Let justice flow...

Passage for reflection: Amos 5: 18 - 24

As you maybe read this on Sunday morning, we will be a few days into another national lockdown in England, that will last for four weeks and some of us think a lot longer. We were assured this wouldn’t be needed and it all feels really hard doesn’t it, as we are all tired and fed up of having coronavirus dominate every decision and come into what seems every conversation! 

As you maybe read this on Sunday morning, we will be a few days after the election in America, which has been extremely divisive in what is now a polarised country. We may know a result by the time you read this, either we will have another four years of President Trump or a new President Biden. What has concerned me this last week is that some felt it necessary to buy a gun, because they feared the wrong result and an outbreak of violence on election night. How mad is it to see shops boarded up in a democracy that is meant to be the leader of the free world? 

As you maybe read this on Sunday morning, we will be a few days after a vile terrorist attack in Vienna, we will still in this country be surrounded by want as families can’t afford to feed their children. How scandalous is that? 

As you read this on Sunday we will be marking Remembrance Sunday. We will have to mark it differently this year. But it is important that we remember all those who gave and continue to give their lives for the greater good. 

In a world which so often is hard to understand I sometimes wonder what God is thinking. In the book of Amos we can see an amazing exasperated God. The religious pious folk who Amos attacked for their atrocious ethics were far away from what God expected of them. Their words on the Sabbath at worship and their treatment of the poor didn’t match, so Amos says “God despises your festivals and your noisy songs!” What does God want? “Let justice flow like rivers and righteousness like an never ending stream.”

We have had flooding in Ripon this week. The river Ure burst its banks. The water poured very fast spreading quickly. That’s what healthy spiritual justice and righteousness do when they are lived and worked for. Those who gave their lives in wars whose names are on war memorials by which it is still allowed to lay wreaths this weekend, worked for the greater good. You have to hope those standing to be President of the United States believe they can make a difference. You have to trust that another lockdown while disruptive will help to make things better long term. You have to believe one day terrorist attacks will be no more. 

In a world of darkness and confusion, we need to believe the light can shine. This week is the last week of the illuminations in Blackpool. On a dark night it’s great to drive along the Golden Mile to marvel that light makes a difference to the gloom. We have as Christian people to believe in justice, to believe in righteousness, to reject selfishness, and to work for peace. We have to hold on to hope even when we are struggling. I’m struggling at the thought of another lockdown just when I was getting going with a new appointment meeting people. Starting in a new Circuit in a pandemic hasn’t been easy. 

On Sunday I took the last service for a while in Sawley chapel. It felt like I was closing them down. The ladies wondered when they would see me again. When we came out of chapel at about 2.40pm, it was raining. But then Lis, my wife, noticed there was a rainbow. She took a picture of it behind the church door. We saw the rainbow as we closed the church building again for a while, as a sign that all will be well, even if we don’t know when all will be well. We hold on to a bigger picture and a hope deeper than our present circumstances. 

So, as we begin another lockdown, let us not be too disheartened. We keep the faith. And what of human selfishness, disappointing politicians, tired suffers of a pandemic, disillusioned churches even? What is God feeling? 

Well, I like this hymn in Singing The Faith: God gets fed up but hey folks, he believes in us and he waits! Alleluia! 

God weeps at love withheld
At strength misused
At children's innocence abused
And till we change the way we love
God weeps.

God bleeds at anger's fist
At trust betrayed
At women battered and afraid
And till we change the way we win
God bleeds.

God cries at hungry mouths
At running sores
At creatures dying without cause
And till we change the way we care
God cries.

God waits for stones to melt
For peace to seed
For hearts to hold each other's need
And till we understand the Christ
God waits.