In the Old Testament reading this morning, we overhear Amos telling Amaziah, one of the high priests of Israel, of his vision of God "standing beside a wall built with a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand."¹

A plumb line is a tool used by carpenters and house builders to determine whether a board or plank is perfectly upright. It is a piece of string with a weight attached to the end to determine the vertical reference line. When used, the plumb line is dropped and it swings and sways from one side to the other, until gravity has done its work, the line quits swaying and the weight is perfectly vertical. From here, the carpenter knows that his line is straight and his structure will stand perfectly upright. If a plumb line is not used, and the structure is even just slightly off being vertical, it would be thrown off balance and would tilt one way or the other. And over time, the building would lean further over and eventually it would simply fall over. All because a simple weight on a string wasn't used in the building process.

In Amos' vision, God is telling him that the people of Israel are simply not measuring up to God's plumb line. They are not being the strong and straight and true people that God has called them to be. The kind of people that the Israelites have agreed to be through the covenant with God. They haven't taken care of the poor, widowed, and the oppressed.²;

In the vision Amos is told that because they have not lived up to their end of the covenant, they must be torn down like a leaning wall that was built without the use of a plumb line. "The high places shall be made desolate…and sanctuaries laid to waste."³ God also promises to rise against Jeroboam, who was the king of the Israelites.

Of course the high priest, Amaziah gets upset with what Amos has told him. No one wants to hear that some one or something that they love is not quite perfect, or simply downright wrong. We have all met those parents who simply can't believe that their child can or would do anything wrong. It is always someone else's fault that their child didn't come in first. Or even worse, parents who ignore the signs that their children are inflicting pain and damage to themselves or others. Its not that the parents haven't been told, its that they simply believe that their children can do no wrong. Amaziah is like that parent; Amos is telling him that Israel is sinful in the eyes of God, but Amaziah doesn't listen; or rather won't listen. Amos is telling both Amaziah and the people of Israel something that they desperately need to hear. Amaziah is so upset by what he has heard that he tries to silence Amos by sending him out of the kingdom and to the land of Judah. "Earn your bread there, and prophesy there!"⁴

We see a similar situation in our Gospel reading. John the Baptist had spoken out against King Herod and his wife Herodias, because she had been married to her husband's brother. This breaks all kinds of Levitical laws that the Jews were commanded to keep, and John spoke out against the king and his wife. They were not being the upright people that God calls all to be.

Like all prophets and messengers of God, Amos and John the Baptist had upset the powers that be; the one's who really need to listen to what is being said. "You are not measuring up to what God has called you to be." Amos was told to leave the kingdom of Israel, while John the Baptizer was beheaded. Both Amaziah and King Herod were unable to see the plumb line of what God call us to be.

But I wonder if we ourselves are not more like Amaziah and King Herod than we would like to admit. Now, I don't mean the whole marrying your brother's wife or anything, but rather our reaction to news that we would rather not hear, or a situation that we would rather not have to deal with.

Amos is telling the high priest Amaziah that the very people whose spiritual well-being he is responsible for, have failed to live up to God's plumb line. This has to be hard news to hear. And if Amaziah is to really hear what Amos is telling him, then he too has to engage in the hard work of conflict. Conflict that could bring about change. Conflict with the people of Israel, as well as a potentially deadly conflict with King Jeroboam. Who wouldn't want to avoid all of that? Haven't we all at some point taken the easier way? Perhaps a way that allowed us to avoid conflict all together?

So how do we know when we need to engage in conflict, or if conflict is even needed? Or if we are measuring up to the plumb line? Or an even more difficult question to ask ourselves is: where is the plumb line that God has set for us?

In this day and age we hear so much about what God does or does not do, who God loves and doesn't love, what is God's plan for us and what is man's sinful own way of doing things. But how do we know what God is truly calling us to be and calling us to do?

The only way that we can figure anything of those things out is through the hard work of discernment. "To be a Christian is to live in communion with the Spirit of God. It is to be open to that Spirit and receptive to the specific promptings of the Spirit. But the promptings of the Spirit are never unmistakably clear. Discernment is at once individual and corporate. Community discernment both comes from and leads to individual discernment."⁵

Every time we get together as a community, as a parish, as a diocese, and as a national church, we are discerning where the plumb line is. Are we being good and faithful Christians? Are we doing what God has commanded us to do? These are questions that we cannot judge on our own. Discernment must be done in community.

It is when discernment is done by one person that is where we run into trouble. We can be too easily be tempted to rationalize that the Spirit is leading us in a direction that supports our predisposition towards one course of action over another.⁶ Look at King Herod. He had become enthralled by the dancing of his daughter, and offered to give her what ever she desired. The young girl went back to her mother and asked what she should ask for. Herodias, angry with John the Baptist for speaking out against her, tells her daughter to ask for the head of the Baptizer.

Herod could not rightly see where the plumb line was. He decides that his honor is more important than the life of this prophet, so he orders the beheading of John the Baptist, at the young girl's request. And even though it is mentioned in our reading that Herod admired John the Baptist, yet he still decided that the Baptizer needed to be put to death in order to save face in his court.

Corporate discernment allows us to put our personal discernment to the test. It allows us to asks questions of each other and discuss the complicated issues that we often face in our life of faith. It also allows us to lean on each other as we face difficult decisions and challenges.

Every time we discern what the Holy Spirit is telling us to do as individuals, as a community of faith, and as a Church, we are gauging God's plumb line. We have discerned many great ministry opportunities here at Saint James. Many that I am just beginning to learn about in the short time I have been here.

This week we continued the discernment process as a National Church at General Convention in Anaheim, California. We as The Episcopal Church are trying to gauge where our plumb line is. And as we all know some times discernment can be dirty work. We all don't agree on issues of human sexuality, immigration, or how to best work with other provinces in the Anglican Communion. And it seems that our plumb line is always swinging one way or the other as we trying to gauge what God is calling us to do.

But we as Christians, and as Episcopalians, do have our plumb lines that are set, and are unswaying. The Gospel, or the Good News of God's saving act in Jesus Christ. It is from this plumb line that we can understand ourselves to be to members of the Body of Christ and the people of God. This is what we proclaim in our Baptismal Covenant and every Sunday as the priest holds up the consecrated bread and wine before we receive Communion. When we realize and more importantly remember that we are the Body of Christ in the world, we know that there is much to do in the world. There is much pain and suffering in the world, and as Christians, our call is to try and alleviate that pain. This is where mission and evangelism come into play. Something that is done well here at St. James, but mission and evangelism always present new opportunities for us to use our gifts as individuals and as a community.

May we continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit. May we be filled, inspired, and freed to respond to God's call in our life, and may we continue to discern where our plumb line is each and every day.⁷

Amen

¹ Amos 7:7-15
² Deuteronomy 27:19
³ Amos 7:8-10
⁴ Amos 7:12
⁵ McBrien, Richard P. Catholicism (Harper Collins Publishers: San Francisco, 1994), 975-976
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Prayer adapted from the Sister of Notre Dame - http://www.snd1.org/discernment_prayer.html