This past week, I read both the book of Amos in the Bible and the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" written by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963. I think I, along with the North American Church at large, can deceive myself in believing that words like those found in Amos and in the Birmingham letter were written for another time, another place, another people. "Thank God things aren't like that today!" Or are they?
If I get past denial and justification, I honestly think Amos and the Letter from a Birmingham Jail speak directly for my life, my time, and the very place in which I live. These writings convict and challenge me toward repentance, a re-ordering of my life that puts me more directly on the path of Jesus, of justice. I'm thankful to God for raising up prophets such as Amos and Martin Luther King Jr. to show us the plumb line of our lives.
Racism is there just hiding covertly in the cloack of indifference
ReplyDelete