The Prophet Amos and Trying To Stay Awake

July 15th, 2009 § 5

I’m prepping for a short sermon on the prophet Amos at my home church this Sunday. The prophet’s central theme During my prep, I came across this

One day we will have to stand before the God of history and we will talk in terms of things we’ve done. Yes, we will be able to say we built gargantuan bridges to span the seas, we built gigantic buildings to kiss the skies. Yes, we made our submarines to penetrate oceanic depths. We brought into being many other things with our scientific

and technological power. It seems that I can hear the God of history saying, “That was not enough! But I was hungry, and ye fed me not. I was naked, and ye clothed me not. I was devoid of a decent sanitary house to live in, and ye provided no shelter for me. And consequently, you cannot enter the kingdom of greatness. If ye do it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye do it unto me.” That’s the question facing America today.”

: Image via Wikipedia

That was March 31, 1968 during a lecture Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered entitled “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” I’m not sure the revolution ever quite took off. If you type “1 billion” into the BBC news search, you’ll pick up a story reading that “English Premier League clubs are wrestling with over 5 billion dollars of debt between them” while “figures also show that EPL wages have passed the 1 billion dollar mark for the first time.” You’ll also find an article revealing the over 1 billion text messages sent every day, globally. A few pages back, you’ll eventually come across a short article noting the jump in the number of people living in extreme poverty, which has now exceeded 1 billion people, by even the most conservative estimates.

King, like Amos (who wrote during one of the most prosperous periods in his peoples’ history), was keenly aware that God was never impressed by human progress and achievement; mainly because it usually means that the poor are left somewhere on the side of the road while we hurry on our way to whereverthehell we we’re urgently getting to. How much more is this true now? How much greater our power and how much more vast our influence than in Kings time? How far down the road towards ‘success’ we are… and how great the number of those we’ve forgotten on the way?

My temptation is to list the many things “we” could do rather than the many things we choose to do with our power and influence. But instead, I’ll tell this story:

I met Richmond at the Jubilee conference in Pittsburgh. He was there to ask college students to consider making Compassion sponsorship part of their lives. He himself had been a sponsored child. Growing up in Uganda, he’d seen his father shot and killed before him and lived for a time wandering the streets with his mother and sisters. Mercifully, they settled in a village where Compassion had begun a project in partnership with a local church. After only a few weeks, Richmond received notice that a woman in America had chosen to sponsor him, giving$32 each month to support the program. She wrote to him often and often told him that she loved him. Inspired by the knowledge that he was loved, Richmond applied himself and excelled in school. Graduating at the top of his class, he applied for and received a scholarship through Compassion’s LDP program to attend a University in Uganda where, once again.. he excelled.

Richmond applied for and received yet another scholarship with which he is now studying at Moody Bible College in Chicago. But the story doesn’t end there. Upon arrival at Moody, Richmond was given a living stipend. He took a long look at the money he would need to live on and decided that he could make a few sacrifices in order to clear some room in his monthly budget…

$32 a month…

..so that he could sponsor a child through Compassion. 352sm

And so one day Richmond will stand before the God of history and he will talk in terms of things he has done. Yes, he will be able to say he went to college. Yes he even went to graduate school in the wealthiest nation in human history. And it seems that I can hear the God of history saying, “That was well done! But what is more,.. I was hungry, and you fed me. I was naked, and ye clothed me. I was devoid of a decent sanitary house to live in, and ye provided shelter for me. And consequently, you may enter the kingdom of greatness. You have done it unto the least of these, my son, you have done it unto me.

Sponsor a child with Compassion International.

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5 Responses to “The Prophet Amos and Trying To Stay Awake”

Stephanie says:

July 15, 2009 at 1:08 pm

amen and amen.

[Reply]
C.C. says:

July 17, 2009 at 4:11 pm

Shalom Justin,
Regarding The Book Of Amos:
Submarines may go the depths of the sea; yet deeper still, the tears of The Redeemer in the heart of man; history may declare it; for the hungry He provides; did we invite Him to The table? No one can take that place, no one can take His place. Along the old old story, there comes singing from his dream ; do we face the music or The Father? Is it all what it all seems? Opened to the thirsting, with forgiveness there is no blame, Who stands beside the river, waiting to rename? Invite Me to The Table, The Table of Your Heart, bring the truth and you will find me, from the start.
All I ask is that you hear me, here’s my heart. by,C.C.

[Reply]
friend says:

July 18, 2009 at 4:59 pm

What does this have to do with staying awake?

[Reply]
Justin says:

July 19, 2009 at 1:03 am

friend,

The title of Dr. King’s essay is/was “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” The title is a reference to that essay. Hope that helps.

[Reply]
friend says:

July 19, 2009 at 5:45 pm

Oh, right. Sort of missed that.

[Reply]