Pastor’s Message – Amos 8:4-12
July 17, 2016
Rev. Lourey Savick
How does this message resonate in the Blackstone valley?
Who is the "you" to whom God is speaking?
What prevents you?
Do we have a definition for grace?
Early Methodists relied so much on the language of grace that they had to get very specific, and
they did so by separating out their definition of grace into three varieties of experience.
Prevenient
Justifying
Sanctifying--This is the variety that provoked the biggest response in the 1700s and 1800s, but
today I think we need to reflect more on that first one--Prevenient Grace.
What happened this week in Nice presents a perfect counter-argument to all I had to say about
trust last week. Sure, you may say, we can open our hearts to our neighbors. We can extend
ourselves in kindness and keep faith with our friends, so that we become trustworthy, but who's
to say that some crazed person won't commit random violence against us? The world is an
untrustworthy place.
In response to that, I encourage you to think about preventing grace. Look with awe upon the
world and our lives in it. Detach yourself from fear of knowing what's out there and you will
begin to see how human violence is among the least of the dangers facing our flesh and blood.
We are fragile, and our earth is complex. We have thousands of years of experience and
innovation to help us, and yet people still perish from exposure to elements as common as the
sun and wind. In our comfort, we struggle to grasp meaning in events like what happened in
Nice. But, wonder with me for a moment at how we have survived at all. How did the pioneers
survive? How have we all become so educated? How is it possible that there is such a thing as
a "sheltered" life, free from want and suffering?
There are consequences to losing this sense of awe, and Amos describes some of them. What
wisdom can we gain when we isolate experiences of humanness in income categories? When
we become so protected against economic or physical vulnerability that we live in a world of our
own designing? Let us not shut out the voices that tell a different side of our story. Let us pray in
the days to come that we have not become so accustomed to privilege that we are prevented
from growing in the knowledge and love of God. In the light of profound and frightening loss, let
us give thanks for the abundance we have experienced, and for our faith in the love that bears
us all to God's embrace.