As I read the sermon of my friend, colleague and fellow United Methodist clergyman, Larry Ellis, I must confess that I struggled to hear the Amos that I have read and understood over many years of study and ministry.

I rejoiced in the Rev. Ellis’ decision to preach from one of the great Old Testament prophets of our faith, for many of us as clergy get “stuck’ in the New Testament proclamation. But my heart sank with great sorrow as I learned that the congregation responded to the Word proclaimed with a standing ovation. It confirmed for me that the prophet must have been misunderstood.

I hurt for the Rev. Ellis, for certainly he must have felt embarrassed and, probably most of all, as if the “hearers” just didn’t “get” what he had delivered. Because, in the hearing of God’s word through the prophet Amos, the people of God knew that the proper response was to fall on their knees in remorse and repentance, not to stand on their feet in acclamation.

For the great prophet Amos was speaking to us, to the people of God, not to some others out there! The great prophets call us to recoil from self-righteousness!

Dr. Mark W. Wethington

Southern Pines