Advent Devotional Resource - San Francisco Theological Seminary

Wednesday, December 9Amos 8:1-14This Amos text, Chapter 8 verses 1 through 14, is jarring during this season of hope. It’s as thoughAmos says, “I’ve got some bad news, and I’ve got some really terrible news. The bad news is that Godhas had it with your hypocrisy, and the really terrible news is that there is no longer anything you cando about it!”What makes this even tougher is that Amos brings this news in the midst of good times. The basketof summer fruit (qayitz) in Amos’ vision symbolizes the vibrant economy of his day. If the New YorkTimes had been around in Amos’ day, the headlines would have been very different from the ones towhich we have grown accustomed in the last year and a half. They would have been more like, “DowJones Average Hits a New Record High.” “Unemployment at Lowest Rate in Decades.” “ConsumerConfidence Rises Again.”But on the back page of that same newspaper there could easily be a story about a homeless motherand her two children who are asked to leave a local shelter for abused women because her two monthtime period had expired. And so in a sharp pun, God says, “Yes, it is now the end (qetz) for Israel.”And here is our Advent word of hope. Perhaps not hope for an economy that depends on people’sacquiring more than they can afford and wasting more resources than they can use. Perhaps not hopefor empires that rely on “militarized state capitalism” (Noam Chomsky) or “global military-economicdomination” (Chalmers Johnson). The word of hope is that God insists on justice for the socially andeconomically invisible and marginalized. The widows, orphans and aliens, the tenant farmers, thediamond miners, the factory workers, the people trying to live on minimum wage.And ultimately, for all people. Brian McLaren suggests that we ask ourselves these questions: Whatbenefits will come to the rich if the poor are better off? What dangers and negative consequences willfollow for the rich if the poor are not better off? What kind of world do we bequeath to our childrenif addressing the world’s inequities becomes our sacred passion and personal ambition? Questions likethese can free our imaginations.And that is Advent hope.Rev. Dr. Joanne WhittPastor, First Presbyterian Church of San AnselmoSFTS Trustee, Executive CommitteeChair, Mission and Vision Task Force CommitteeFaculty and Curriculum Committee