world. As we go ministering in the name of Christ remembering HIS words: "You do it unto me."

Amen

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