Evening prayer, 1 November
This is a recording of the evening prayer, 1 November at the WWC 10th Assembly 2013, Busan, Republic of Korea. It is held by Protestant Church Women United, the Bible reading is from Amos 5:14–15; 21–24 and the sermon is held by Rev. Kim, Soon Young, South Korea.
This is a recording of the evening prayer, 1 November at the WWC 10th Assembly 2013, Busan, Republic of Korea. It is held by Protestant Church Women United, the Bible reading is from Amos 5:14–15; 21–24 and the sermon is held by Rev. Kim, Soon Young, South Korea. Many of the songs can be found in the Assembly prayer book, Hallelujah – Resources for Prayer and Praise.
Sermon - Vision of Amos
Today, Amos sees a world deprived of good but crippled with evil. He also sees the religious leaders condoning to evil structures while ignoring justice and righteousness. This is why God not only turned away but despised their festivals and offerings. Nevertheless, Amos still sees the vision of God as "But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like and ever flowing stream" (Am. 5:24, NRSV).
The vision of Amos allows us to read Luke 10 with a fresh eye. In this parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus talks about the priest and the Levite who ignored the robbed and injured man. Would God happily receive the offerings of this priest and the Levite? According to Amos, God would have rejected their offerings. How about now, when we gather together as World Council of Churches, to celebrate and praise God, would God gladly receive our worship, gifts and offerings? When there are abused neighbors around us and we are quiet about the evils of the world, are we not participating with the robbers who maintain structural injustice?
Who are the robbers of our times? The 'profit priority policy' and the continuing neo-liberal globalization of many Multi-National Companies (MNCs) are one of them. There are also the OECD countries who discuss and decide world economic matters without thinking about their impact on the local communities. Here the justice of the struggling local community is denied as more people are driven to poverty. Indeed ideologies and structures such as discrimination based on race, gender and class only serve the interest of a few. These thoughts and customs make the world an evil place robbing the dignity and innocence of people made in the image of God.
Around the world there are those who use their privilege and power to promote violence, distortion and greed by arming themselves with false ideologies. These can be found in patriarchy, classism, clericalism, homophobia, economic and cultural monopoly, dictatorship, Islamic phobia, distortion of history, weapon industry, honour killings and female circumcision, unfair working conditions, unethical development and investments, war and terror forcing people to leave their homes and our treatment of the eco-system contributing to global warming. Thus, when we choose to be silent and close our eyes to the abused neighbours around us we become part of the damaging system.
Amos is faced with a gruesome world yet God allows him to see another world where "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like and ever flowing stream" (Am. 5:24, NRSV). This is the only way to save the unjust world, 'the ever flowing stream' of life that heals the wounded and cleanses the evil. This is similar to what Ezekiel saw; the living water from below the threshold of the temple flowing down into the Arabah and the leaves of the trees on the banks becoming the herbs for healing (Ezek. 47). It is also the same vision of John the apostle who saw the tree leaves on the river of life used for the healing of the nations (Rev 22).
For Amos proclaiming 'justice and righteousness' is the same as 'herbs of healing' envisioned by Ezekiel and 'the leaves that healed the nations' in the vision of John the apostle. Amos clearly sees that the only way to stand in front of God is through healing the world with justice and righteousness. The everlasting flow of justice and righteousness cleaning all evils of the world and restoring all of creation is the vision of Amos.
Nevertheless, if we choose to be silent on certain issues based on our individual, communal and national interest we will never see justice and righteousness flow like water. Therefore let us make waterways wherever we are by engaging the vision of Amos so that the life giving waters of justice and righteousness keep on flowing to restore goodness and justice in the wounded world.
High resolution photos available via http://photos.oikoumene.org/?c=3272
