write Norm at Norman Lowry KN 9758
SCI Dallas
1000 Follies Rd
Dallas PA 18612
See Norm's profile http://www.blogger.com/profile/09050714675357787551
Read Norm's book CONSCIENCE BEHIND BARS: THE PRISON LETTERS OF NORMAN LOWRY
I share this, which I found deeply meaningful, from my Bible reading. -- Norm
Amos 5:9-24 THE MESSAGE translation
"Woe to you who turn justice to vinegar and stamp righteousness into the mud. Do you realize where you are? You're in a cosmos star-flung with constellations by God, a world God wakes up each morning and puts to bed each night. God dips water from the ocean and gives the land a drink. God; God-revealed does this. And he can destroy it just as easy as make it. He can turn this vast wonder into a total waste.
People hate this kind of talk. Raw truth is never popular. But here it is, bluntly spoken: because you run roughshod over the poor and take the bread out of their moths, you're never going to mob into the luxury homes you have built. You're never going to drink wine from the expensive vineyards you've planted. I know precisely the extent of your violations, the enormity of your sins. Appalling! You bully right living people, taking bribes right and left and kicking the poor when they're down.
Justice is a lost cause. Evil is epidemic. Decent people throw up their hands. Protest and rebuke are useless, a waste of breath.
Seek God and not evil--and live! You talk about God, the God-of-the-angel-armies, being your best friend. Well, live like it, and maybe it will happen.
Now again, my master's message, God, God-of-the-angel-armies: Go out into the streets and lament loudly! Fill the malls and shops with cries of doom! Weep loudly, "Not me! Not us, not now!" Empty offices, stores, factories, workplaces. Enlist everyone in the general lament. I want to hear it loud and clear when I make my visit! God's decree.
Woe to all of you who want God's judgment day! Why would you want to see God, want him to come? When God comes, it will be bad news before it's good news, the worst of times, not the best of times. Here's what it's like: a mean runs from a lion right into the jaws of a bear. A woman goes home after a hard day's work and is raped by a neighbor. At God's coming we face hard reality, not fantasy--a black cloud with no silver lining!
I can't stand your religious meetings. I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religious 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."
