• Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
  who may live on your holy hill?
  He whose walk is blameless and
  who does what is righteous,
  who speaks the truth from his heart
  and who has no slander on his tongue,
  who despises the vile man
  but honors those who fear the Lord,
  who keeps his oath even when it hurts,
  who lends his money without usury
  and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
  He who does these things will never be shaken (Psalm 15).
  
  It's been a long time since my last post and some have written to chide me a bit about that. I read a few blogs - one of which is written by John Mark Hicks - another by Bobby Valentine and now and again, I catch up with what Jim McGuiggan has to say. Once in a while when I have time, I read an article from N.T. Wright's web-page or from Stanley Hauerwas' web-page. Once a month, I like to read some of what Ben Witherington has to say. Most every week I am blessed to hear the well thought out lessons Rick Atchley so ably delivers. With all that I read and hear that is so excellent; I don't feel I have much to add to the words of the world, so have been reluctant to write lately.
  
  I'm reading some really good books right now. A book that I am enjoying and learning from right now is a book by Hicks, Melton & Valentine called A Gathered People. Another book I've almost finished is Evil and the Justice of God by N.T. Wright and a book of a little different genre that I am finding instructive is Rubel Shelley's book, Divorce & Remarriage: A Redemptive Theology. Today I’m just going to quote from one book – A Gathered People and talk about some of what I’ve been learning from the lessons on Amos that Rick has been preaching.
  
  Hicks, Melton & Valentine place a lot of emphasis in the early part of their latest book on the connection between righteous living and holy worship. Rick’s lessons on Amos also emphasize how much God hates our worship when we lack mercy and compassion and do not reflect God’s love to our neighbor in our behavior. (Surely Jesus cleared up who our neighbor is in his parable of the Good Samaritan.)
  
  On pages 24-26 Hicks, et.al state: "The Old Testament teaches that God desires the sacrifice of a contrite heart (Psalm 51:16-17), that obedience is better than cultic ritual (I Sam 15:22), and that a true fast includes helping the poor (Isa 58:6-7). According to Jeremiah, lifestyle gives validity to religious rituals (Jer 7:1-15) Amos denounces those who keep a form of religion but have a life antithetical to it (5:18-24):
  
  

  I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
  I cannot stand your assemblies.
  Even though you bring me burnt offerings
  and grain offerings,
  I will not accept them.
  Though you bring me choice fellowship offerings,
  I will have no regard for them.
  Away with the noise of your songs
  I will not listen to the music of your harps.
  But let justice roll on like a river,
  righteousness like a never ending stream.

On page 26 of their book, from chapters 12-16 of Deuteronomy, these authors have culled seven ways worshippers are to love God which I’ve paraphrased

1. Show liberality & kindness toward the poor;
2. Respect the property of others and the dignity of all human beings;
3. Actively protect your neighbor against accidents and help them when they suffer loss;
4. Practice justice in court and in all business transactions
5. Recognize that there is a sphere of justice that belongs to God alone;
6. Respect the environment and be good stewards of God's creation;
7. Foster the well-being of family.
   
   Rick Atchley has been preaching a series of sermons he has titled The Lifestyles of the Rich and Amos. So far he has titled his sermons: 1) The Roar of the Lord; 2) Four is Enough; 3) Choice Words; 4) Justice or Just Us; and 5) Slave Trading. He will pick up the series again sometime in August.
   
   Rick asked us to read the book of Amos, which I did. He made a statement recently after one of his lessons that he hoped what he had been preaching would be a blessing to us, but that he hoped we would not say we were enjoying his lessons. I don’t quite know what to say to that. I guess I can say I have been blessed. Right after I read Amos, I asked God what he wanted me to meditate about. This thought came to me: try to look at the world the way God sees it. Since I read emails from the Overseas Security Advisory Council every day, I read a lot about the corruption in the world - conflicts and wars and kidnappings and so forth. I realize that what I read about is just a minuscule part of the evil that takes place each day. Not all evil makes the news – the bitter words spoken in the car on the way to worship – the affair the spouse doesn’t know about yet – the TV show that promotes lust – the un-forgiveness experienced between people – the child that seldom receives a loving word – the slander –the gossip, the abused street child. Just how heavy was the burden Jesus carried to the cross? I can’t imagine. What amazed me is the picture I received of God that day – his love for the downtrodden, the disenfranchised, the orphan and widow, the slave, the foreigner, the lost. I suddenly understood, in a new way, how much God hates religion. I understood Jesus’ anger in the temple when he overturned the tables of the money-changers. I wanted to rush out and apologize to unbelievers how sorry I was that we have let religion get in the way of knowing Jesus.
   
   I learned last year not to answer too quickly when someone asks me if I’m a Christian. When asked that question I now ask the question, “What do you mean by the word, Christian?” Sometimes after I hear the definition given to that word, I have to say, “If that’s what you mean by the word, Christian, then ‘no, I’m not.’ But I am a Christ Follower and…” I read somewhere this year, I think in the book, Un Christian, that perhaps the reason churches all over are declining in growth and in reputation, is because of the behavior of Christians themselves. I guess we have a bit of God within us though – we seem to hate the hypocrisy we see in others – we just don’t seem to be able to see it in ourselves very well -another reason we need time in the word, good preaching and good books - and perhaps, I should add, people who really love us enough to confront us when we need it. I prefer the gentle confrontation, but God loves us enough to put an Amos in our life when we need it.
   
   God hates hypocrisy, but loves those who are sinned against. Someday, He will make it right. God loves those who act justly and who love mercy and who walk humbly with their God (Micah 6:8). That is all He requires. It is simple. The trouble is … this kind of life is costly.
   
   Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
   who may live on your holy hill?
   He whose walk is blameless and
   who does what is righteous,
   who speaks the truth from his heart
   and who has no slander on his tongue,
   
   who despises the vile man
   but honors those who fear the Lord,
   who keeps his oath even when it hurts,
   who lends his money without usury
   and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
   He who does these things will never be shaken (Psalm 15).