Preview of readings for Sunday September 30, 2007

Reading 1, Amos 6:1a,4-7  “The collapse of Joseph” refers to the territories of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, named for the two sons of Joseph. Together their territory made up the major portion of the northern kingdom of Israel of whose destruction Amos was the first prophet to predict. The Assyrians conquered Israel in 722 B.C. Those who didn’t die or escape were taken into exile in Assyria. The people about whom Amos speaks had gotten focused on their own comfort and enjoyment, and they weren’t about to change or compromise their lifestyle even though the country was falling apart around them.  Are we Americans in a similar situation regarding the environment or the rest of the world around us...as long as we are comfortable things are okay?

Reading II, 1 Timothy 6:11-16 “Pursue” and “compete for” are certainly goal-oriented terms. Paul was very fond of sports and used athletic analogies in several letters. In this context Paul seems to refer to competing for the personal reward that comes through faith. There is another sense, however, of a competition for the faith of other people…competing against all the other influences which shout for our attention.  What images of sports competition do you think make good faith analogies?

Luke 16:19-31  The concept of life after death developed in the later O.T. period, possibly from contacts with Babylonia or Egypt, both of whose religions had developed similar beliefs. At Jesus’ time, the Pharisee party believed in life after death with reward or punishment for how one had lived before death. The Sadducees and most of the priestly party did not accept such teachings. What are your beliefs about life after death, about heaven and hell and how one might be consigned to one or the other?