Word to the Wise
Friday, July 4, 2008 - Independence Day - USA (Friday in the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time)
[Amos 8:4-6, 9-12 and Matthew 9:9-12]Yes, days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send famine upon the land: not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord. Then they shall wander from sea to sea and rove from the north to the east in search of the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.
Amos' words today remind me of the familiar lines from the hymn, America the Beautiful: And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea! But Amos is preaching to a self-satisfied and proud people who believe they can put religious observance in one category and corrupt economic practice in a second category with the two never impacting one another! This self-satisfaction will lead to the breakdown of religious faith to the point that the true word of God becomes rare. Indeed, what is the brotherhood/sisterhood in our country that we pray for in that traditional hymn? Racism and poverty are still big problems. Environmental degradation and a stubborn refusal to work with the rest of the other nations on reducing global warming characterize our economic practices. Those spacious skies and amber waves of grain, purple mountains, majesties across the fruitful plains could become just memories with rusting oil derricks on them. On this Independence Day, it is not my purpose to call attention to all that is "wrong" with America but to the fact that all that is "right" about America is still being denied to millions of Americans and to those who want to share it. Independence does not mean that we are all individual units who owe nothing to the community, nation AND PLANET! We did not become great as a nation by denying entry to other people! We will not continue to be great if we destroy the air, water and scenery of our land with misguided and selfish consumption of natural resources! We will not, if Amos is speaking the truth, continue to be great if we declare ourselves independent of God. Gratitude to God for our many gifts of freedom carries with it the obligation to share those gifts in ways that honor the one who gave them. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are noble and important documents, but if the word of God is absent from "sea to sea" we will become history like the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Aztecs and other civilizations who thought they too would last forever. Today is a day to sing those great patriotic hymns, My Country T'is of Thee, America the Beautiful, God Bless America and our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner and hear their words as a challenge and not simply self'-congratulations! AMEN
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