But viewing the same scene there was a group of people who saw a symbol of their heritage being stripped away in front of them.
And still another group saw a symbol of their superior race and their hatred for another race being taken away by left-wing extremists who are ruining the country.
All of us saw the same thing but with totally different perspectives.
This is a part of what I spoke about this morning at a small Lutheran church in a county about 30 miles outside of Richmond. When I received the invitation to preach at this racially and culturally different church a couple of weeks ago I will admit that I had some mixed feelings. With so many recent racially charged events in the news in the past few months I wasn't quite sure what I could say to 'them.' And when they sent me a letter asking me to prepare a message using one of the lectionary scriptures listed in the letter, a part of me became indignant and decided that I would use one of the texts from my preferred lectionary. As I looked up the date in my lectionary I discovered that the first scripture was exactly the same in both lectionaries. This was confirmation that I was supposed to preach from Amos 7:7-15.
In studying Amos, I noted that the Lord always asked Amos, "What do you see?" at the beginning of each of the five visions that he received. I realized that Amos was being asked to look at the physical and see the divine. That turning point reminded me that I had been approaching my assignment by only looking at the physical. I had not seen 'them' as the divine sees all of us, as His children. When my perspective changed I realized that I had to only deliver what the Lord had told me to say and that would be enough.
This morning I did me. And when during the sermon I repeated the Lord's question, "What do you see?" I hope that some of their eyes were opened and they too could look at the physical and see the divine.