The Outsiders | Sunday Morning Behavior

I hate, I reject your festivals; I don't enjoy your joyous assemblies. If you bring me your entirely burned offerings and gifts of food—I won't be pleased; I won't even look at your offerings of well-fed animals. Take away the noise of your songs; I won't listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 

Amos 5:21-24 (Common English Bible)

God hates our worship. That's what Amos says. Not "God is mildly disappointed in your worship" or "God wishes you'd try a little harder." God hates it. God rejects it. God won't even look at it.

And these aren't people who've stopped coming to worship. They're not people who've abandoned their faith or stopped following God. They're still showing up to festivals. They're still bringing their offerings. They're still singing their songs. From the outside, everything looks fine. They're doing all the religious things they're supposed to do.

But God says, "I hate it. Take it away. I don't want any of it."

Why? Because they were performing religious rituals while ignoring justice. They were singing songs while oppressing the poor. They were bringing offerings while exploiting their neighbors. They had perfected religious performance, but they'd completely missed what God actually cared about.

And this is deeply uncomfortable for us to hear. Because we like to think that God is pleased when we show up to worship, when we sing the songs, when we pray the prayers, when we give our offerings. We like to think that our religious activities matter to God regardless of how we're living the rest of our lives.

But Amos tells us that's not how it works. God doesn't want our worship if we're not pursuing justice. God doesn't want our songs if we're not showing mercy. God doesn't want our offerings if we're walking in pride instead of humility.

This doesn't mean worship is unimportant. It doesn't mean we should stop going to church or singing songs or bringing our offerings. But it does mean that worship without justice is worthless. Religious performance without mercy is meaningless. Spiritual activities without humility are empty.

God isn't interested in separating our Sunday morning behavior from our Monday through Saturday behavior. God isn't impressed when we perform spiritually on Sunday and then ignore injustice, withhold mercy, and operate in arrogance the rest of the week. God wants integration, not compartmentalization. God wants our whole lives, not just our religious activities.

And here's what makes this especially challenging: religious performance is easier than pursuing justice. It's easier to show up to church than to actually work for justice in our communities. It's easier to sing songs about God's love than to show mercy to people who are hurting. It's easier to pray about problems than to actually do something about them.

We can check the box on church attendance without really being challenged. We can pray for the homeless without allowing affordable housing in our neighborhoods. We can sing about God's love for all people without actually welcoming people who are different from us. We can perform all the religious activities while avoiding the hard work of justice, mercy, and humility.

But God sees through it. God isn't fooled by our religious performance. God knows when we're using worship as a substitute for obedience. God knows when we're performing spiritually while avoiding the demands of justice.

So we need to ask ourselves some hard questions. Are we using church attendance to avoid working for justice? Are we using prayer as a substitute for action? Are we performing religious activities while ignoring what God actually requires?

Because Amos makes it clear: God doesn't want the noise of our songs if justice isn't rolling down like waters. God doesn't want our worship if righteousness isn't flowing like an ever-flowing stream. God wants justice, mercy, and humility…not religious performance that makes us feel spiritual while avoiding the hard work of actually following God.

Prayer:

God, forgive us for thinking our religious performance is enough. Forgive us for believing we can worship you on Sunday while ignoring justice the rest of the week. Forgive us for substituting activities for obedience. Help us hear your rejection of worship that isn't accompanied by justice. Help us understand that you care more about how we treat people than how perfectly we perform our religious rituals. And help us pursue justice, show mercy, and walk humbly with you instead of just singing songs about it. Amen.