Today's PAYG centred on familiar words from Amos 5:14-15, 21-24

Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, just as you have said.  Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.  Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon.  Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.  But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

I think what struck me afresh was the challenge to our religious institutions, our preoccupation with structures and buildings, the relentless publishing of new song book (SOF 5 has joined my bookshelf), the programmes for this, that and the next thing and so on and so forth.  Many of these things are good.  But just suppose God is saying

I hate, I despise your Assemblies, Synods, Conferences, whatever you call them.  Even though you write beautiful liturgies and preach eloquent sermons I'm not interested.  Even if you tithe to the last farthing on pay day, so what?  Away with your worship groups, your PowerPoint, your Nooma videos, your Bible study guides, your debates, your rotas.  Stop all this religiosity and get your hands dirty...

And those troublesome words of Jesus to the rich young man... sell all you have and give the money to the poor.

Sell your church buildings, realise your assests, and give it all away.  Spend yourselves on justice, on relieving the suffering of the poorest of the poor, the people on the margins of the margins...

Ooh er missus!  You don't mean me, God, do you?  Not us?  I mean to say, we need our premises, our savings, our structures, our rhythms, our piety, our comfortable religion.  You don't mean me, do you?

What would happen if the churches took God seriously?  What would happen if we stood back, identified the ridiculous surpluses we have (of property, of savings, of talent, of hierarchy, of bloody-mindedness) and released even a fraction of that for the purposes of justice? (yes, I think some bloody-mindedness could be useful in the cause of justice!)

I am forced to accept that I live a very domesticated kind of Christianity, that allows me to live in a lovely flat, serve a loving church and live a rather charmed life.  But do my choices please God?  Do yours?  Do ours?

How long will I be rattled by this?  How soon will I settle back to my cozy routines?  If I am honest, not long enough and far too quickly.