"Trail to Prosperity" (Amos 8: 1-12)

I spent the fourth of July at Upper Twin Lake, nearly 9000 feet high in the Sierra Nevada. It’s a good thing I and the other eleven people I was with weren’t any higher; even this late in the season, we had to hike four miles over numerous snow patches to reach our destination, especially as we came down the north side of Potter Pass.

Our camp was actually situated about 100 feet above the lake. I took some time just after sunrise to just sit there, on a rock, beneath an old juniper tree, the lake below me, with the trees of its one island reflected in the water which, at this early hour, was smooth. Looking south across the lake, I could see the snowy ridge of Potter Pass; and to the east, off in the distance, the crest of the Sierra, some 13- or 14-thousand feet in elevation: nothing but rocks and snow pointing toward the sky.

Between me and those distant peaks were thousands of acres of red fir and lodgepole pine forest.

I could hear water tumbling down a hidden canyon not far to my right, a stream that was bursting with snowmelt. Birds of various types were whistling a call and response. Some of them chirped like smoke detectors in need of new batteries; others sounded almost like car alarms. And yet there were no cars or smoke detectors or any other sign of the modern world. The nearest road was miles away.

As I sat there on the morning of our nation’s independence, I thought about the hard work that it took to reach Upper Twin Lake … and the hard work that it took to build our nation. Our nation has been on a long, 234-year journey. And throughout much of that journey, there has been a dream: an American dream, of prosperity and opportunity for all people. Ideally, it is a dream that is achievable by anyone if they are willing to work for it. We are, after all, a nation that believes that all people are created equal, with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The journey to a place like Upper Twin Lake is part of what makes it so wonderful. It’s not the easiest of journeys. Simply breathing at 9,000 feet can be a challenge for someone accustomed to the more plentiful oxygen found at lower elevations, to say nothing of hiking over a mountain pass carrying all the food and clothing you’ll need for three days, plus a sleeping bag and tent. But to sit there, amidst the unspoiled beauty of God’s creation, is to appreciate the journey, because the journey is what makes it so satisfying.

One could, I suppose, try to take a shortcut. One could build a road, or drop in by helicopter. But roads and helicopters would destroy the beauty of the wilderness.

One could also try to take a shortcut to achieving the American Dream. One could seek the prosperity without the hard work. One could manipulate the system to benefit oneself, to the detriment of everyone else working to achieve the dream. One could carve a road to the American Dream, pave it, make it easy for them to reach that dream, and then put up toll booths along the way, charging others for access, and turning them back when the price becomes too much.

In fact, that is exactly what has been happening in recent years. People are trying to take the easy shortcut to prosperity. They are carving shortcuts on the trail, and as any hiker knows, shortcuts contribute to erosion and eventually wash out the trail, making it harder for others to follow.

Once upon a time it was a part of the American ethos to achieve prosperity in a responsible, ethical way. America as a whole saw its goodness as being dependent upon a basic sharing of wealth and resources, which any person could achieve with enough hard work. That’s not to say that wealth was distributed equally, but it is to say that we avoided the great disparities between the wealthy and the poor, disparities that threaten to undermine an economy or a society.

But in the past three decades or so, it has become easier for the rich to become richer, and harder for the poor to just get by. Economic policies have favored the rich, based on the theory that wealth would trickle down, but unfortunately, it hasn’t trickled down. Thirty years ago, the income disparity between the average CEO and the average American worker was 25 to 1. By 2007, that disparity was over 400 to 1. Fifty years ago, under republican president Dwight Eisenhower, the wealthiest Americans were taxed at 90%. Democrat John F. Kennedy lowered that to 70%. Today, it is less than 40%.

Financial corruption and stock market shenanigans have made the headlines in recent years, as have major problems with sub-prime mortgages. The rich are searching for shortcuts to even greater wealth, while the unemployment rate in California remains over 12%. Many of those at the top of the economic ladder are getting richer, even in this difficult economy, while those at the bottom are struggling more than ever.

As a preacher of the gospel, it is important for me to always ground my preaching in the stories of our faith as they appear in scripture. By this point, you might be wondering what all this economic talk has to do with faith or scripture, especially since I will readily admit to very little understanding of the finer points of economics.

Well, the interesting thing is that biblical archaeology has determined that, at various times in history, the economic disparity between the rich and the poor has varied, just as it has in our own time. In some periods, the differences between the rich and the poor were not so great, with everyone able to share in at least some measure of society’s wealth. Some still had more than others, of course, but the disparity was relatively not as great as it was in other times, when the rich lived in magnificent palaces, while the poor struggled dearly, fighting for their very lives.

And in the times when things were relatively stable, when the rich were not too rich, and the poor were not too destitute, there were no prophets. In such times, there was no Isaiah. No Jeremiah. No Amos.

Jim Wallis points this out in his book, Rediscovering Values. He also points out that archaeologists have discovered that, when the disparities between rich and poor became too great, that’s when the prophets were active. That’s when they spoke out against the injustices of their society. That’s when they spoke of impending doom.

Now, I’ve not always been a fan of prophecies of impending doom—doom is not really a part of the gospel I’ve been called to preach—but I do know that the growing disparities between rich and the poor in the 80s and 90s, as the rich sought to find the shortcuts and make money as quickly as possible no matter how morally sound the methods to prosperity… this period was followed by the economic collapse of the past few years, the great recession that we are now in. And the last time we had such a great disparity between rich and poor, during the 1920s, was followed by the Great Depression of the 1930s. It should be clear, then, that pursuing wealth and prosperity at all costs—making wealth and prosperity one’s god, if you will—and the development of a great chasm between the rich and the poor; these things are not beneficial to anyone in the long term, even those at the top.

Look at what’s happening in this short passage from Amos:

Amos begins with a vision of summer fruit: the symbol of prosperity. But that prosperity leads to the end—and, interestingly enough, the word for end sounds very much like the word for summer fruit, creating a play on words in the Hebrew language.

And why is this the end? Because the needy are being trampled upon. Because the land, the earth, is being trampled; the resources of the planet are being exploited for present gain, no matter what the future consequences may be. Those seeking wealth are searching for any shortcut they can find. They are impatient in waiting for the holy day to end so that they can sell their goods; and when they sell, they make the ephah small and the shekel great. That is, they make the measurement small; the quantity, as small as possible, and at the same time they make the price great. They do everything they can to make the poor pay more for less product.

They are deceitful about all this. They use false balances. As Amos says, they buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and they even sell the sweepings of the wheat, the sweepings which, according to Jewish law, were to be left for those who could not afford to purchase it.

Amos sees all this as stealing from those who can least afford it. Amos sees it as contributing to the gross inequalities that exist in society. It is nothing less than the wealthy seeking the easy route to even greater wealth, pursuing wealth and prosperity as their god, not caring about the effect it has on others, and Amos says that the Lord will never forget the injustice that has taken place.

Amos does not say that prosperity itself is bad. Indeed, God likes prosperity. But God likes prosperity that is acquired honestly. God insists on prosperity that is acquired ethically. God demands that prosperity be acquired justly, so that all are able to share in it.

On the path to prosperity, God insists that we take no shortcuts that erode the trail for those who follow. Indeed, those who are on the path to prosperity have an obligation to those who come behind them to make sure that the trail is in good, working condition, that it be in at least as good a condition as it was when they themselves traveled that path.

It is often a complaint of older generations that the young have it too easy. Well, perhaps it is true that, in this day and age, the insistence on having things easy has now begun to make things harder, for all generations. We have sacrificed our morals for the sake of our prosperity. We have sacrificed our values for the sake of a shortcut to wealth. And in doing so, we have sacrificed our faith and our children.

And look what it’s doing to us: we are taking away from our children the opportunities that we and our parents had. We are destroying the earth in our search for the energy that fuels our prosperity. Our actions are leading to impending doom, but the doom doesn’t come from God; it comes from our own actions.

Nearly a century ago, Gandhi saw the shortcuts that people often took, and this caused him to declare that there are seven social sins that destroy humanity. These seven sins are: politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice.

I’m sure that Amos couldn’t agree more. As followers of Jesus, we of all people need to work to restore principles to politics. We need to work to restore work to wealth. We need to not throw away our conscience as we pursue pleasure. We need to maintain our character as we seek knowledge. We must insist that morality accompany commerce, that humanity accompany science, and that sacrifice accompany worship.

Yes, even when it comes to worship, folks are tempted to seek shortcuts. They want worship to be easy. They want deep spirituality, with no effort. They want it to be pleasant for them, without having to ensure that it is pleasant or meaningful for others.

But God calls us to do things differently. God calls us to travel the path of righteousness and justice. God calls us to live for others, and not just ourselves. God calls us to consider that how we reach our goal is just as important, if not more important, than actually reaching it. How we acquire our prosperity is important. How we follow the trail is important. The journey is important. It defines who we are.