[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage #566, Pentecost 8, 7/22/07

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

Pentecost 8 -- July 22, 2007


Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42

Righteousness, Self-Righteousness and Rich

Righteous indignation is only becoming to the righteous. The words of 
Amos are a temptation to assume that you and I can stand in his place 
and point our fingers at others. Do we not live in a society that 
tramples the needy and declares the new moon past and all the blue laws 
with it – open for business 24/7. Amos can point the finger and it be 
the hand of God. We on the other hand can’t rise above the culture 
enough to point down. All we can do is confess that Amos’ curse is upon 
us. Our definition of prosperity is ruining the land and will lay waste 
the people, but we have no intention of changing. That is why the 
judgment Amos pronounces is so certain. He doesn’t say these things 
will happen if we don’t change our ways. He just says they will happen.

The Psalmist like Amos can stand far enough above fray to point the 
finger and let it be God’s hand. I’m not the Psalmist. I can’t point my 
finger with the same immunity to self-righteousness. Better I should 
let the Psalmist point at me, single out my sharp tongue and my deceit, 
than take shots at others using the Psalm as cover. The greatest threat 
to the church is inside the church not outside. “The godly” in the 
Psalm does not equate to you and me or to the church. Only God can 
designate the godly. Surely the church includes the godly, but it 
contains those who do mischief against the godly as well. This is sad. 
May the day come when the godly will indeed laugh, that is, be free 
 from threat. The godly would not gloat over the ruin of anyone, but 
would be confirmed in being rich toward God.

There is confusion among us about the world’s riches and the will of 
God. On the one hand Amos and Psalm 52 assume that rich people are the 
enemy of the poor and the godly, maybe even that the godly are poor. On 
the other hand God promised the children of Israel a land flowing with 
milk and honey. Could it be that the problem is not so much being rich 
as trying to make one’s self rich?

Martha is all of us. Who can claim to have chosen the better part and 
made it stick? We have our moments centered on Christ, but mostly we 
“are worried and distracted by many things.” We want to make ourselves 
rich, but then Christ can’t make us rich.

Paul has a clear picture of the riches of Christ Jesus. God has made 
Paul rich, even his suffering is rich in meaning. The church at 
Colossae can be rich. Your church can be rich too, but if it is to be 
rich, it will be rich in the confession of Jesus in whom “the fullness 
of God was pleased to dwell.”


May these thoughts strengthen you.

An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor
(an e-mail service)

[See Web Page address below for a Children’s Message coordinated with 
these lections.]

http://www.webspawner.com/users/ChildPage/

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