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A COUNTRY MAN
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I was riding the mower around and around and got thinking of Amos. |
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Amos? Who thinks of Amos? |
Well, old preachers sometimes have long memories and are prone to think
about things nobody
else thinks about. Or, for
that matter, is interested in. That, of course, doesn't stop me. |
After all, I’m out here in the country with my grass to mow and oaks to
cut for firewood, with views
of the sheep grazing across
the road and rolling hills of Oregon beyond. I can think of Amos as part
of
the enforced meditation
that happens when you go around and around. |
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Why Amos; you must be asking? |
Well, Amos was a country man too. While I watch sheep, he was an actual
shepherd. While I trim
oaks, he trimmed sycamore
trees. |
There are some things to like about Amos. For one thing the religiously
correct didn't like him. I
always think that's a good
sign. I always try to read books by scholars that have been excommunicated. |
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For another thing, he seemed to have a different idea about what God was
all about. For instance, I’ll bet that he would scoff at peace-niks who
urge Pray for peace! Just as he would scoff at flag wavers who urge
Pray for our troops! |
Why would he scoff at praying? You have to read him to get his drift, but
it boils down to the fact
that God already knows what
is right. It’s foolish to think anyone can pray God into a desired behavior.
It is clear that Amos thinks God has already made clear what is required
of God's people. The problem is not God, but us. |
Still another thing I like about Amos is that he didn't just ride around
on his mower and stew. Yes,
he stewed all right, but
his stewing amounted to something. In fact he explains himself saying:
"It was the Lord
who took me from herding my little sheep, and it was the Lord who said
to me, ‘Go and prophesy against my people...’"
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It’s one thing to prophesy against bad folks in other lands, and bad folks
outside religion, but to
prophesy against people
who see themselves as God's darlings, is something else. It’s not easy
to stand against your own religion, your own government or your own nation.
Heck, I find myself thinking second thoughts before wearing my University
of Washington sweatshirt to town where Oregon State University rules. Amos
knew no fear, or if he did it didn't stop him. |
Amos had a thing about justice. He didn't say much about war. He was into
bigger issues, the
issues that create war.
He was into following the money, the rampant ravaging by the greedy. I
don't
know what he might say about
a war budget but he would say much about the way courts and legislation
caters to the rich and delays care for the poor. As a country man, Amos
would rail against the kind of gross self-indulgence that consumes earth's
resources with little thought for others now or in the future. |
Our Old Testament professor told us that we should always read Amos out
loud, and when we
read it, don't just speak
it, but shout! |
The last thing I want to say about Amos—as I make a run toward the final
patch of unmoved
grass—is his idea of doom.
I hoped I wouldn't have to mention it. But Amos had the idea that this
is a
moral universe. There is
judgment and punishment in history. Sooner or later the rich and arrogant
tyrants get their due. What
goes around comes around. Those who fail to understand that what God
requires is justice and
mercy and kindness and humility will simply bring themselves and their
children
and their children's children
to ruin. |
He was not the most popular man in town. Like other true prophets, he was
driven back to his
sheep and sycamore trees.
Who needs that kind of doom-talk? Even if it turns out to be true?
Art Morgan,
April 3, 2003
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