Psalm 22:25–31; Amos 8:1–7; Acts 8:1b–8
For many people, singing in worship of God is a significant part of their life of faith. They love the joy-filled worship of God.
The image provided in Amos takes those joy-filled songs and turns them into songs of pain, sorrow, and lament. The misery of the people of Israel (as conveyed by Amos) is that even their praise and worship had become crying and wailing. Think of a church service where all the joy was gone.
In many respects, after a number of incidents (9/11, Oklahoma City, and others) people would come to the church and grieve. Their feelings of pride and courage buried in the ashes of death. Yet, now, people don’t. We’ve had horrific things happen in our society and people aren’t looking to the church.
Perhaps we need a Saul. Perhaps COVID or Trump or Biden is our Saul. Perhaps it will be something else.
Saul persecuted the church. The members of the church left Jerusalem. The faith spread. The number of people who came to Christ grew.
We are in a state of discomfort. We, the church, are no longer sure of where we belong. We look at ourselves (the church) and wonder what’s wrong. We look at the world and wonder what’s wrong.
※Reflection※
- It can be hard to sit in the dark, when we want to be in the light of Jesus. Why is part of our purpose to be in (not of) the dark?
- What can the darkness teach us about the light?
※Prayer※
Lord, you called from the darkness into your light. You sent us back into the darkness to share your light. May we do your will. Amen.