III.  WHEN THE LORD ROARS “The Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers” (Amos 1:2)         Like many books of the Hebrew-Christian scripture, Amos is meant to be heard rather than read. In fact, it should probably be shouted, for Amos was an angry prophet. He didn’t like what he had to say and he wasn’t liked for saying it. It became true, not because it was scripture, but became scripture because it was true.         Amos saw the Lord as actively involved in the events of daily life and history. As a prophet (one who speaks for God) he interpreted things in ways most did not. Therefore, don’t expect a sermon from Amos to sing “God Bless America.”         For that matter, my own understanding of what God does and does not do differs greatly from Amos. Does God roar? Does God really roar against enemies, or worse still, against His own people? Amos says that God says: “I will send a fire into the house of Hazael which shall devour the places of Ben-Hadad.” (Amos 1:2) From our knowledge about how scripture develops we must suspect that the awful events have already occurred.         Amos sees the events as having a reason. The Lord roars, but there are reasons. “For three transgressions and four...” (I fear that he sounds a bit like Jerry Falwell)         I am sure that the people did not want to accept any blame for a terrible rain of fire upon their people. They would rather seek revenge against those who did the act. But Amos presses his argument: “They have despised the law of the Lord...they sell the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals...” Nike’s, we wonder? Isn’t this what the protesters at the WTO meetings were complaining about?         Amos spares no one. “Hear this you cows of Bashan...” (Never one to flatter women!) “who oppress the poor who crush the needy.” (Amos 4)         It is third world talk, the talk of citizens of Afghanistan whose average annual wage is $100 a year. “I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins, afflicting the just and diverting the poor from justice at the gate.” (Amos 5) There were more than 110 stories separating the world’s business giants from the rest of the world. “Therefore...there shall be wailing in the streets.”         I didn’t go looking for such words. The President urged us all to look to our faith and to God for help and comfort. I was on the 8th floor of a motel near the Los Angeles airport, intending to be in Switzerland for our 50th anniversary. Instead I was stranded here, only slightly inconvenienced, while our nation suffered. I rarely open the Gideon Bibles placed in motel rooms, but I sought some perspective in the Scriptures. I landed in Amos. It was like he was answering the question people were asking in street interviews, “Why?”         His words are not happy words. They are discomforting words. They are words that do not allow us to escape some involvement in what has happened.         A few more words and I will move on: “Woe to your who are at ease in Zion.” This generation of Americans has enjoyed more wealth, comfort and privilege than any human beings in all of history. We are the “eat, drink and be merry” generation, mostly taking more than we leave. We are gatherers and consumers. We place our personal gain ahead of earth survival. Maybe not you, but most of us. There are those in the world that think such a way of living is reckless, dangerous and evil. “Woe to you...”         So Amos offers more blame than comfort. We have to listen to his voice along with those who want to narrow the blame to a few crazy bad guys. “Woe to you who put off days of doom, who cause the seat of violence to come near.” Yes, we’ve sort of known that America could not escape such fire forever. We put off any thinking about how the building anger in the world might play out. Now we know what doom is all about. And now you know what Amos thinks about why the Lord roars. Art Morgan — September 11, 2001