“Turn Bitterness into Justice: Turn Agony into Joy”- Contextual reading of Amos chapter 5 in the lense of Delft Island.

“ Kamalavathy, an old woman waits for the ferry to reach her home in the Island of Delft, Sri Lanka. Her home is on the west part of the Island which is nearly 8-10 km from the jetty of the Delft Island. There are plenty of Islanders eagerly anticipating for the ferry, but the official says to them, due to the engine fault, the Kumuthini (the passenger boat) could not be operated, we have arranged the open boat to travel “

This is not a story but a real incident has been happening in every Delft Islanders life.

Delft Island is a resourceful place which has plenty of Palm trees, Coconut trees and different variety of Seafood. Though the island has many natural resources in it, the people have been struggling to obtain their fundamental needs. The people feel that they are polarized and stigmatized geographically as well as politically.

As we see in the pictures, When the passenger boats got any technical issues, the people have to travel in the boat which contains fuel tanks, grocery boxes and vehicles exedra. This mode of journey is disgraceful because when we travel in this type of boat, there will not be safety precautions like Life jackets, there will not be a proper passenger limitation. In this kind travel mode , we have to travel nearly 1 hour in the sea.  Absolutely it’s against human rights.

Context like this, people are weeping, people are lamenting and people are fearing, people are anticipating a leader to liberate them from the corrupted structure. I would like to contextualise plight of islanders with the exodus event.

During the Egyptian captivity the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, God  was with them and liberating from the bondage. We hope that,  Life giving God is also with the people of Delft island and The parent God is hearing their groaning , not only hearing and God is suffering with them.

Context of Delft island is almost same at the time of prophet Amos prophesied.

 Yes, the prophetical book of Amos chapter 5 says

” There are those who turn Justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground “. Verse 7

 “There is who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts” Verse 13b

The governments are spending plenty millions for the various projects in the Island, but where the money goes? This is the question the every citizens are rising!

Churches should take the leadership stand to solve the issues. Churches in the island and nationwide have the responsibility to take this human rights issue. That should be the real commitment for the church.

We as Christ community to be a voice for the voiceless community, the Delft island is in the margins of the Srilanka. So that the Government and its servants should concentrate the issues which people are facing in their day to day life. And they have to understand context of the Island.

As a theologian who is serving for the island community, I think “The Emergence of Jesus Movement in the island is needed today. Jesus educated people to speak up for the fundamental rights. Jesus made an alternative culture to reach the vulnerable community. We need Jesus movement which advocates the fundamental rights of the people. It should be a movement which fight for the justice legally in a non violent way as well as , this movement should teach the people about constitutional politics.

However People are tired of being victimized by the various oppressive structures in the past thirteen years. Yes, in these years they have migrated to an alien land and came back to their homeland to live a peaceful life. So I think, the Church has to Htake up this issue legally to solve the structural issues, to protect and liberate the civilians from the corrupted leaders and to nurture the people to be a strong enough to speak for their own rights.