Monday, January 20, 2025  

Today's Scripture
Amos 5:21–24

I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an everflowing stream. (NRSV)

Reflection

Today we honor the life and ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — one of the great prophets of our time, and someone who pushed the church to “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.” And yet as we honor Dr. King this weekend, anyone who is part of a church community should also grapple with the fact that one of King’s greatest disappointments was the silence of church as the civil rights movement progressed, particularly that of the white church. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King wrote, “I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. ... All too many have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows. ... Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world?”

The prophet Amos seems to have been wrestling with a similar question around 2,700 years prior. “I hate, I despise your festivals,” Amos declares on behalf of God, “and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.” Amos’s grim view of the religious practices of his day seems to have stemmed from witnessing rampant social injustice and inequality around him — and yet religion remained insular and esoteric, rather than engaged in transforming things for the better in real and tangible ways.

As we look to honor Dr. King’s ministry this day and beyond, we as the church must find more courage than caution — called to look beyond ourselves and instead engage fully with people and places yearning for transformation and hope in our world today. May we once more listen to our prophets, whose voices challenge us still.

Prayer
Give me courage, O Holy God, to help build a world where justice may indeed roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream. Amen.

Written by Matt Helms, Associate Pastor for Faith Formation

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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