The signs of progress are everywhere in our world. Democracy and freedom breakthrough in unlikely places, toppling oppressive regimes. Increasingly global free trade and the opening of foreign markets is spreading prosperity and affluence into unlikely places, including developing nations and communist republics. Religious life is booming as globally interest in spiritual matters continues to tug at peoples hearts and lives. There seem to be reasons for hope, hope that the world, that humanity, is getting better. But is it really? Is that what God thinks? What word would God want to speak into our culture if given the chance?

Oct 5, 2008 – We Wish To Inform You (Amos 1:1-2:16)
You don’t have to watch the evening news for long to gain a pervading sense of the injustice that racks our world: torture, human trafficking, the sex trade, one nation invading another, genocide, human desecration. It is the long, sad history of humanity, attacking and oppressing each other, stripping each other of human rights and human dignity, most often for material gain. Where is God in it all? Why does he let it all go on? And what about us? What is our role in it all?

Oct 12, 2008 – Gods Gonna Cut You Down (Amos 3:1-4:13)
You’ve heard them on talk radio, seen them on TV, read articles by them over the Internet: angry Christians condemning the political views, religious beliefs, lifestyle choices or behaviours of others, calling down the judgment of God on the sin of society. Whats up with that? Is God really the kind of raging, judgmental, condemning God some Christians portray him to be? What kinds of people get God really mad? What are the kinds of things that really push God over the edge?

Oct 19, 2008 – What About Now? (Amos 5:1-17)
What does it take to be good with God? There are many people who think, for a variety of reasons, that God is on their side, that they are in God’s good books. Many people bank on their religious heritage or religious history. They count on their religious devotion or religious fervour, but is that really what it takes to be good with God? Is that really the kind of life that God can truly bless? Is that the kind of life that gets us into God’s good books?

Nov 9, 2008 – The Heart Of Worship (Amos 5:18-27)
What do you think about Southridge’s church services? Are you moved by the art and the dramas, the videos and movie clips, able to see yourself and your world on the stage and screen in relevant, engaging ways? Do we sing the right songs at the right volume in the right style for you to appreciate the music? What does God think about Southridge’s church services? By what standards does God measure our worship? What does God look for in a “relevant” church?

Nov 16, 2008 – Heavens Table (Amos 6:1-14)
How do you measure success in life? Some gauge success by relationships or academic achievement, but most of the Western world keeps score with the almighty dollar. We count on our money to provide security and happiness. We invest to gain influence, power and prestige. We save to earn ourselves respectability and honour. Our material wealth is truly a blessing from God but what were Gods hopes when he chose to bless our lives in such lavish ways?

Nov 23, 2008 – An Inconvenient Truth, Part 1 (Amos 7:1-9:10)
In every way imaginable, the world is changing. Geopolically, the West now shares centrestage with new players in Asia. Militarily, new powers now vie to become a nuclear presence. Economically, the so-called First World now outsources its workforce and its encomic instability. Religiously, Christianity is no longer the fastest-growing religion in the world. Where are all these changes coming from? Where are they all going? Is God trying to teach us about our future?

Nov 30, 2008 – An Inconvenient Truth, Part 2 (Amos 7:1-9:10)
Weve covered some overwhelming territory over the past several weeks, exploring a scope of global poverty and injustice issues in us that is enough to intimidate the most spirited activist. But at the core of it all the burning question still remains: as individuals, as a community, what can we DO?! How do we even begin to make a difference in our unjust, unfair world? What are some of the practical steps we can realistically take today to begin to change the world?

Dec 7, 2008 – Better Days (Amos 9:11-15)
Most of us are probably, at some level, relatively uncomfortable pondering the judgment of God. Images of an angry God storming about, trashing Creation like a college dorm room and destroying people sit kind of funny in our guts, as we imagine that God must be better than all that. Does God just periodically “blow a gasket” or does he have a higher purpose in mind in judgment? What is the bigger picture of God’s great plan for his people and his Creation?