I have been spending a bit of time with the prophet Amos lately. A prophet who could, in many ways, be speaking to our generation. A while back I took one of his passages and rewrote it into modern equivalents...
"Listen to this you who trample the needy and try to suppress the poor people of the world, you who say next month we will make a fast buck on the stock exchange. With insider dealing we will buy low and sell high, swindling the shareholders and the market. Also at the same time we can exploit the world labour market and pay pitifully low wages to people from another country who make shoes for us and then sell them here for seventy quid. If we are smart we can even sell the off - cuts to the fools. But Amos says I will swear by the pride of Jacob, God will not forget anything that you do! "
He challenges me to think again about God's attitude to the poor. The Psalm very clearly says "the Lord hears the cry of the poor, blessed be his name."
The pharisee within us might say that the poor are always with us. And use that as a comfort blanket so that we do nothing. But God's love should break through that and challenge us to "hunger and thirst for justice" and to be an advocate for the poor, who are unable to pay for their own food let alone their own advocate.
In modern Britain the politicians are quietly busy dismantling the work of the social reformers. Some of this might be justified. After all we have books to balance and bankers to satisfy. But we need to be careful that we don't make it all a money equation. The soul of the country needs to be invested in too. What is Britain known for these days? In our gentleman's clubs are we known only as "heroes of the wine bottle" - should we be better than this?
It seems that more of the poor sleep on our streets in modern Britain. Is that how we want to be known?
Dear Lord, help me to realise the harvest that my own actions will have on other people. Call me away from being insular and into a love relationship with God. Sow the seeds of peace in my life. Amen.
"Listen to this you who trample the needy and try to suppress the poor people of the world, you who say next month we will make a fast buck on the stock exchange. With insider dealing we will buy low and sell high, swindling the shareholders and the market. Also at the same time we can exploit the world labour market and pay pitifully low wages to people from another country who make shoes for us and then sell them here for seventy quid. If we are smart we can even sell the off - cuts to the fools. But Amos says I will swear by the pride of Jacob, God will not forget anything that you do! "
He challenges me to think again about God's attitude to the poor. The Psalm very clearly says "the Lord hears the cry of the poor, blessed be his name."
The pharisee within us might say that the poor are always with us. And use that as a comfort blanket so that we do nothing. But God's love should break through that and challenge us to "hunger and thirst for justice" and to be an advocate for the poor, who are unable to pay for their own food let alone their own advocate.
In modern Britain the politicians are quietly busy dismantling the work of the social reformers. Some of this might be justified. After all we have books to balance and bankers to satisfy. But we need to be careful that we don't make it all a money equation. The soul of the country needs to be invested in too. What is Britain known for these days? In our gentleman's clubs are we known only as "heroes of the wine bottle" - should we be better than this?
It seems that more of the poor sleep on our streets in modern Britain. Is that how we want to be known?
Dear Lord, help me to realise the harvest that my own actions will have on other people. Call me away from being insular and into a love relationship with God. Sow the seeds of peace in my life. Amen.
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