Amos and his Vision of Food Security

This is what the Lord God showed me: a basket of summer fruit.  

He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” 

Then the Lord said to me,

“The end has come upon my people Israel;
    I will spare them no longer.
 The songs of the temple shall become wailings on that day,”
            says the Lord God;
“the dead bodies shall be many,
    cast out in every place. Be silent!”

Hear this, you who trample on the needy,
    and bring to ruin the poor of the land,

saying, “When will the new moon be over
    so that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath,
    so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier
    and practice deceit with false balances,
 buying the poor for silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals
    and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”

Amos 8:1-6 NRSV

The daily lectionary readings in the month of July include passages from the book of Amos, an 8th century BC prophet who seriously challenged what he considered to be hypocritical religion of Israel. He was withering in his criticism of those who came to worship in all their finery yet ignored the plight of the poor. 

I'm partial to a vision from God in which Amos sees a basket of fruit, a symbol of abundance. This quickly becomes a critique and warning for the systemic unfairness of the society. 

The Imagery seems so appropriate for the times in which we live. We are currently enjoying fresh corn on the cob, grown locally. We've been eating cherries and strawberries galore. We've consumed peas, chard, lettuce, and new potatoes from our backyard beds and tomatoes are starting to ripen. The variety and availablity are wonderful.

At the same time many Canadians are struggling with food insecurity and those availing themselves of meal programs and food banks is at an all-time high. We had a picnic with long-time friends recently and she mentioned that she's volunteering with a "food store" program where recipients begin each month with a certain number of points that they can use to choose food from shelves. 

Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world yet so many are overwhelmed with the rising cost of food. This is about physical hunger, and more. There are seniors who never thought they would visit a food bank and families who are making almost impossible choices about what bills to pay. At the same time we know that grocery chains are enjoying record profits.

I read this passage with a climate emergency perspective for the first time. Some of the foods I mentioned are available really early in the season because of higher temperatures. In many places in North America crop production is being disrupted by unprecedented drought and flooding, depending on the region. This too leads to higher prices and uncertainty about availability. 

Nearly three thousand years later the words of Amos still apply, a timeless message and a stern caution about the inequites of the word we create.