Inspired by Amos
8:11-13
“The time is surely coming,
says the Lord God, when I will
send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of
hearing the words of the Lord.” Amos 8:11
Imagine a world that is devoid of justice, charity, and
love. People just stumble through their
days, tossed to and fro by whichever person, power, or faction is currently
strongest and therefore dominant. Human
beings have no inherent value or dignity, and the earth and all her resources
are mere commodities to be bought, sold, exploited, and consumed. There is no hope for the future, no comfort
for the present, and no meaning for the past.
Such is the world without the Word of God. For all that many people claim that religion
has no authority over their lives, the truth is that the Word of God undergirds
much of what makes life worth living.
Concepts such as justice, mercy, charity, and the kind of love that
values another person above oneself have no authority without the Word of God.
We often take the Word for granted, and we neglect to take
the time to read or hear it. When that
happens we drift away from those life-giving principles, and we begin to create
the desolate world in which God’s Word is scarce. Let us instead nourish the world by
proclaiming the Lord’s Word abundantly.
Let us pray. Loving
God, your Word nourishes and sustains all life.
Help us to share this vital resource with all those who hunger and
thirst for mercy, justice, dignity, or love.
Through Christ our Lord, Amen.
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