Non Gamstop CasinosNon Gamstop CasinoNon Gamstop CasinoNon Gamstop CasinoNon Gamstop Casinos
Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
  Orange Standard

Privilege And Responsibility: Having & Giving

Article 3 ~ August 2003

"Listen, Israelites to these words that the Lord addresses to you, to the whole nation which he brought up from Egypt; for you alone have I cared among all the nations of the world; therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities." Amos 3.

Amos, the herdman of Tekoa, who became a skilled public speaker, set standards for public speakers in method, content and timing, for what they want to say.

Because there remains an open space for public speaking, whoever the speaker and whatever the subject, there is always relevance in considering the ways and means of those who spoke or speak, to people collectively.

While communication, people with people, is now more likely to be by the media in its several forms, there is no doubting the value of the human voice when it is used either for positive or negative purposes.

A momentary thought will recall to mind men and women whose contribution, by voice in the public place, had results good and bad for humanity.

The Bible has many illustrations of the effects of leaders and preachers upon those who heard and heeded them. Amos was one who was especially effective.

Christian history lays much stress on the preachings of some men who like the Bible preachers, continue to affect the thinking and living of people. The one to the many, the preacher to the people, continues to be the means by which many are brought to faith in Jesus Christ.

It has been asserted that the church is at its strongest and most effective, when there is a high valuation on preaching; when there is certainty of the truth in what is being preached, and the sincerity of the preacher is not in question. And at its weakest when it undervalues preaching and lacks the sense of necessity and urgency in transmitting the Gospel that motivates him.

Amos, in his background and occupation, to be gifted and recognised as a preacher, is the reminder that the Selector chooses whom He pleases, and His choices are as amazing to the chosen as to those who know them.

Amos, of Tekoa, a geographical backwater, heard the call of God to him as he tended his sheep on the hills. His response came from the burden on his soul to speak out for God against the sinfulness of his people. His was to tell them of the condemnation of God on them, and the doom to befall them if they did not repent of their sins and turn to Him. The harsh message had in it the promise of a better, proper and beneficial relationship with God on their repentance for their sins.

Amos, the perceptive preacher, was careful in his opening words not to say anything that would lose the attention of his audience. He had their attention when he condemned the attitudes and actions of Israel's neighbours and described their sinfulness. There was nodded consent that these nations were to be condemned. The reaction was different when the preacher hit his target, Israel.

The message of judgment is always relevant, for the things Amos condemned in Israel are here and in a world fearsome for the very many who suffer in countries where the richer get richer and the poor poorer. His concentration on the fundamentals of man's relationship with God and one another is needed now. It is to recognise that to God people matter, and one by one. The injustices, inhumanities and indecencies Amos condemned are prevalent everywhere in the world today.

He insisted that there must be positive, selfless, responses to the goodness of God from those who are able to respond to the allievation of human distress.

Ability to help and opportunity for doing so is there with many people who should be moved to action by the horrific pictures of suffering that are to be seen day and daily from so very many parts of the world.

To read Amos is to be reminded that privilege has responsibility, that living is caring for, and sharing with others.

Canon Dr. S.E. Long

Back to Back ~ Orange Standard Home ~ Issue Index ~ Previous Article~ Next Article

The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
Schomberg House, 368 Cregagh Road, Belfast, BT6 9YE
T: +44 (0) 28 9070 1122 ~ F: +44 (0)28 9040 3700
Buy Online - the best way to buy

© Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland 2002-2006

Site Map

Web Design by www.truska.com


Best of the web