Amos 5:6-7, 10-15

            {Prayer}

            As time goes on, as different technological advances are made and with that, some things are becoming lost arts. For example … fewer and fewer people are writing letters. With fewer and fewer people writing letters or writing things out in general, other things are disappearing like calligraphy, cursive, and even writing legibly. Majority of our communication is typed out and comes via e-mails, texting, or other social media outlets.

            People are losing known survival skills like making a fire, foraging or looking for water, reading animal tracks, knowing what poison ivy looks like. The skills of reading a map or how to use a compass are going away. You could add to these survival skills canning and food preservation. Expanding on this a little more, you could add eating a meal at home around the dining room table that doesn’t come from McDonalds, Dominoes or Door Dash.

            Another lost art is sewing, knitting, crocheting, and quilt making. About a month ago, the family and I were at the East Perry County Community Fair in Missouri. Walking through one of the buildings, there are these massive quilts hanging there on the wall. The amount of detail, the handiwork, and the time that goes into creating these masterpieces is just unreal. The quilts that fascinate me the most are the ones that are made up of a bunch of scrap pieces of fabric. These scrape pieces, these remnants of shirts, jeans, clothes, or other fabrics, on their own, may seem insignificant and not useable. But in the hands of a master quilter … these small little pieces are put together into something amazing, beautiful, and whole.

            Just as a quilter gathers small, seemingly insignificant scraps of fabric to make something beautiful, God, too, preserves a faithful remnant … a small piece of the whole. In our Old Testament reading from Amos, we hear God’s warning to Israel, yet His promise to the faithful remnant. Amos writes, “Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph” (5:15). Just as each remnant of fabric plays a role in the greater whole, so too does God work through His people. The concept of a remnant is nothing new. It can be seen with Noah and the flood, where only eight people were preserved, and is a central theme in the book of Jeremiah and throughout the other prophets.

            But how is it being used here? Well, let’s set the stage. Here Amos is speaking to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. You see, after the death of King Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel split in half. So you have the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Amos is speaking to those who live in the north.

            And in Amos 5, Amos’ tone is not one of “Oh, don’t worry guys, even though you have complete turned your back on God, everything is going to be just fine, you’ll see.” No! Amos is like, “Hello!?! McIsrael!?! Anyone home? Wake up! Smell the coffee already! Ya’ll have royally screwed up and if you don’t change your ways, and change them soon, like now … you don’t stand a chance that God will have mercy on you and spare you!”

            You see, the Northern Kingdom of Israel had severely turned away from God, they had royally missed the mark of how God wanted them to live. They sinned against God and each other through widespread injustice, through moral decay, through the exploitation of the poor and the widowed, as well as through turning their backs on God in order to worship other gods, to worship false gods.

            While the context of Amos’ message is ancient Israel, the themes he addresses are still very relevant to our lives today. This theme reminds me a lot of the world we live in right now. It reminds me a lot of our country, of our state. We live in a world where evil often seems to prevail. We live in a world where injustice can appear very overwhelming. Like the people in Northern Israel that Amos is warning … we can be and if we are really honest with ourselves … we are easily tempted to turn away, to not notice, and act like there’s nothing to see here when it comes to the sins of our society … as well as with our own personal sins.

            And this is not a good thing. Remember what it was that Amos said? “Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts.” That which was said about 2,700 years ago … it is just as relevant today as it was then. “Hate evil, love good” … what does that mean? Well … as Christians, you and I are called to stand against things like injustice, immorality, and the exploitation of others, wherever it is that we find them.

            If you haven’t noticed … we’re in an election year. Tensions are high between people. But what we are talking about here goes way beyond the election. It even goes beyond the tension that has magnified itself ever since Covid. God simply says through Amos … “Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts.”

            “Hate evil.” The Hebrew word for evil is ra. This is the root, the general form of the word, so it doesn’t have any special connotation or meaning behind it. Hate evil. In other words, … hate wickedness, hate misery, hate calamity. The word isn’t narrowed down to a particular political party, candidate, skin color, ethnicity, or sex. God says … hate evil. And …

            “Love good.” The Hebrew word for love is ahev. It’s the same exact word used in Deuteronomy six when Moses tells the people, “You shall {ahev} love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (6:5). In Leviticus 19, Moses, speaking for God, says, “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall {ahev} love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (19:18). Love others, love good, love good morals, love good things. In the New Testament we’re told that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17).

            To be a Christian, to be a follower of Christ … we are called to hate all forms of evil, all forms of wickedness and calamity, but love good. To love all things that God, the giver of all good things gives to us. Love the Lord your God with everything that is in you … love your neighbor as yourself. Love those around you, even if you don’t agree with them, even if you don’t want to hear anything they say or be in the same room as them. Why? Because that is what God has called us to do.

            Despite the overwhelming sin, the overwhelming evil of the nation, of us, of others … God holds out hope. Hope for the remnant, hope for the those who remain faithful and believe in Jesus as their Savior. God’s grace … despite skin color, race, ethnicity, despite political affiliation … God’s grace abounds. It abounds even for the few who cling to Him.

            The central element of quilt is typically the focal point, even if the quilt is made up of remnant pieces of fabric. For you and me, the central focal point, the ultimate remnant is Christ Himself. He is the faithful one who hate evil, who loves good. He is the one who stands in the gap for us. Through His horrific suffering and death, we who are broken, we who are sinful, we who are pieces of this world … we are woven into God’s redemptive plan. Jesus, the ultimate remnant, rose from the grave to defeat sin, death, and Satan, not just for the people of Israel, but for all who are found in Christ.

            As the world becomes more and more secular, as the world becomes more and more hostile toward others and to the faith … you and I … as Christians may often feel like a small remnant, as a small piece, a discarded piece. But friends … God seeks you out and brings you in to Himself. God uses the remnant, He uses you to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We each are called to hold on to our faith and trust in God’s mercy.

            As a master quilter turns small scraps into a beautiful quilt … God is weaving together a faithful remnant to fulfill His purposes. You, you are part of that remnant. You are called to live faithfully, always trusting that God’s grace will sustain you. Though you may feel small and insignificant in a world filled with evil … God sees His remnant, He sees you … and He will be gracious. Stand firm in your faith, hate evil, love good, and trust in the mercy of the Lord of all. Amen.

            The peace of God, that surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.