Say what?

     Like last week, this week's readings aren't the most comforting pieces of scripture we have to choose from.  Yet they are what is given to us in the lectionary.  So, we go with what we get.  And this week we get Amos and Mark.  In Amos we have the image of God as the builder, holding up a plumb line to the people of Israel - and what God finds is that Israel is not quite plumb, but is crooked in ways they should be straight.  While it isn't in the text for Sunday, reading into the book of Amos one quickly discovers that Israel is forsaking their duty to the orphans and widows, the kings are abusing their power and abusing their subjects, and people have generally forsaken their faithfulness to God.  Since the people don't measure up, God has spoken through the prophet Amos God's judgment on the people.  Needless to say the people aren't happy about Amos' words and so he is kicked out by the king.
     Mark doesn't get any better, with the account of the beheading of John the Baptist.  All, it says, because John spoke out against the unlawful marriage of a brother to his sister-in-law.  This text has inspired many works of art from paintings to sculptures to operas, plays, and movies - all of which are various interpretations of this Mark text.  John spoke the truth to a person in power, and so became a threat which needed to be eliminated. 
     So what do we learn from these two accounts?  At first glance it would seem that the promise we receive is that people won't always like what they hear from the church.  It is true that God's message can be offensive to some - particularly to those who who benefit from injustice or whose complicity in unjust systems helps maintain their status of living.  As we saw last week in Jesus' hometown of Nazareth, people don't always like to hear the gospel - particularly when it calls for a changed life.   
     Yet we, as Christians, are called to proclaim the gospel to the world.  We are called to be truth-tellers, our message wrapped in the mercy of God's love, revealing to a world that loves darkness where to find the light. 
     What will be our message?  What truth needs to be spoken to people today?  I am struck by how many political ads claim to be the truth of the situation, each opposing candidate smearing the other and creating an environment of fear over the election of one candidate or another.  What truth have we to say about this?
     Or what about the rising drug and gang violence in Central and South America?  Or what about malaria, HIV/AIDS, and simple lack of medical care millions of people across the globe face?  What about the fact that tonight over 925 million people will go to bed hungry?  What truth have we, God's people, to say about these things?
     The truth, ultimately, is that we have a God who loves all people.  We have a God who comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable, who has a way of making level all things.  And how are all things made level but by the lifting up on a cross God's only son, Jesus Christ.  In him all things are made new.  Light is shed on all truths and courage is given to stand for those who can't.  What light is being shed for us now?  Where is God calling us to speak the truth in love?  What shall I say?