AM Psalm 16, 17 PM Psalm 22
Amos 5:1-17
Jude 1-16
Matthew 22:1-14
I hadn't looked ahead to see what the daily lessons were when I offered to blog with an ear toward Scripture and an ear toward the Occupy movement this Advent. Then I realized that the Old Testament lessons start out with the prophet Amos. "Like shooting fish in a barrel!" I thought, "I can just get online each morning and say: 'Read Amos.'" I can't read these passages without believing that Amos could be standing in Zuccotti Park, saying the same things (although I think the "you who . . . take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate" could be more aimed at our lawmakers (and lobbyists) than at Wall Street).
But instead, I find myself continuing to chew on the Advent 1 sermon I was blessed to hear this week. (It's really nice to have a great preacher be part of my congregation for a few more months.) The reminder we heard as Advent began was that it is God in our midst that is the source of our hope and our courage. If our hope is based in ourselves, then we are lost. But we do not hope in vain, for God's promise is sure: Emmanuel. God with us.
And that's what I need to be watching for and believing in this Advent. God with us. Not "how can I/we fix this mess?" That doesn't excuse me from finding what I can do to enter into God's justice, to help shape my life and the world around me as God desires. But it starts in that presence of God. As Amos says today: Seek the Lord, and live.
I don't know of any silent prophets. If there were any, they are lost to history. A prophet speaks, but first he listens to the voice of God. There are many voices in the OWS movement, I am praying in order to better discern God's voice in the conversation that OWS has begun.
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