Justice
Are the ancient but ever relevant words of Amos challenging our consumerist profit driven culture that, in actuality, we may be buying “the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals”? How might a prophetic community view justice for those who labor to produce the goods and services we all enjoy?
Scripture: Amos 6: 4-7 & 8: 4-7
4You lie on beds adorned with ivory
and lounge on your couches.
You dine on choice lambs
and fattened calves.
5 You strum away on your harps like David
and improvise on musical instruments.
6 You drink wine by the bowlful
and use the finest lotions,
but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
7 Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile;
your feasting and lounging will end.
Amos 8: 4-7
4Hear this, you who trample the needy
and do away with the poor of the land,5 saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
that we may market wheat?”—
skimping on the measure,
boosting the price
and cheating with dishonest scales,
6 buying the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
selling even the sweepings with the wheat.7 The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.
