Isaiah
10:1-2 “Ah, you who make iniquitous
decrees, who write
oppressive
statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people
of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the
orphans your prey!
Amos
2:6-7 “For
three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;
because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals
- they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push
the afflicted out of the way.”
What does it mean when people are pushed outside?
There
are words of warning to the nation of Israel. They have failed to observe the
laws of the Covenant, and it is this, rather than their spiritual worship, with
which God is concerned. This should not surprise us, because God has expressed
this as a priority from the outset of their life and worship together.
Notice that both passages here are addressed
to two key sectors in society – those who make and shape political policy, and
those who are engaged in the world of business. God speaks out against those
who
make laws and organise business in a way that oppresses the poor.
What
do you think Isaiah and Amos would say to our world today? As Could we write a
similar ‘oracle’ and use it as an act of prayer later?
Share
experiences of being “outside” – perhaps perceived as different. How does it
feel to be outside a group? Dozing on Monday watching 50’s drama about a WPC
out of college first day at work in a man’s world – reduced to making the tea
and filing. How does it feel to be at the hands of another? Poor? Ill?
Bereaved? Homeless? In poverty? And where is God in those moments and what
perception do you have of the Church?
When
we lived in Storrington, my now ex wife Claire who was an Anglican, used to go
into Brighton to find some younger people in church. Average age of Anglicans
in our village was about 90. She used to come home and tell stories of people
who came into the city centre church and I remember one well. A drunk, homeless,
smelly man came into the church during communion while the priest was in full
flow and he started shouting at the back. “You haven’t got a clue, you haven’t
got an f****ing clue.” For him, the Church was another world, isolated from his
suffering.
Want
in this session to use some of Tutu’s quotes about a God who comes to the
outsider, do a little bit of liberation theology, do some study of the prophet
Amos, and I also want to look at some of the document some of the C of E
Bishops wrote to the politicians about faith issues prior to the General
Election. I have the full document if you would like me to send it to you.
A
study of some of Amos will help us here:
1. What does Amos say about the selfish life
in Israel of the rich? (6: 4 – 6) Why did he condemn these things?
2. The law court was held in the open air in
the wide space just inside the city gate. It was called “in the gate.” What
does Amos say about the court and what was wrong with it? (2:6 – 7; 5: 10 – 13)
3. What does Amos say about cheating in the
markets (8: 4 – 6)
4. What does Amos say about the religion of
the people? (5: 21 – 24) Why should he condemn the people when they went to the
Temple and offered their sacrifices regularly?
Some
things to ponder:
1. Does Amos teach us anything about all of
us having a responsibility to speak out God’s word today? Do people accept
easily the words of an “outsider”?
2. Has God ever called you to do something
outrageous?
3. Has God an uncomfortable word for today?
Read 7: 7 to 8: 2 – false optimism – building expansion and abundant harvests
were thought to be God’s signs of approval – but the optimism ignored the
plight of the masses who didn’t benefit from such plenty and building. God will
never again pass by, never again just not notice. Disaster predicted!
HOWEVER!
The
place of hope in Amos
Read
5: 14 – 15 and 9: 11 – 15
Most
of the book has a picture of an inflexible God who has demanded righteousness
and expects righteousness, and speaks to people who should know better!
In
chapter 5, though, there are hints of a possible way out for some – seek
good….and you will live, etc.
In
chapter 9: 11 – 15, some hope – some see this an addition – as Northern Kingdom
was taken into exile in 722 by the Assyrians and lost its identity, but others
think Amos is here painting a long term picture – doesn’t he seem to saying
there is still a chance to seek the Lord? God, long term, is coming to assert
his reign, and Amos felt it was worth preaching passionately to save some
people for a new society.
Note
though – it is not unconditional hope – subordinate to the exhortations of
Amos, to seek God and live etc, their fulfilment depends on obedience to them.
Amos then sets the salvation that Israel took for granted under the condition
of the reform of her life in the light of the covenant – very important. Note
in our words – theme of return.
A
quote – atheist philosopher Nietzsche:
“Show
me you are redeemed, and I will believe in your redeemer.”
Then
let’s pick up some of Tutu’s quotes about being outside:
“The prophets were seething in their condemnation, especially of the
ostentatious religious celebrations which went hand in glove with a disregard
for the welfare of the poor, the hungry, the marginalised, all who were the
flotsam and jetsam of their societies. They had no one to speak up for them,
and it was God who took up the cudgels on their behalf. You can imagine the
impact of this on people used to being treated like scum.”
Where there is need, God can’t help stepping in on the side of those
who are suffering.”
How
do you react to these quotes? Where does the church speak up for those outside,
or doesn’t it? Is God “on the side of the poor?”
Does
the church stand up against injustice? Tutu tells the story of David
and Nathan and Nathan’s role to put him right about injustice.
The
Person in Community: part of a letter written pre the election by some C of E
bishops
Our
hope for a stronger politics of community is driven by the conviction, founded
on experience and evidence, that individuals flourish best when they belong
with confidence to networks of relationships, institutions and communities
which extend well beyond the nuclear family but stop well short of the state or
the corporation.
We
are most human when we know ourselves to be dependent on others. That is
something we first learn in families, if we are fortunate enough to experience
the blessings of family life. And families are not only for children. They are
also about making old age creative and happy. Nor are families completely
self-contained units. They flourish best when there are networks of friendship,
neighbourliness and mutual support around them.
Our society celebrates the autonomy of
individuals but does too little to acknowledge that dependency on others is
what makes human beings social creatures.
Paradoxically,
too much stress on the individual, and on the supposedly autonomous choices of
the individual-as-consumer, has tended to diminish rather than enhance the
moral significance of each unique person. It has led us to undervalue
individuals who exhibit weakness, are dependent on others, or who try to live
selflessly. When individuality is thought to stem from autonomy and freedom of
choice, a particular image of the ideal individual – young, free, attractive,
and materially comfortable – becomes the archetype against which everyone is
measured and most are found wanting.
Most
people, when asked, subscribe to some version of the idea that all people are
created equal. Yet this is contradicted in the way that some categories of
people are spoken about – people who are sick, disabled, terminally ill or
otherwise unable to live the life that a consumer society celebrates; people
who are unable to work, materially poor or mentally ill in ways which challenge
“acceptable” ways of being unwell.
There
is a deep contradiction in the attitudes of a society which celebrates equality
in principle yet treats some people, especially the poor and vulnerable, as
unwanted, unvalued and unnoticed. It is particularly counter-productive to
denigrate those who are in need, because this undermines the wider social instinct
to support one another in the community. For instance, when those who rely on
social security payments are all described in terms that imply they are
undeserving, dependent, and ought to be self-sufficient, it deters others from
offering the informal, neighbourly support which could ease some of the burden
of welfare on the state.
This
is why it is important to move away from the focus on the individual to a
richer narrative of the person in community.
Discuss!
What
does it mean in practice to be outside? Do we as Christians need to live
outside for a while to understand outside?
I
was on North Dulwich station last night. I met a young woman who was shouting
at the machine as they have away with real people because the machine had eaten
her last money and she couldn’t renew her Oyster card and she started shouting
at the machine saying it was the last straw for her. I bought her a ticket. We
had a long conversation about being on benefit and what that means for her and
her family. She told me what she would like to do to Mr Cameron. I suggested to
her that going out to vote in May might be a better option that what she wanted
to do. But she has a struggle every day, and she told me she doesn’t smoke or
drink or go out, all of life is looking after her daughter and making ends
meet.
How
do we minister to the outside if we never go outside?
“It
is only in some form of actual solidarity with the outsiders/sinners/little
ones that we fully get the message of the Gospel. It is only then that we understand
our own poor soul and its neediness.” Richard Rohr - Scripture as Liberation
Finally
consider what it means for you that Jesus was crucified “outside a city wall”
on a rubbish heap?
