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Green Blades Preaching Roundtable

8th Sunday after Pentecost

Year B
July 14, 2024
Melinda Quivik

Mark 6:14-29
Amos 7:7–15
Psalm 85:8–13
Ephesians 1:3–14

King Herod stands for all of us who find ourselves torn by conflicting allegiances. None of us escapes that problem. Herod promises his daughter whatever she wants. Obeying her mother’s suggestions, she wants John the Baptist killed. Although in secret Herod has been intrigued by John the Baptist, he chooses to have John killed to keep the peace at home and is, then, “deeply grieved.” So are we when we have no good choices. Regarding Earth care, we are enmeshed in an economy that denigrates Earth. No choices we might make are without potential, unforeseeable negative repercussions.

And we are not off the hook because Amos stands before us with that plumb line. If we consider it a tool used by carpenters and bricklayers, it sets the bar for what ought to be built. It makes a strong, straight line. Other translations render the word for “plumb line” to be about a metal like tin which is strengthened by being beaten. Tin is pliable; Amos sees the people of Israel as pliable. A plumb line of metal set in the midst of this weak people demonstrates the Lord’s intent to strengthen them through hardship just as tin is made stronger by being repeatedly hammered. Amos prophesies ruin for Israel because of the people’s failure to care for the needs of others in their selfishness. The priest of Bethel wants Amos to go away, taking his prophecies elsewhere.  

We fail to care for the needs of Earth even when we are confronted with the real-world effects of human greed. Yet, we stand in the promise from God that we have been given insight into God’s will for unity in all of creation. The vision is before our eyes. Amaziah and Herod are pawns for others’ purposes, while in the face of opposition, Amos and John the Baptist follow the call of the Lord. Because the church has inherited the witness from the Holy Spirit through these two prophetic voices, we are given responsibilities to the truth that may set our own words against us.

 

HYMN: “Hope of the World” ACS #1085

Melinda Quivik
Melinda Quivik
Twin Cities, Minnesota

Melinda Quivik, an ELCA pastor (who served churches in Montana, Michigan, and Minnesota) and former professor of worship and preaching, is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly journal Liturgy, a writer, and a preaching mentor with Backstory Preaching at backstory-preaching.mn.com. Her most recent book, Worship at a Crossroads: Racism and Segregated Sundays, is a response to Lenny Duncan's Dear Church. She calls all churches to learn why worship ways differ in our various traditions as we seek to be more welcoming.

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