Musings 9/17/25

“Hear this, you that trample on the needy and bring the poor to ruin.” Amos 8

“I urge supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and for all who are in high positions.” (1 Timothy 2)

What a contrast we have between Amos and Paul: One calls for justice for the poor and needy, and the other appears more concerned about the well-being of those in power. However, the contrast is lessened when we realize that the reason Paul wishes prayers for kings and those in high positions is “that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives.”

Amos calls Israel to account for its corrupt and abusive government. His prophecy against the northern kingdom speaks of its demise because of practices by which those in power gain more power, the wealthy gain more wealth, while the poor and powerless have become expendable. Those in high positions come to think that they have the right to take advantage of the vulnerability of any who don’t share their wealth and status. Cruelty against the poor and marginalized has become normal practice. This Israelite society has come to believe that poverty, hunger, illness, and lack of citizenship are reasons for abuse for the benefit of those who have more than enough for themselves. For this God says, “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.”

Paul reminds Timothy that his call is to the proclamation of Jesus Christ, who is the one mediator between God and human beings, and “who gave himself a ransom for all.” Paul is not writing prophecy against a people, but he does remind Timothy of the purpose of Jesus, to give himself on behalf of creation. This reminder brings with it the expectation that the church would follow in the same way and give itself for the sake of the world. Thus, one can expect that prayers for kings and those in high positions would sound similar to these words in the Minister’s Prayer Book (©2020 Fortress Press, an imprint of 1517 Media. Emphasis mine):

Almighty and everlasting God, we come before you in prayer for our nation. We pray that you would bless all elected officials with the wisdom and courage needed to best serve the common good of people. May they govern with a spirit of reverence for your will and respect for the will of the people.

On Monday, I attended the United Lutheran Seminary Fall Convocation, “Is the Moral Arc Broken?”, featuring Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre. In his keynote speech, Dr. De La Torre called hope an excuse to do nothing. Hope, he said, is our reducing the Good News to the personal so that we can focus on the one who will survive tragedy while we ignore the thousands who are crying out and will not survive. Hope, he says, especially a hope that we will survive hardship, domesticates us so that we become ineffective. Those who work for justice because they hope to succeed will burn out faster.

As I heard this, I thought of the tragedy of Gaza and the tens of thousands who have died, the hundreds of thousands injured, and the millions who continue to be displaced by the Israeli invasion of their land. For so many Palestinians, not only in Gaza but in the West Bank and Israel, hope no longer exists. These people live in desperation, often simply trying to live another day.

Martin Luther King, Jr., referring to words from Theodore Parker, a 19th century Unitarian minister, said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” But Dr. De La Torre challenges this and reminded us that the moral universe only bends toward justice when we ourselves act for justice. He told us that we cannot fight for justice because we know we will win, nor to earn points in heaven, but because we have no other choice. We are not called to save the world but to be faithful to what we believe.

Taking Dr. De La Torre’s words to heart, I may have finally found my way toward completing a letter I have been trying to write for nearly a month. The letter to Senators Fetterman and McCormick will address the ongoing genocidal actions of the Israeli government and military in both Gaza and the West Bank. It will call on them to act with others in the government to reduce our country’s complicity in the bombing of homes, cultural centers, hospitals, and places of worship, as well as the taking of land from Palestinians. I will note that the actions of the Netanyahu regime do nothing to ensure the safety and well-being of Jews around the world, and that our support of this regime also puts citizens of our nation at risk.

When Jesus says, “No slave can serve two masters,” I hear a choice not only between God and wealth but between God and the security I feel as one distant from violence in the Middle East; I hear a call to continue in my comfortable life which leads to death or to stand up to the cruelty of those who would condemn others simply for being poor, hungry, immigrants, and who do not conform to the majority.

When I choose God, I choose to speak and to act for justice for all, including the poor and the needy, those who are trampled by society. Justice for all means that Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve abundant life. Justice for all means the mighty are cast down from their thrones and the lowly lifted up, the hungry and fed and the rich sent away empty, the proud are scattered in their conceit. Justice is hard work, but it is to this work that the church is called.