Summer Fruit
Amos 8:1-12
July 18, 2010
So, what do you see?
A basket of summer fruit?
Well, that’s what Amos saw, too, but he must have been looking at the wrong thing because where Amos sees a fruit basket God sees a bitter harvest – Israel dying on the vine.
Perhaps Amos is suffering a severe case of prophetic myopia. Of course, like most of the Biblical prophets, Amos didn’t seek the role or feel particularly well suited for it. Nonetheless, God has chosen him and laid before him a vision, if he will just have eyes to see.
We, too, have been chosen, called by God for such a time as this, and given a vision for the church, if we will but have eyes to see.
So, what is in our basket of summer fruit?
Well, here’s a bottle of suntan lotion. One of the fruits of summer is Sabbath time, time away to rest and restore our selves so that we are renewed for service.
Of course, if we don’t take good care, sunburn can be one of the fruits of summer as well. Lots of life is like that. Taking good care, being well prepared, helps protect us. Scripture speaks of taking on the whole armor of God, the sword of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the butt-kicking, steel-toed boots of justice … OK, I may have made that last part up, but you get the idea. Sabbath rest is for a purpose – for God’s purposes.
Oh, and here’s a book. No, it’s not the Bible. In fact, it’s best described as a beach read, a spy novel I’ve had on vacation last week. There is nothing of any redeeming social value in it. Pure mind candy. Considering it I am reminded that Jesus said it is not what goes into the body but what comes out that corrupts. I’m not sure I entirely agree with that, because there is an amount of truth to the programmer’s wisdom – garbage in/garbage out. But I think Jesus was calling his followers to a practice of personal responsibility when he urged them to think beyond the strictures of dietary laws.
Understand that you have the freedom to choose, and the responsibility that goes along with it in all aspects of your life. You can choose to speak words of love and kindness, of support and concern … or not. You can choose this every day, no matter what you’ve put into your mind by way of summer reading.
On the other hand, consuming something better than candy will sustain you after the sugar rush has worn away, metaphorically speaking. So my basket has a couple of other things as well: a biography of Calvin and a phenomenally important commentary on Mark’s gospel that you will be hearing more about as summer fades to fall. I’ve had these with me as well over the past couple of weeks; though I freely confess that the spy novel is way more of a page turner than either of these more weighty tomes.
Well, well. Mixed in with the fruit are some weeds, as well. Lots of things grow during growing seasons, and not all of the growth is good. We’ve been talking on session of late about other mission projects or programs that we might take on in the coming year. As a congregation we’ve done a good job lately of weeding out programs that don’t fit our little patch of ground, and we’ve done a good job also of figuring out what we can grow best here: programs of hospitality, missions of feeding, explorations of new ways of being church together. Those are the things we feel like we can do well, and we’re doing them.
But we’ve got some big ideas. Too big, frankly, for our numbers. So we need to grow a little bit. In fact, I’d suggest that we need to gain about 20 or 30 more people in this community to tackle some of the things we’re talking about. To grow in that way we need to look carefully at our little garden – are there weeds we need to pull to create space for growth? For example, are we doing things in worship – things that we don’t even realize – that get in the way of welcoming newcomers? Are we doing things in other parts of our community life that get in the way? What are these weeds, and how do we get rid of them?
This is summer work, work appropriate to Sabbath time.
Amos is pretty clear about the purpose of Sabbath. When God speaks in the passage we just read, the word of condemnation relates to Sabbath practice. God accuses the powerful of asking, “when will the Sabbath be over so we can sell the wheat?” In other words, basically, “when can we get back to screwing the poor?”
Summer Sabbath time for us must be about rest and restoration, about planning and preparation for our mission to serve the poor, the marginalized and the outcast, our mission of being a church for the third millennia of Christianity. Otherwise, we are just like those who God condemns in Amos, focused solely on our own interests which come, necessarily, at the expense of the those we say we want to serve.
Why necessarily? Well, because, if we’re honest about who we are, we will acknowledge, with gratitude as well as fear and trembling, that we are among the very privileged few. We are, globally speaking, among the richest of the rich and we live at the heart of power, many of us in the employ of the government of most powerful nation on earth. If we are not careful, faithful and prayerful with our time, talent and treasure we will find ourselves among those to whom God is saying, “woe unto you.”
I know that is not where we want our hearts to lie, otherwise we wouldn’t be gathered here trying to figure out the most effective ways of following in the way of Jesus.
Perhaps that’s also why there’s a sandal in the basket. Summer footwear, to be sure, but also the footwear that slips off easily so that we can shake the dust of the wrong road off our feet and then set out anew and afresh as we continue seeking to follow the way of Jesus.
As we journey together we have and will again from time to time take a wrong turn and go down a deadend street. Sandals represent for me the nimbleness to turn around and try another way when the path we’re on is not taking us where we need to go, where God is calling us.
I am convinced, over and over again, that we are faithfully following the calling of God to seek out the way of Jesus in the world. So I am convinced that word of the Lord spoken to the prophet Amos stands firmly as signpost warning us against a road that we must avoid.
It looks like a road lined with riches, but is, in reality, a way watered with bitter tears.
That is not the road we’re on at Clarendon, and so I’m having nothing to do with bitter tears today, nothing to do with the lamentations that Amos speaks of. No, as I look at this basket of summer fruit, I don’t see anything of lamentation and mourning, instead, I see the feast of the children of God and I believe I hear their summer songs of plenty as well. Amen.
July 18, 2010
So, what do you see?
A basket of summer fruit?
Well, that’s what Amos saw, too, but he must have been looking at the wrong thing because where Amos sees a fruit basket God sees a bitter harvest – Israel dying on the vine.
Perhaps Amos is suffering a severe case of prophetic myopia. Of course, like most of the Biblical prophets, Amos didn’t seek the role or feel particularly well suited for it. Nonetheless, God has chosen him and laid before him a vision, if he will just have eyes to see.
We, too, have been chosen, called by God for such a time as this, and given a vision for the church, if we will but have eyes to see.
So, what is in our basket of summer fruit?
Well, here’s a bottle of suntan lotion. One of the fruits of summer is Sabbath time, time away to rest and restore our selves so that we are renewed for service.
Of course, if we don’t take good care, sunburn can be one of the fruits of summer as well. Lots of life is like that. Taking good care, being well prepared, helps protect us. Scripture speaks of taking on the whole armor of God, the sword of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the butt-kicking, steel-toed boots of justice … OK, I may have made that last part up, but you get the idea. Sabbath rest is for a purpose – for God’s purposes.
Oh, and here’s a book. No, it’s not the Bible. In fact, it’s best described as a beach read, a spy novel I’ve had on vacation last week. There is nothing of any redeeming social value in it. Pure mind candy. Considering it I am reminded that Jesus said it is not what goes into the body but what comes out that corrupts. I’m not sure I entirely agree with that, because there is an amount of truth to the programmer’s wisdom – garbage in/garbage out. But I think Jesus was calling his followers to a practice of personal responsibility when he urged them to think beyond the strictures of dietary laws.
Understand that you have the freedom to choose, and the responsibility that goes along with it in all aspects of your life. You can choose to speak words of love and kindness, of support and concern … or not. You can choose this every day, no matter what you’ve put into your mind by way of summer reading.
On the other hand, consuming something better than candy will sustain you after the sugar rush has worn away, metaphorically speaking. So my basket has a couple of other things as well: a biography of Calvin and a phenomenally important commentary on Mark’s gospel that you will be hearing more about as summer fades to fall. I’ve had these with me as well over the past couple of weeks; though I freely confess that the spy novel is way more of a page turner than either of these more weighty tomes.
Well, well. Mixed in with the fruit are some weeds, as well. Lots of things grow during growing seasons, and not all of the growth is good. We’ve been talking on session of late about other mission projects or programs that we might take on in the coming year. As a congregation we’ve done a good job lately of weeding out programs that don’t fit our little patch of ground, and we’ve done a good job also of figuring out what we can grow best here: programs of hospitality, missions of feeding, explorations of new ways of being church together. Those are the things we feel like we can do well, and we’re doing them.
But we’ve got some big ideas. Too big, frankly, for our numbers. So we need to grow a little bit. In fact, I’d suggest that we need to gain about 20 or 30 more people in this community to tackle some of the things we’re talking about. To grow in that way we need to look carefully at our little garden – are there weeds we need to pull to create space for growth? For example, are we doing things in worship – things that we don’t even realize – that get in the way of welcoming newcomers? Are we doing things in other parts of our community life that get in the way? What are these weeds, and how do we get rid of them?
This is summer work, work appropriate to Sabbath time.
Amos is pretty clear about the purpose of Sabbath. When God speaks in the passage we just read, the word of condemnation relates to Sabbath practice. God accuses the powerful of asking, “when will the Sabbath be over so we can sell the wheat?” In other words, basically, “when can we get back to screwing the poor?”
Summer Sabbath time for us must be about rest and restoration, about planning and preparation for our mission to serve the poor, the marginalized and the outcast, our mission of being a church for the third millennia of Christianity. Otherwise, we are just like those who God condemns in Amos, focused solely on our own interests which come, necessarily, at the expense of the those we say we want to serve.
Why necessarily? Well, because, if we’re honest about who we are, we will acknowledge, with gratitude as well as fear and trembling, that we are among the very privileged few. We are, globally speaking, among the richest of the rich and we live at the heart of power, many of us in the employ of the government of most powerful nation on earth. If we are not careful, faithful and prayerful with our time, talent and treasure we will find ourselves among those to whom God is saying, “woe unto you.”
I know that is not where we want our hearts to lie, otherwise we wouldn’t be gathered here trying to figure out the most effective ways of following in the way of Jesus.
Perhaps that’s also why there’s a sandal in the basket. Summer footwear, to be sure, but also the footwear that slips off easily so that we can shake the dust of the wrong road off our feet and then set out anew and afresh as we continue seeking to follow the way of Jesus.
As we journey together we have and will again from time to time take a wrong turn and go down a deadend street. Sandals represent for me the nimbleness to turn around and try another way when the path we’re on is not taking us where we need to go, where God is calling us.
I am convinced, over and over again, that we are faithfully following the calling of God to seek out the way of Jesus in the world. So I am convinced that word of the Lord spoken to the prophet Amos stands firmly as signpost warning us against a road that we must avoid.
It looks like a road lined with riches, but is, in reality, a way watered with bitter tears.
That is not the road we’re on at Clarendon, and so I’m having nothing to do with bitter tears today, nothing to do with the lamentations that Amos speaks of. No, as I look at this basket of summer fruit, I don’t see anything of lamentation and mourning, instead, I see the feast of the children of God and I believe I hear their summer songs of plenty as well. Amen.
posted by David Ensign at
9:18 AM
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