I’ve never done a thorough study of the dynamics that occur when two people first meet, but I can tell you from firsthand experience that there is a rapid assessment and evaluation based upon appearance, demeanor and social context that will either result in pursuit of a relationship or a polite, “well, it was nice meeting you”.   In large part, pursuit of the relationship is based on whether I believe that my life will somehow be improved or enhanced by this new contact.  The pursuit is based on self-interest.  What can this person do for me?  What networks will I can access to?  Rejection is also based on self-interest.  What will this person demand of me and my time?  What will happen to my status if I am in this relationship?

The assessment and evaluation also occurs in group settings.  Which is where the church comes into the picture.  We ask the same questions in the plural:  What can this person do for us?  Will this person bring resources to us or take resources from us?  Will this person advance our mission and enhance our image in the community?  And James nails it (James 2:1-4).  Money (or the appearance of money) gets attention because most churches need it.

But James also reminds us that showing favoritism is incompatible with our faith in Jesus Christ, who became poor, who had no place to lay his head and who spent most of his time with people who were “poor in the eyes of the world”–those God chose to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom (James 2:5)

We reveal who we are by the relationships we pursue.

Reflecting this past week on the first two chapters of Amos has been challenging–not just because of the brutal violence that is recounted, but because it has been too close for comfort.  Our own nation’s domestic and foreign policies have been violent and destructive to people of color, the poor, the native, women, the vulnerable.  In the name of “National Security” we have assassinated democratically elected world leaders, created internment camps for US citizens and broken treaties when it suited our interest.  In the name of “Economic Development”, we have enslaved Africans, forcibly removed Native Americans from their homelands and supported foreign coups.  In the name of “Patriotism” we have silenced the prophets–either through murder or through defamation.  Our hands are full of blood.

And here’s what I really struggle with: I have been the direct beneficiary of all this violence.  My great-great-grandparents were homesteaders in central Illinois–farming land that the government practically gave them in it’s westward expansion and Indian resettlement initiatives.  My college education was paid for in large part through the sale of that same farm land.

I’ve also participated in my nation’s violence–not just through paying my taxes (which I have struggled with especially this year since April 15 is smack in the middle of Lent!) but through my 401K investments (yes, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Rayethon are listed in the prospectus).

What am I to do?  (Sounds like a question that people asked of John the Baptist!)  I am embedded in an unjust system.  I cannot change my heritage or the past.  However, I can acknowledge the sin of the the past (confession) and then change my present and my future (repentance).  I can begin to make informed choices about things like investments and use my social and financial capital to advocate for just foreign and domestic policies.  I can join my voice to the choir of the prophets–and not the ones that are chanting the “God bless America” mantra.

National sin is complicated and disengaging from it completely is almost impossible.  But the greater sin is blindly accepting and supporting the actions of our government and wrapping our faith in the ‘red, white and blue.’

These Amos passages are depressing.  Nation after nation is placed under scrutiny and found to be lacking.  Slavery, war atrocities, imperialistic ambition.  One would hope to find at least one nation that is trying to be nonviolent in its domestic and foreign policies.  One would hope that a nation that lives by a higher law would be different.  Sadly, Amos doesn’t find any difference in Judah or Israel–nations that have been founded upon God’s law (Amos 2:4-8).

The nation of Judah has rejected God’s law and is following other gods.  And Israel has become a nation of powerful ‘haves’ who live in luxury along side vulnerable ‘have-nots’ who are kept in poverty by the practices and policies of the wealthy–all while maintaining a facade of religiosity.

I think the sins of Judah and Israel are worse than that of the other nations because they should know better.  They have a Law that expressly prohibits taking advantage of the poor.  They have chosen to replace God’s law with domestic policies that give advantage to certain groups of people.

I can’t help but think about our own domestic policies that have systematically kept some people away from enjoying a slice of the economic pie.  Suburban expansion occurred when WWII veterans were given access to cheap home loans upon their return.  By policy, African-American veterans were refused access to those loans.  The result:  white veterans moved up into new suburban single family housing while black veterans remained in the urban centers as renters.  All that while we, as a nation, maintained a facade of God-fearing religiosity!

More war atrocities (Amos 1:11-2:3).  It is hard to even read about pregnant women being ripped open, killing them and their unborn children.  Horrible.   Who could do that?  Why would they do that?  The end justifies the means, right?  No wonder God responds with disgust.  One nation enlarges their borders at the expense of another nation and the vulnerable always pay with their lives.  Makes me wonder what God thinks about our own imperialistic ambitions.  And how many pregnant women have died as a result?  Bombs don’t discriminate.

Edom must have needed a lot of free labor (Amos 1:6-10).  Thanks to Gaza and Tyre, whole neighborhoods ended up working there involuntarily to ensure Edom’s economic vitality.

Reading the Scripture today, I thought of how important cheap (or free) labor is to keeping our own economic engines running smoothly.  We demand low prices for goods which requires cost cutting all along the production chain.  My beloved low prices have come at a terrible human cost.  We often think that slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation.  The reality is that enslavement continues in the sweat shops of Asia and Central America and the rights of American workers are being slowed chipped away as companies threaten to move jobs to those cheap labor pools.  The slave market is still open for business.  Whole communities are captured (this time by the promise of jobs) and sold down the river for my benefit.  The violence of slavery is not only perpetrated by those who chain workers to sewing machines, but also by those who economically benefit from their bondage.  No wonder God, the God of justice, is peeved.  The treaties of brotherhood have been been set aside for something much more insidious–an alliance with Almighty Dollar.

It seems impossible that we are already to the half way mark of our 40 days without violence.  Am I less violent? I hope so.  I am more sensitive to violence in its various forms, that’s for sure.

So, now I come to Amos 1:3-5, and I’m confronted again with the horrors of war.  Damascus, the capitol of Aram, violently and inhumanely “threshes” Gilead, and God has had enough.  From what I understand, sledges with iron teeth were used primarily to separate grain from the stalks of wheat, crushing and grinding and cutting as the sledge passed over the stalks.  Unbelievably, these farm implements were sometimes used in war–with captured soldiers (and sometimes regular people) standing in for the stalks of wheat.  You do not have to go back to Aram to find atrocities in war.  The “rape of Nanking” in WWII by Japanese Imperial forces.  The torture chambers of Abu-Ghraib.  We might not use sledges with iron teeth, but we continue to blithely humiliate and anihilate without a twinge of conscience.  All is NOT fair in love and war.  God puts it in the “sin” category.  And there are (will be) consequences.

First, I read today’s Scripture (Psalm 11) and then I read the recent post “Just Two Questions…” at www.kimballavejw.wordpress.com.  Wow, is Psalm 11 relevant!  My first response to the tragic violence in Grant Park and the Fullerton El stop (and I knew Sally King) was, I understand why people say “Flee like a bird to your mountain!”–the ancient equivalent of “Move to the suburbs!”  And I understand hopelessness in the face of violence (ie “when the foundations of law and order are collapsing, what can the righteous do?”)

In the face of senseless and disturbing violence, we often hear the “escape” advice.  “Move to someplace safer.”  I hear it all the time.  Young parents in the city tell me they have to move to protect their children   In our culture of violence, no place is truly safe anymore.  And there is a growing helplessness and hopelessness.  What can we do?

First, we cannot stop being people of justice in the face of violence.  The upright will see God’s face.  Second, we cannot forget the One who sits upon the throne.  God is in God’s holy temple.  My safety is not determined by my location.  My safety–and my peace–are determined by the location of my God.

The prophet Habakkuk laments that he lives in a culture of violence (Habakkuk 1:2-4) and that God doesn’t seem to notice or care.  (BTW, God does notice and care, but God’s silence is frustrating.)  What I find most insightful is Habakkuk’s connection of the pervasiveness of violence with the absence of  justice.  When violence is allowed to flourish, it is empowered; and when it is empowered, it intimidates and controls all of life.  The result: Justice is perverted, justice is paralyzed.

I have been frustrated that the loudest  people in this country (even Christian loud mouths) are against any form of regulation of gun manufacturing, distribution or posession.  I have been frustrated that the government cannot pass any sort of regulation of industries that destroy whole communities (banking, oil, natural gas, etc).  I have been frustrated that our nation’s MO is violence and intimidation when we feel threatened (policies of “homeland security”, pre-emptive strikes, CIA assassination plots).  How long, O Lord?  How long?

There is a time for lamenting the way life is.  My lament today: Violence sucks.

There’s a war going on–and it’s not in Iraq.  It’s going on inside of me.  A conflict between flesh and spirit (Galatians 5:16-26).  And I have be honest that flesh has won more battles than I care to admit.  But here’s the crazy part–until I started this Lenten Compact ‘fast from violence’, I didn’t have a struggle with violence.  Now, I see violence everywhere and I’ve become aware of how much I allow it to be a part of my life.

Last night, I watched “Prince Caspian”.  I thought, “No problem here.  CS Lewis was a believer.”  The whole thing was epic battles led by children with swords that were taller than they were and killing the bad guys to free Narnia.  Ah, glorious war for a good cause.  Pre-Compact, I wouldn’t have even thought about it, but now–a total different story.  We package violence and sell it to young children.  Aslan didn’t win; the flesh (via Hollywood) did.

The bottom line is that the flesh will always win until it is challenged.  And though the struggle really intensifies when the Spirit enters our lives,  is is only by the presence of God’s Spirit that we will become people of God’s love, joy and peace.  It is the Spirit that gives life, and we will only experience victory over the flesh and death as we walk with the Spirit.

I think Paul’s comment in Galatians 5:13-15, “Do not bite and devour one another or you will destroy one another.” is telling.  Violence ultimately harms both the victim and the perpetrator.  We have too often bought into the belief that acting out in violence will make us feel better and will lead to healing catharsis. Revenge is sweet.  It is a myth.  Acting on our impulses to hurt others actually hurts ourselves and prevents the wholeness that God intends in our relationships.