STUDY

In the first part of a new series looking at the challenges of people on the move in new places, the Rev Richard Baxter considers the experience and lessons of Amos 7:7-15

MANY people know the experience of settling in a new place.

New students move to take up educational opportunities in colleges and universities. Moving for work, for family reasons, or to find an affordable place to live are common experiences. Some move voluntarily, others have no choice, forced away from home by conflict, persecution, climate change or necessity. Whatever the causes, new places bring their own challenges. In this short series we’ll look at some of those problems, affecting people in our world now and in the biblical communities of the past.

Amos was a man rooted in his small agricultural community of Tekoa. He was a herdsman, and tended his fig trees. He had literally put down roots in his home community. Presumably he could have driven his sheep and goats wherever he settled, but his fig trees were going nowhere. He was called to leave the familiarity of his lifelong home, moving from the southern kingdom of Judah to give God’s message in the northern kingdom of Israel.

Being a prophet was a hard enough calling. Being a prophet who was also a newcomer and an outsider posed particular problems. Amos’s vision of a plumbline was intended to persuade his hearers to consider whether their own actions were straight, their motives upright. This upstart incomer might have been welcome when his words were popular and encouraging, but not when they were pointed and sharp.

First of all, his motives are criticised. “Go back to Judah and do your preaching there! Let them pay for it.” Your words are not wanted here.

Secondly, his outsider status suddenly becomes important. “You’re not one of us. You’re not from around here, so if you have something to say, go and say it in your own place.” When his opinions are unpopular, being an outsider matters.

Almost three thousand years on, the same arguments are deployed to silence the voices of people in new places. Angry, critical voices accuse migrants of only being here for what they can get, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Too often, those who have moved are easy targets for those who have stayed in place. Almost any problem can come to be blamed on the unfortunate outsider. It’s an excuse, and it isn’t new. Whether settled or newly arrived, we are called to challenge that thinking.

Amos stands up to the critics. “I’m not the kind of prophet who preaches for pay.” Since he offers an unwelcome message to people who do not want him, accusations of preaching for gain look a bit foolish. If he aimed to profit, he’s not very good at it!

Even more importantly, he won’t be swayed by popularity. It doesn’t matter whether the king likes his preaching or not, he’s there because God has given him a message and a mission. While he is fulfilling that, the criticism of others is not going to stifle his voice.

“ This upstart incomer might have been welcome when his words were popular and encouraging, but not when they were pointed and sharp.

The story recognises the unfair accusations against someone seen as an outsider. But it also celebrates the willingness of Amos to stand up and stick to his principles. He may be in a new place, but he’s still with the same God. His voice will be heard. ¤

The Rev Richard Baxter is Transition Minister, Glasgow: Wellington.