Amos’ Standard Sermon

Text: Amos 8:1-14

Reflection and Question: Amos preached in the Northern Kingdom when it was rich and respected and thought itself to be blessed by God. But its prosperity rested upon corruption and exploitation, exposed by Amos, and, thirty years after his prophecy, Israel fell to the Assyrian army. Chapter 8 is the core of Amos’ message. Like the basket of summer fruit, the people will turn from ripe to rotten because of their violation of God’s law in their treatment of the poor. The picture Amos paints of what is to come for Israel is graphic and terrifying. How do you see Amos’ sermon being true today?

Prayer: God of every time and place, Amos warned that the young would faint from thirst and all who called on other gods would fall to rise no more. Give us the ears to hear and respond to Amos’ message so that we may be spared such a fate. Amen.

This meditation is based on the Daily Lectionary Year 2 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).