"I hate, I spurn your feasts, says the LORD, I take no pleasure in your solemnities; Your cereal offerings I will not accept, nor consider your stall-fed peace offerings. Away with your noisy songs! I will not listen to the melodies of your harps. But if you would offer me burnt offerings, then let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream." (Amos 5:21-24)
I remember my homiletics professor in seminary complaining about political parties using religion in their campaigns. He said, “Whenever politics gets religion, the poor always suffer.” The prophet Amos had a similar point of view. It wasn’t that ancient Israel wasn’t religious, they were: lots of religious feasts, sacred music and oodles of sacrifices. What was missing was the one thing that God wanted: JUSTICE.
