Amos

The first couple of chapters in the book of Amos make up one of my favorite passages in the Bible. It’s not really my favorite passage because it conveys deep spiritual truths (at least not in and of itself), but because I can imagine the reaction that the text (or the voice of Amos) would receive when presented to the Israelite people.

Amos’ job, being a prophet, was not to bring comfort or stability to the Israelite people, it was his job to stir up the people and show them how they had departed from Yahweh. It was his job to stand up and shout “Hey, you are doing it all wrong, return to the LORD!”

In the very opening section of the book, Amos really lays into Israel’s enemies, talking about each of Israel’s neighbors, Amos says the word of the LORD: “For three transgressions and for four, I will not revoke the punishment” and then proceeds to explain why each country is receiving punishment and what that punishment will be.

Six times, with six different countries that are enemies to Israel Amos outlines their foibles and their punishments. Saying over and over again “for three transgressions and for four”. One can imagine the speech, given in a strong voice. The Israelites are getting whipped into a frenzy, thinking to themselves “YES! Those people are scum, we hate them, we can’t wait to see their punishment!” Then Amos turns the screw a little tighter, Judah, Israel’s long lost brother, now being a strenuous relationship between them due to political circumstances is under attack.

At this point, the crowd must have been shouting their assent, they were finally able to see that all of their enemies were going to be punished because their enemies did not follow the LORD, but then the hammer falls, all the wind leaves their sails, and they are horrified. Amos says “For three transgressions of Israel” One can imagine the crowd immediately becoming silent with fear and hurt, knowing that soon their offenses to God and their punishment will be revealed.

The prophet Amos had stirred up the people, shown them their faults and called them back to God, but the way he did it was amazing, a verbal trap, designed to ensnare the listener to hear the word of the LORD.

So what’s the point? Well, I’ve often thought that Amos was applicable to the Church on many occasions, I encourage us to not simply point fingers and those around us and say “look how they don’t follow the Lord”, but to also be active in self examination so that we are not caught off guard by a prophet bringing God’s word to us about our own faults. The Israelites problem was that they were greedy with their money, and they didn’t take care of the poor and the helpless, in fact, they cheated them. Do we have things that we need to work on, Do we have transgressions?

I've always like Amos, he uses such a great rhetorical device, craftily ensnaring his listeners into his speech, opening them up their hearts for critical damage. The change in the crowd is almost palpable in the text int he transition from 2:5 to 2:6. I've always thought that this text would preach extremely well, but then, it would be a risky sermon to preach as well, probably leading to a quick dismissal. The prophet's life is much different than that of the Priest. On the other hand, we have lost the voice of the prophet in many of our Church communities, and with it have often lost the voice that calls us back to the LORD.
What role should the minister in a Church play.. Prophet, or priest, one who holds to tradition and ensures that the community of God stays safe, and within God's arms, or one who stands up and shouts when tradition, and accepted practices are exactly what is driving the community away from the LORD? Can one be both?

Retreat Report

This past weekend, students from the Christian Student Center went traveled to Camp Tecumseh, a large YMCA camp north of Brookston, for our annual campus retreat.

For those who don’t know, the purpose of the retreat is to have a time away from the pressures of school where the students can both study the word of God more intensely than during a normal week. This week also serves to give the students time to build relationships with one another that are so very important to the Christian walk.

We asked Sam Barrington, a minister a at church in South Bend, Indiana to come down for the weekend and join us, and lead us through a study. His series of talks were titled “High Energy Faith” and he used energy drinks (A popular type of drink for late night study sessions) as a spring board to talk about three areas of our faith.

His first talk was titled “Tapping into God’s energy source” where he stressed the importance of remembering the power of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives, especially when we need that “spiritual energy boost” to be able to continue on.

Sam’s second talk was called “Entering Into Training” and he focused on encouraging us to stop trying to be like Christ, and to start Training to be like Christ. His thesis was that training is something that one can do now by sheer effort, to build up strength to have the ability to do something that they cannot do now by sheer effort.

Finally Sam talked about how to handle those spiritual low times. Sam directed us towards the Psalms and reminded us that it is good to be honest with God and oneself when experiencing a spiritual low. Sam pointed to many of David’s Psalms that express frustration, despair, and a questioning attitude towards God.

There was also much to do in the way of building relationships between students. Besides having some free time to simply talk and learn more about each other, there were many activities that the students good participate in.

Some of the many activities that students took part in were: Ultimate Frisbee, Basketball, Rock Climbing, riflery, archery, Horse-back riding, campfire, and sliding down large pipes on plastic snow sleds.

All in all, it was a good week for deepening our relationship with God as well as creating new relationships, and deepening our already cherished relationships with one another. Thanks to everyone who went to the trip, and to everyone who made it possible!

Heroes!

Heroes, Prison Break, The Office!! All new seasons!

Now that Summer is over, I really wish I had tv channels... Nobody talk about any TV show until i give you the okay!!

Zombies!

Ever since the classic “Night of the Living Dead” America has had some fascination with zombie movies, it seems like a summer doesn’t go by without at least one major zombie movie being released. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the genre, I’ve only seen one or two of them, but I do find some of the concepts interesting.

Zombies are these no-longer humans that have died and come back to life. With that transformation, there is radical change in the Zombies look, behavior, actions and thoughts (or lack thereof).

I think that there are some things that we could learn from those zombies. Obviously, I don’t recommend that we all go out and start to attack people, there are some differences between evil zombies and us, but lets think about the idea of being radically changed for a minute.

Romans 6:3-4: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, so we too might walk in the newness of life.” (NRSV)

“So we too might walk in the newness of life”, what a powerful statement! What a radical change that comes from this death and new life. Paul goes on to say that we are no longer enslaved by Sin, but are dead to it. With this freedom, this death to Sin, we are given new life.

Perhaps our culture is enamored with zombies because they represent a huge change that can take place in a person. While the becoming-a-zombie process is an evil and perverted change, the change of becoming a Christian is Holy and blessed. We are called to live a different life, for a purpose. While the zombie has no leader and does not have a purpose, the Christian follows Christ and his or her purpose is to show others what Christ is like. Lets try to think of ourselves as radically changed followers of Christ.

What is the Cost?

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 is a message to the Israelites about the decision that was set before them after they had received the Law. “See I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other Gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.” (15-18)

There is a stark contrast between the two options, death or life, punishment or reward. It is an interesting concept, the Law required many things of the people, it required them to be completely different from the rest of the world. Not all of the differences were easy to cope with, there were many difficult things that were required of the Israelites to be able to stay in a right relationship with God.

As Christians it is sometimes easy to say that the Israelites have a much more difficult time at being in a right relationship with God than we do as Christians, but Jesus does not make Christianity any easier when in Luke 15 he talks about the cost of being a Christian. “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 15:26)

Now, I will be honest, I’m not entirely sure what exactly Jesus means here. Is he being literal? Well, that brings up a set of problems within the Christian story that are not easily reconciled. What I do think though, is that even if Jesus is not being literal here, he is expressing an important idea. Christianity, just like Judaism before it, requires much from its adherents. It requires sacrifice and devotion to God above all other things.

Can you handle the cost?

The new iPod

Well Apple, you finally did it, you finally made a product that I actually like. Congratulations. True it is still incredibly overpriced, has meager storage capacity, and I will not be allowed to buy it, but the new iPod Touch looks slick, has a screen big enough to watch video on* (unlike the iPod "Classic") and has finally ditched the wheel.


*Edit-
Sorry Mara "a screen big enough on which to watch video"

Quick Update

Well, the semester is now in full swing, and as was the plan, I have now started to work in the campus ministry at Purdue, and it is an enjoyable experience. I thought I would let you all know about some of the things that we have done, and some of the things that are coming up in the campus ministry.

During the first week of classes, we had an event every night to welcome both newcomers and our returning students. We brought in the new semester with activities like a cook-out, a rousing game of kickball, as well as devotionals and Bible Study.

We have a lot of things planned for the semester as well. Soon we will be going on our annual Fall retreat (September 21-23) which is a time for the students at the CSC to really spend time with one another and get to know each other better. I haven’t been yet, but I have heard that it is the highlight of many students’ year.

We also have various activities that happen on a regular basis during the week. On Tuesdays, we have men’s and women’s Bible Study. Wednesdays, we have our Encounter Bible class. Thursday evenings there is an activity night at the CSC, providing a safe place for students to hang out. Saturday mornings, the CSC members take part in Men’s and Women’s Prayer Breakfasts.

You may be wondering how you can get involved with the campus ministry (If you aren’t wondering that, I wish you would!) It is actually not too difficult. One good way to get to know a lot of students at the CSC is to bring your LIFE group to the CSC on Sunday night. Purdue does not serve dinner on Sunday nights, so we ask LIFE groups to bring dinner, and fellowship with our students. Talk to Jimmy Huff if your LIFE group is interested (or he may talk to you!)

If you would like to get to know a student in a little more personal way, please sign up for our “Adopt-A-College Student” program. This program will allow you to meet a student, and get to know him or her. We encourage you to bring them into your home, make dinner for them, or do anything to build a relationship with them. It may be intimidating at first, but it is well worth it! Please get involved with these wonderful students!