By Steven Bouma-Prediger
Read: Amos 5:21-24
“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (v. 24 NRSV)
Years ago, I paddled some whitewater rivers in the Southeast. As part of ten-day wilderness backpacking trips for high schoolers, the day we spent on the water was a refreshing change of pace.
The water was wild and unrelenting. There was no stopping it. It rushed forth following the pull of gravity over and around boulders in its steep descent.
This powerful text from the prophet Amos, made famous by Martin Luther King Jr. in his “I Have a Dream” speech, trades on the metaphor of falling water. We are to let justice roll down like water.
But let’s face it: we like our festivals and solemn assemblies. We think our offerings are just fine and will persuade God to love us. We believe our songs (classic or contemporary) and use of musical instruments (organ or electric guitar) will appease God. Justice and righteousness? That’s for liberal revolutionaries and social reformers.
But God will have none of it. It is justice and righteousness that are important to God. God desires that justice roll down like a thundering waterfall because too many people have their rights flouted and needs unmet. God desires that righteousness rush on like a boiling white-water river because shalom is God’s grand design. So if we say we love God, we too should seek justice and righteousness.
As you pray, ask God to forgive us when we ignore the needs of others and empower us to seek his justice for all.
Steven Bouma-Prediger is the Leonard and Marjorie Mass Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College. A graduate of Hope, his Ph.D. is in religious studies from The University of Chicago. His most recent book is “Earthkeeping and Character: Exploring a Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic.”
Read: Amos 5:21-24
“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (v. 24 NRSV)
Years ago, I paddled some whitewater rivers in the Southeast. As part of ten-day wilderness backpacking trips for high schoolers, the day we spent on the water was a refreshing change of pace.
The water was wild and unrelenting. There was no stopping it. It rushed forth following the pull of gravity over and around boulders in its steep descent.
This powerful text from the prophet Amos, made famous by Martin Luther King Jr. in his “I Have a Dream” speech, trades on the metaphor of falling water. We are to let justice roll down like water.
But let’s face it: we like our festivals and solemn assemblies. We think our offerings are just fine and will persuade God to love us. We believe our songs (classic or contemporary) and use of musical instruments (organ or electric guitar) will appease God. Justice and righteousness? That’s for liberal revolutionaries and social reformers.
But God will have none of it. It is justice and righteousness that are important to God. God desires that justice roll down like a thundering waterfall because too many people have their rights flouted and needs unmet. God desires that righteousness rush on like a boiling white-water river because shalom is God’s grand design. So if we say we love God, we too should seek justice and righteousness.
As you pray, ask God to forgive us when we ignore the needs of others and empower us to seek his justice for all.
Steven Bouma-Prediger is the Leonard and Marjorie Mass Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College. A graduate of Hope, his Ph.D. is in religious studies from The University of Chicago. His most recent book is “Earthkeeping and Character: Exploring a Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic.”
