The Senior Sermon of John Bedingfield, Class of 2005 from the Diocese of Texas, given on September 23, 2004, in Christ Chapel

Pentecost 16, Proper 20 - Amos 8:4-7(8-12), 1 Timothy 2:1-8, Luke 16:1-13, Psalm 138

In the name of one God, Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. Amen.

There I was … deeply involved in the preparation of this sermon. There were commentaries lying open around me, exegetical materials of every kind and description overflowing every flat surface, and me in the middle, fast asleep. That's the way it is at our house these days, but that's the subject of another sermon, on another day.

So there I was, fast asleep, visions of hermeneutics dancing in my head, when suddenly I saw a shadowy figure there in the living room. It was three o'clock in the morning and everyone else in the house was nominally sleeping, so I had to wonder who this might be. He had long, disheveled hair and a bushy beard. His manner of dress looked rather ancient and if I had to guess, I would have said his profession was herdsman, or perhaps dresser of sycamore trees. I sat up with a start and said, "Who are you?" "Amos," was all he said.

"What are you doing here?" "You're preaching on one of my prophesies, aren't you?" "Well," I said, "I hadn't really made up my mind yet." "Go ahead. Preach from my words. It was an interesting time in the Northern Kingdom. The words of my time have a lot to say to the people of your time." Needless to say, I was more than a little confused, but I was also fascinated, and except for the smell of him, not all that afraid. "Tell me," I said, "what should I say? Yahweh gave you the words, now you give them to me." And so he began ….

In the time of Jeraboam and Uziah, life was pretty easy in both Israel and Judah. There had not been any wars for a long while. The countries were feeling pretty secure in their borders. And the people, for the first time in a long time, did not constantly have to look over their shoulders in fear. Egypt and Asyria were both fairly quiet and of no great concern to the people, and we didn't even have a word yet for terrorist. As a result, everyone got to concentrate more on making a living -- or making a fortune -- rather than on staying alive. Some of the people got rich, but some did not. And it seemed that the richer and more powerful some of the people got, the richer and more powerful they wanted to get, while the poorer the other people got, the more they seemed to be used by the rich and powerful. Society in general was decaying, as were the governmental structures, due to power hunger and arrogance. This was the situation I walked into when Yahweh told me to speak to the people. Now do you understand why I am here? Now do you understand why I want my words preached again? "Yes," I said, "I guess I do." And Amos took a seat on the couch, reclined back a little and said, "then do your job."

Today, we live in a country that would have made Amos' head spin, or at the very least would have made him shake his head until it spun. There are people in this country whose fortunes Amos could not have counted, even if he had devoted his life to doing so. The "Steven Spielbergs, the Tom Hankses and the Julia Robertses," in this country can make so much money for a single movie -- an artistic endeavor that lasts about two hours -- that they could afford to feed the entirety of some Central American countries for a year, and the people would eat considerably better than they do now. The Bill Gates' the Michael Dells and the Walton families of this country have amassed personal wealth that is actually larger than the gross national product of some African nations.

The amount of wealth in this country is staggering. And what are the people of this nation doing with that wealth? Generally speaking, using it to amass more wealth. Now please don't get me wrong, I am not against people living the American dream -- going from having little to amassing much through hard work, determination and ingenuity. But how much is enough? And how do we deal with those who make their money in a less than honorable way?

In recent years, the news outlets have almost overflowed with stories of corruption and scandal -- both corporate and governmental. Obviously, Enron is the story that springs most readily to people's minds. Ken Lay and his allies, along with their outside accountants and brokers, made hundreds of millions of dollars off of lies -- while taking a great deal of that money from the hard-working, industrious, loyal people who worked for the company and thought their retirement years would be as "golden" as everyone likes to dream. But Enron was not alone in making the news through being a bad corporate citizen. What about Nike? The all-American brand of athletic wear; the brand that was worn by our heroes -- Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, the Texas Longhorns -- is being made in sweatshops in Indonesia, where children provide much of the labor and where there is nothing to stop a corporation from treating its workers in exactly the same manner as Kentucky coal miners were treated in the days of the company store. And we all know that it does not stop with the dishonesty of corporate American either.

Every day in this time leading up to our November elections, we hear story after story about who lied and about what. Did the President cheat his way out of military service or did the Democratic party forge documents to make it look that way? Was John Kerry a legitimate war hero whose conscience legitimately changed over time or are the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" an honorable group who are really trying to bring history to light? Were the misstatements about weapons of mass destruction honest mistakes or boldly calculated lies, aimed at one powerful person getting his way at the cost of considerable human life? Does Teresa Heinz have designs on using her considerable wealth to rule the world through her husband? Is the ECUSA running rough-shod over the rest of the Anglican Communion and failing to be concerned about their legitimate disagreements with us because we are where the money resides, or is the Church in America really a forward thinking, civil rights conscious organization that seeks to truly live out its Baptismal covenant?

These stories, as well as the myriad others we can name, all make Amos' words scream out with relevance today. Hear this! You who trample on the needy and bring to ruin the poor of the land -- both the economically poor and the poor in heart or poor in spirit …. In modern parlance, Amos said, God is gonna getcha. If Amos told us anything about this situation, it was that modern humans had better listen to the Word of God when they decide who their neighbors are and how they will treat them. I believe that what Amos was saying was, even if you give $25 million to build a new children's hospital, you still have to make sure that you are paying a living wage to your workers. Failure to act as a good citizen -- corporate, governmental or ecclesial -- will bring ruin upon you and your organization -- that, I think is God's message that is the message that I took from the prophet's words.

Amos had come and spoken to me like the ghosts of Christmas past and present. He had told me about his time and had shown me how that time was so closely aligned to ours, but I sat wondering, what about the future? Where is the hope? Surely there has got to be some hope here somewhere? Then Amos got up off the couch, came to the table and pointed to the open Bible. My eyes fell to today's reading from 1 Timothy. In this section of the Epistle, there is not only the hope, but the prescription for what ails our society as well. We live in what seems in many ways like a very corrupt time and place. What can bring us out of that situation, the only thing that promises to do so, is prayer, and especially intercessory prayer. The author of 1 Timothy tells us, "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Amen to that. In the case of the people who hold power, political or corporate in this country, prayer is exactly what we, the Church should be about. The conservative Christian writer and Constitutional scholar, John Eidsmoe said it quite well, "We should not pray only for those whom we like. It is easy to pray for the leader whom we respect or with whom we agree. It is much harder to pray for the leader whose personality is offensive, whose ethics are questionable, who takes the 'wrong' position on every issue, or who is in the 'wrong' party. Yet these leaders are also children of God. They don't necessarily deserve our vote, but they do deserve our respect and prayers." So then, in every place, we should hold our hands up in prayer -- not in angry fists, not in gestures of resentment, but also not in an attempt to be more pious than the next person, but in prayer -- prayer that is grounded in true love, faith and hope. Prayer for the future of God's creation.

It was about this time that Amos headed back to where he came from. But as he left, he glanced back over his shoulder and said to me what I will leave with my fellow seniors as we go out into the Church at large, he said, "Don't stop. Don't ever stop preaching it. Your generation will never stop needing to hear it." Thanks, Amos.