Let justice Roll....

Amos raised sheep and tended fig trees in the eighth century B.C.E.  He heard the call to prophesize, to unite tribes, to call the People of God back to God, and to speak for justice.  There was great division between the rich and poor.  It was the time to correct economic and social inequality.  Let justice roll....

He begins: "The Lord roars from Zion.... For the three crimes of Damascus....of Gaza....of Edom...." Amos lists the crimes, the injustices.  And then: "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Significantly, Amos was a common worker.  It was he, a worker, who witnessed the inequality within the northern kingdom of Israel.  It was he who trumpeted the cry for justice.  Let justice roll....

Likewise, it is the workers in America who are sounding the call to justice.  Justice in America is in decline.  Economic justice is declining.  Anger and hatred are ascending.  According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of hate groups in the USA is at an all time high with over 1,000 groups spewing racial hatred.  Nine states are considering legislation to allow guns on college campuses.  The Republican budget proposal seeks to defund the Institute for Peace.  The newly formed Consumer Protection Agency is in danger of being defunded as are Planned Parenthood, NPR, and the enforcement arm of the EPA.  The 400 richest people in the United States control 50% of the nation's wealth.  The Wisconsin Legislature voted to eliminate collective bargaining and union power.  Pell Grants have been cut back making college more difficult for the less wealthy.  Congressional hearings on Muslim extremism are being held, dragging us back to the McCarthy Hearings of the 1950s, singling out Muslims and not addressing the broader extremist elements in America.  Corporations are getting away with paying few if any taxes, and the wealthy do not pay their fair share.  A bill was introduced (but did not pass)  that would have banned college students from voting.  Then there is the Arizona anti-immigration bill.  Remember the Citizen's United Supreme Court decision opening the flood gates of unlimited corporate money into political campaigns? The Koch brothers buy elections.  The debt crisis is fracturing our ability to work together and imperils our future. Between 25 and 30% of all homeowners owe more on their houses than what they are worth, and the foreclosure rate continues to rise.  Yet, Wall Street and banks and oil companies rake in profits and give obscene bonuses to CEOs and upper management.  Let justice roll....

The United States is becoming a fascist oligarchy at our peril.  Economic and political slavery are upon us.  There is darkness upon the land unless the people rise and insist upon justice.  Let justice roll....

The Book of Leviticus speaks of a Jubilee Year, where every 50 years all property returns to the original owner.  It was a leveling out time, a starting over on the same plane, a time for equal justice.  We in America, and indeed the world, are in need of such a leveling moment.  Let justice roll....

America is in a perilous time.  A crossroads.  The messages of Amos and Leviticus point the way home, for ALL people.  It is time to speak out, to march, to write, to pray, to worship, to vote.  These are Christian ways.  Let justice roll....

Peace!
Ron