Amos 7:7-17
Proper 10 (15) - Year C
Amos 7:7-17 or Deuteronomy 30:9-14
A plumbline (A 7:8) is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe (D 30:14).
So often we think of the rules of the game of life being set from the outside as though creation were from the outside in, mud-to-breath, when it might be thought of from the inside out, word-to-image.
As we proceed to love our neighbor, as our self, we find the plumbline becoming clearer. This is different than the plumbline becoming better defined and then being able to better love.
The practical application of this escapes me for now. Nonetheless, it is comforting to know that the measuring rod of good living is not foreign, but constituent to our being. While we don't always live up to this standard within - it is what allows conversion (at whatever speed) and activates the assurance of forgiveness. The mystery of what finally makes the connection of ourselves to ourselves, our mouths with our hearts, our works with our faith seems to be ever larger.
For now we simply leave it with encouragement to observe the gift within yourself and to encourage others to so observe their life. To do so with integrity builds the common wealth that gives a courage to finally love G*D with all that is available, to love neighbors as family, to love a community we were called to rather than was called to us, and to love those we once labeled as enemy. In this way we find how we, too, will "so love the world."
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/july2004.html
Amos 7:7-17 or Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Questions of authority abound. They are the currency of power - held and desired. Those who can most successfully question another's authority are able to claim authority. We contend over our questions.
Is authority a conveyance that moves from captured or established authority to whomever will keep it in place? Is authority an integrated whole rising from within to bless and challenge current authority.
Obviously, this curious word authority plays on several levels. Going back through its usage, it began by meaning to increase and thus to create (to author).
In today's world, authority might be thought of as that which decreases and thus controls. As you think about your life - what authority do you bring - an inner authority to increase or an outer authority to decrease? The difference is crucial and the choice that we make regarding our authority is one of one's meaning.
So, take thou authority...
- - -
a commandment
that is not a commandment
is not too far away
too high or too wide
this commandment
is not a commandment
for it touches our depths
becomes our own
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html
Plumb lines, levels, micrometers, and other instruments of evaluation are so much more difficult in the short-term than "looks good, we'll go with that". Plumb lines and the like don't let us get away with "almost". They cut down on future creativity when we later, surprised, try to fit a square peg into an rhomboidal opening and try to figure out how to get back to plumb without restarting (which may be the most efficient response to the situation).
Prophets like Amos have a well-trained eye that can spot a plumb line in the midst of whatever they are doing. They see the presence of an interactive G*D while laughing at the latest popular pundit or a news article so well-balanced it means nothing except we'll be having more of the same for some time to come. A plumb line conversation with G*D can go on about a more hopeful past and preferred futures when dealing with decisions to be made at any level - personal, familial, communal, governmental, international.
A question for us is training our own eye to glimpse a sea of plumb lines, like using iron filings to note a magnetic field. Plumb lines that are internal to our situations get tricky to notice and follow. A cultural overlay can hide them from even diligent seekers and the very act of trying to find a plumb line in a busy picture distorts our response to it, if found.
At some point the recognition of a multitude of plumb lines (good old situation ethics) can drive us crazy - crazy enough to pile up their seeming contradictions and find a meta-plumb-line for larger parts of our life.
Blessings on your revelation of a needed plumb line in your life and the life of the community. Further blessings on your courage to attempt to straighten situations accordingly. And even further blessings on your quest to move from plumb line to plumb line, shining them as you go that others might more easily respond to them.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2010/07/amos-77-17.html