Show Notes
In this sixth week of ordinary time, we read Amos 8 and reflect on being wise stewards of our finances.
Nuance’s Formed for Formation is a weekly liturgy to encourage all of us to be faithful to Christ in the public square. Join Case Thorp as he follows the Church calendar through the reading of Scripture, prayer, and short reflections on faith in all facets of public life.
For more on being faithful in the public square, make sure to subscribe for Nuance’s bi-weekly interviews with Christian leaders as they discuss everything from policy making to difficult conversations across worldviews at work to Christian art-creation.
Nuance’s podcasts are presented by The Collaborative, which provides diverse Christian media and collaboration services to equip industry/sector Christian leaders for effective contribution to the common good.
Learn more about The Collaborative:
Website: https://wecolabor.com/
Get to know Case: https://wecolabor.com/team/
Episode Transcript
Welcome to Formed for Faithfulness, as we pause to reflect on how we may more fully reflect some of the goodness of the kingdom of God as we go about our daily lives.
A reading from the prophet Amos, chapter 8, verses 1 through 12.
This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.
“A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered.
Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!”
Hear this, you who trample the needy
and do away with the poor of the land,
saying,
“When will the New Moon be over
that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
that we may market wheat?”—
skimping on the measure,
boosting the price
and cheating with dishonest scales,
buying the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.
“Will not the land tremble for this,
and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
it will be stirred up and then sink
like the river of Egypt.
“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
I will turn your religious festivals into mourning
and all your singing into weeping.
I will make all of you wear sackcloth
and shave your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
“when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
People will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.
Some Christians find the idea of giving a 10th of their income to God challenging. I actually believe that tithing is the easiest part of stewarding the financial resources we are given. Much harder is to know how to handle the other 90% we’re left with, especially in this day and age, because God is very concerned about justice and that wealthy people don’t get away with things just because they have a lot of money. Speaking through the prophet Amos, he warns Israel of the coming judgment for the way people trample on the needy and get rich by practicing deceit, which places a responsibility on us as Christian consumers to avoid supporting or rewarding questionable business practices from buying groceries to booking vacations. Now we are called to be wise stewards, of course, and who doesn’t love a bargain? But when is a business’s ability to undercut others because of an unfair advantage they exercise, either due to their sheer scale or because they can afford to be litigious? In these days of global and digital commerce, it’s not always possible to trace all the economic threads, whether that’s for the beans that get ground in your favorite coffee shop or the book you buy online because it’s cheaper than getting it from your local bookstore. I’m not saying these are always easy decisions. Online giants have forced many small retailers out of business while at the same time providing new opportunities for self-starting entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, we have a responsibility to do some due diligence as we spend, considering how our purchasing choices impact others. In that light, the recent economic challenges that have left many of us worrying about our savings may have something of a silver lining in them by making us more aware of how it feels to face financial difficulties that we may carelessly be inflicting on others. Rather than save 15% by choosing a questionable conglomerate over a small business person, what if we were to consider that difference a sort of tithe to our neighbor, an investment in our community, in the kingdom of God?
The 52nd Psalm: For the director of music. A maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite had gone to Saul and told him: “David has gone to the house of Ahimelek.”
Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?
Why do you boast all day long,
you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
You who practice deceit,
your tongue plots destruction;
it is like a sharpened razor.
You love evil rather than good,
falsehood rather than speaking the truth.
You love every harmful word,
you deceitful tongue!
Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.
The righteous will see and fear;
they will laugh at you, saying,
“Here now is the man
who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth
and grew strong by destroying others!”
But I am like an olive tree
flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love
for ever and ever.
For what you have done I will always praise you
in the presence of your faithful people.
And I will hope in your name,
for your name is good.
Let us pray. Father God, through whose son all things were created and for whose glory all things were created, we need your wisdom to handle the money you entrust to our hands. Grateful for your provision, we want to use the resources you give us well, that others may be enriched either directly or indirectly as a result of the spending decisions we make. May we have a healthy sense of the significance of our stewardship as we go about our daily lives and be guided by your Holy Spirit, knowing that generosity and kindness are part of your nature. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
We close with the 100th Psalm.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
