Reading
Amos 7:7
This is what the Lord God showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line."
Devotion
This week's work of art is entitled The Plumbline: Amos 7:7. The painting was created in 2015 by British Roman Catholic Artist Francis Hoyland (b. 1930). More about the artist may be found here: Francis Hoyland: a lifelong passion for painting and for tracing the Life of Christ - Catholic Herald. The painting currently resides at a gallery in St. Ives, Cornwall, U.K.
A fascinating surreal landscape is portrayed. The wall is a pile of rocks. An anthropomorphic representation of the Lord, with extremely good posture, stands atop them with the plumb line vertically extended. If this particular wall was built with a plumb line (a construction tool used to show if a wall is straight) it does not seem well constructed! A dual shadow falls upon two figures, one priestly the other perhaps kingly in the midground. In the background two towers stand at odd angles back lit by flames. A hint of blue skies appears in contrast to the flames.
Reading interpretations of this passage in Amos, I find that it is often used to threaten judgement. Get with the program or else!! Perhaps, possibly, maybe, it is more about the search for alignment.
I think about alignment with the Agape Love of God a lot. Love is the goal, the ultimate end, it is the measurement to which we must aspire. Justice, a hot topic these days, is a means, a way of getting to love, but it is not love. Do not confuse ends and means. In a world often at odds love means embracing dignity and respect, even in, especially in attending to hard questions about our common life. The moral life is not an individualistic one. You can see in the painting that things are all off-kilter. As people of faith we are called to engage with the world to demonstrate the propositions we hold about what it means to be a human being, to express our longing for God, to lives of love. How are you measuring up, dear reader? Where can you better align? Ask the Spirit for help this week!
Prayer
"God of wonder and mystery, you love us still. You love us when we are filled with fear. You love us when we are filled with hate. You love us when we are filled with judgment. You love us when we think we are better than our neighbors. You love us when we think are neighbors are better than us. You love us when we blame others for creating the chaos that flows through the world. You love us when we abdicate responsibility for engaging in justice work. You love us through all our foolishness. However, you delight in us when we act with love and seek to bring your realm into the here and now. Flood every corner of our being with the strength of your Spirit that we may have the courage to love with your love, always." Amen (From "A Plumbline Prayer" by Rachael Keefe A Plumb Line Prayer - Beach Theology)