Speaking truth to power - whose kingdom do you belong to?

Scripture: 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 and Psalm 24  • Amos 7:7-15 and Psalm 85:8-13  • Ephesians 1:3-14  • Mark 6:14-29

The people of the day interpreted their good fortune as God's favor. Amos says that the people were intensely and sincerely religious.

But theirs was a privatized religion of personal benefit.  They ignored the poor, the widow, the alien, and the orphan.  Their form of religion degraded faith to culturally acceptable rituals.  The people of the day interpreted their good fortune as God's favor. Amos says that the people were intensely and sincerely religious.

But theirs was a privatized religion of personal benefit.  They ignored the poor, the widow, the alien, and the orphan.  Their form of religion degraded faith to culturally acceptable rituals.

Enter Amos. Amos preached from the pessimistic and unpatriotic fringe. He was blue collar rather than blue blooded. He admits that he was neither a prophet nor even the son of a prophet in the professional sense of the term.  With graphic details that make you wince, Amos describes how the rich crushed the poor; the affluent with their expensive lotions, elaborate music, and vacation homes with beds of inlaid ivory; sexual debauchery in which a man and his son abused the same woman; a corrupt legal system that sold justice to the highest bidder; predatory lenders who exploited vulnerable families; and religious leaders who sanctioned it all.

Which kingdom do you belong to? Consider Dan Clendenin's "Amos or Amaziah?" 

Reflecting on this Sunday's gospel passage in "At what cost?" The Rev. Sharron Blezard reminds us of the costs many have paid, and pay, to speak out against injustice, on behalf of the poor and marginalized, and vulnerable. John the Baptist lost his head for speaking truth to power. A rough hewed farmer, shepherd spoke boldly against the religion of Israel and Jeroboam's kingdom, which the religious order supported in its excesses of wealth and immorality while the poor languished in poverty.

Compare family in God's kingdom in Paul's letter to the Ephesians with royal family life in the kingdoms of Jeroboam and Herod in The Rev. Amy Richter's "Royal Families."