Pentecost in Time of Social Travail

[ The following is a guest post by my son, Nathaniel Taylor ]

+ + +

Pentecost 2020

Woe to you who long
    for the day of the Lord!
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?
    That day will be darkness, not light…

Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Amos 5:18, 23-24

—

Minneapolis, my city, is smoldering. Cities throughout the United States wake uneasily to a night of fire and looting and beatings. And today we celebrate the fire of the Holy Spirit descending upon the disciples. It is the day the Church is born. Out of fire. And I’m thinking of the prophet Amos.

Amos is a hard man with hard words from the Lord for the people of Israel. He laments for the people for their evil is great. They are saying the “right” words but are oppressing their neighbor. Evil is rampant in their hearts and actions. The poor are taxed while the rich prosper and the wicked pervert justice and have their way in courts. The Israelites know this, thus they seek to appease God with the right sacrifices and festivals. Sing a little louder they say to each other. Burn a little more offering. Let everything continue to be the same!

But God will not have that. Through Amos He tells them that justice is coming. And how would this justice come? It will come rolling on like a river. It will never fail. Be afraid O Israel!

For when God’s justice comes it isn’t something we watch from above. This justice isn’t a pleasant view of the Mississippi river from the bluffs of St. Paul. Justice coming like a river wipes away all in its path. God’s justice is scary. You can’t stop it. You can’t stand in the middle. You will be washed away. Justice is coming. The river is flowing. We can dam the river. We can think we are holding it back, harnessing it to our ends. We can say that we have fixed justice, made it right. We can tell each other that we are just and right. But hear me. We haven’t seen JUSTICE yet. We need to know that righteousness will not be stopped. It cannot be contained.

Be afraid. The Lord is here. And He is risen.

—

All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded 
Into the crowned knot of fire 
And the fire and the rose are one.

Little Gidding, TS Eliot