Friday, Advent 2

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 practise deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’

The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
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.

Amos 8:4-12

Sometimes the readings of Advent feel like a spiritual workout. One day I feel comforted by the assurance that the Lord of Life and Love approaches. The next day I am confronted by the awareness of my inclination toward materialism that proves that I am part of the problem of injustice and oppression. There are certainly aspects of my life that are luxury…even self-indulgent (did I really need a pair of new boots this year?) Will my feasts and songs be turned into mourning and lamentation?

I pray not….

I see that I am like the woman who cried for even the crumbs beneath the table of the Lord…Even one speck of God’s love uttered in Christ will feed and sustain me more than the richest banquet provided by the world’s apparent prosperity.

I wonder… is the famine on the land right now? Is that why people wander from one form of “spirituality” to the other… is that why people so frequently move from one church to another, looking for what they want most to hear?

I wonder, are we deluding ourselves by looking for words that confirm how we are without seeking God's Wisdom about how God wants us to be?

Can we trust that God is doing a new thing by showing us that fullness of Life in Him can only happen if we turn away from patterns of self-preservation and self-gratification?

Lord…have mercy …. And guide us so that as we seek your Word, we may find it.