Amos, where have you been all my life?

Recently, I’ve been spending some time in the book of Amos. Though I regularly forget things, I suspect that my lack of memories related to this prophet being spoken of during sermons, bible class, youth group events, is accurate. Introducing Amos is dangerous, because Amos has modern parallels. Unlike some other parts of the Old Testament, Amos is remarkably current. Amos speaks against injustice, inequality, breaking promises. Against encouraging a status quo that promotes poverty. Against looking the other way because it benefits certain people and not others. Against using God’s name to rationalize dehumanizing people. Against using God’s supposed favor to defend establishing a hierarchy that harms. Not only does Amos share what God sees as wrong, he also shares that God is angry with God’s people for acting in ways that aren’t honorable. Angry that their actions aren’t filled with compassion. Angry that they, as God’s chosen ones, don’t represent themselves and therefore God, as loving, but as capricious, power hungry, and volatile. If leaders had shared Amos with me when I was young, I would have had ample ammunition to counter with, proof that the actions of Christians were increasingly about preserving systems that gave them control versus dismantling them as God clearly wished. I would have had knowledge that being a Christian is about loving God and others. I would have been given glasses to see what those did not want me to see, that we were not doing that while claiming that we were.