Good Morning Friends,
Here we are between Juneteenth and Independence Day, and so it is appropriate that our scripture from Amos starts out with a moving invocation of national remembrance of God’s ancient deliverance of the Hebrew people from bondage in Egypt. But since I am not a big fan of replacement theology I for one would not be so eager to try out the shoes of the prophet, even though they seem to fit nicely as the national conversation about race and justice and civil rights continues. But if you think this is a happy process Amos is writing about in his early years of ministry, think again, for he quickly goes to an insistence upon the moral judgement of God. It all raises more related questions than Amos does directly in today’s passage. The issue here is education for dealing with catastrophe, and it is not all rhetorical. God is about to destroy his people for their sins. The story is not about an enthusiastically awaited time of triumph and exultation but a terrible day of reckoning. The issue is about the connection between privilege and responsibility. So, join me in contemplating our lectionary scripture on the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the story of Jesus controlling the weather, with the history of our nation as a backdrop. And as we think about the scripture considering our nation and about how close we have come as humans to becoming like gods. Friends, I seriously wonder what our culture is going to look like in a hundred years if humanity accomplishes all the things that people have contemplated. What will we do with all the stuff? We have come a long way over the last 248 years. It is of course a blip in human history but prompts today’s question about what happens next. So, How Do Our Efforts and God’s Plan Interact In A Changing World?
Scripture: When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, they said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.” And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords; your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one? —and my life will be saved!” He said to him, “Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace. So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.
Genesis 19:15-29 (NRSV)
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
Matthew 8:23-27 (NRSV)
Jesus began to weep.
John 11:35 (NRSV)
Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Do two walk together unless they have made an appointment? Does a lion roar in the forest, when it has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from its den, if it has caught nothing? Does a bird fall into a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing? Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster befall a city, unless the Lord has done it? Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy? I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a brand snatched from the fire; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
Amos 3:1-8; 4:11-12 (NRSV)
and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a day’s pay, and three quarts of barley for a day’s pay, but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!’
Revelation 6:6 (NRSV)
For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 (NRSV)
Message: Today’s questions, and there are a lot of them, but especially the title question, reminds me of a book title authored by Dr. Martin Luther King and its prodding is not limited to a vision of a world at economic peace but something more. The book is “What Happens Next? Community or Chaos. You see, Lady Liberty, beyond her call to national allegiance, suggests the full possibility that beyond the American Dream is the Kingdom of God… that it is not to be so much for the privileged, but more a comfort for the homeless, a welcome to the stranger, a hope of the possibility for the poor who seek a better life. So today we contemplate where Jesus’ liberating ministry of justice, love, kindness, and humility is taking us as a nation when so many people around the world are facing displacement. And the first thing we must acknowledge is that we are a privileged lot. We are privileged to disagree, privileged to speak, to worship, to petition, to hope and to dream. We are privileged to share with others the greatest resource in the universe. And in so many ways we are becoming like gods and that troubles me, for a world of have and have nots is not the sea change we hunger for. The reality is that we live in a changing world that is even forcing the traditions of religion to transform. Deep down we hope with one accord that there will be a just and equal sharing of the things that the earth affords for the healing of the nations. Such is the picture of heaven on earth. But not all are of one accord in this vision. The future has both the hopes and challenges of our past. Change takes time. For example, in the Declaration of Independence, the word united in referring to the United States of America is not capitalized. It would not be until after the Civil War that we as a nation would be referred to in the singular. We have indeed been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven as President Lincoln once said. But instead of being proud to be an American, on this coming holiday, perhaps we ought to be saying that we are grateful that we are American. Friends, we have a choice of community or chaos. We have a choice to make whether we are Christian Americans or American Christians. The world is unforgiving of frailty and is unlikely to respect past reputations. The new customs and practices to be formed are critical. Just as those who formed the beginnings of this nation and led it through civil war, those who suffer today from an economic condition of existence without security will eventually gain a voice. Economic systems that exploit labor are not sustainable. Still, we will need to be worth our salt. Thankfully where there are tears there is hope of unity. Thankfully the Word made flesh and the Spirit of God survives the onslaught of history. The persistence and permanence of God’s Word is amazing, and yet too few benefit from its reality and apply it to their lives with wisdom that faces judgement with confidence found in a relationship with Christ.
And So, we subscribe to the truth that all things shall work out for the glory of God. But most of all, that God shall be glorified through the current crisis of culture we face. All things answer back to the grace and the goodness of God. Whatever it is, God shall be glorified. Therefore, it is appropriate for us to build on the knowledge of the Lord who knows all things. On that basis, He knows what is going on with the health of and the justice in our nation, and God knows that justice will come like a flood of a dry stream bed that will wash away more than we might have planned on. We can, therefore, rest on God’s omniscience knowledge and have joy in the midst of change that should keep us humble. God knows what is going to happen with issues of civil rights. And the wonderful thing is that the Lord and the Holy Spirit is with us and shall be with us until the very end. In general, most believers desire the church to continue as before. Some believe that change is not a friendly word and that things should remain as they were until Jesus comes. But ecclesiastical changes and reform must align with God’s plan. Many believers are happy to receive a state of false peace. Maybe the church is descending into an appalling state of unbelief. Maybe what we know as church will be an unfaithful bride falling away from the truth of the gospel. Maybe like Jesus incarnate, there will be a birth, life, death, and resurrection of the church. But maybe the present reality could become a catalyst to fast forward the process in another direction that glorifies God and helps us to avoid catastrophe. Hence, believers must get prepared for the beginning of the worst while hoping for the best. We must become ready. We must prepare and be willing to accept and embrace the reality of what is to come. We must desire to know the will of God and to yield to it with an open and ready heart. It is no longer a question of if, but when and how the new era shall begin. Perhaps out of chaos will come the creative compassion of a new order that is more loving.
Pray the wind of the Spirit be with us guiding us to repent and return to God. Pray that we be inspired to continue on in the struggle with our nature. Pray that we pray not panic when the lack of order brings about divine judgement. Pray that we would believe God’s Word is forever our foundation for freedom. Pray we not become the people Jesus warned us against. Pray that we seek God’s will for us through the Word…. never as a victim but always as a victor perched on the Word. Pray that the words of Jesus change us, equip us, and prepare us for our future. Pray that we have a foundation that is secure, strong, and solid. Pray we find peace in the storms of life. Pray we rejoice in the new growth that comes after the storm. Pray we realize that there can be spiritual and relational poverty that keeps us from enjoying our freedom as well as physical and financial poverty that captures most of our attention. Pray for the leaders of our nation, the leaders of our churches and the leader in each of us. Pray that we might be free…free indeed. Pray that we follow God’s call to welcome the needy. Pray we recognize our own poverty and weep in it. Pray we have not become a nation of heretics. Pray we benefit from the plan devised before the creation of the world. Pray we truly understand the nature of peace and justice, healing, and community. Pray we find a way to celebrate after all. Pray we realize that the only way to escape God’s judgement is to accept God’s provision which is in his Son Jesus the Christ. Pray we are able to discern the difference between the Peace of Christ and the false peace offered by the way of the world.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 