Have you ever noticed how many translations there are of the Bible? I often use the Bible Gateway website, which enables me to see multiple translations side by side. Sometimes some of the translations can be shocking...and that can be good. If you’ve been a Christian for as long as I have, you can read a passage hundreds of times and no longer be affected by it. Today's passage is a great example. Perhaps it will shock you as much as it did me. So let's listen to it:

I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want. (Amos 5:24 The Message)

This passage is from Eugene Peterson's translation called The Message. Peterson, who passed away in 2018, was an author, church planter, theologian, pastor, and scholar. Working on The Message throughout the 1990s, he translated the original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic texts and paraphrased them into contemporary American English slang. It can be a little too vernacular for me to use for study but he conveys the general meaning of the texts. In today's passage, the Old Testament prophet Amos was bringing the word of the Lord to people who were very religious, but who were missing the point. They were having lots of big religious festivals and meetings and projects. They were writing new music. They were event-driven. God’s frustration was loud and clear: "I can’t stand you religious meetings” and “I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes.” God rejected all of their religious trappings. What did He want? He wanted what He always wants—yesterday and today—for His people to love Him with all of their heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love their neighbors as they love Him. He wanted them to demonstrate His love for people in very practical ways. And God still wants us to be just and fair in all of our dealings with others. Today and everyday, you and I please God when we act like Him to the people around us...and that is very Good News!