It appears as if the people are looking forward to the day of the Lord. Amos warns them that they should fear it, not welcome it. It is one thing for a person who is right with the Lord to long for the day when He judges all evil. To the child of God, that day is our victory day in court, so to speak. It's the day when the Lord passes sentence on all the wrongs that have ever been done to His children. But for the person living in opposition to the Lord, it is a day to dread.
"Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light." (Amos 5:18) Amos urges the people to wake up and take a good long look at their own lives. While they are wishing judgment upon their enemies, they are failing to acknowledge that they have become as wicked as their enemies. If the day of the Lord were to come right now, it would consume not only their enemies but themselves as well.
Amos describes that day as a day the wicked cannot escape. "It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light---pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?" (Amos 5:19-20)
The people are still going through many of the motions of serving the Lord. Although a large number of them are engaging in idolatry, some aren't doing it exclusively; some are mixing pagan practices with their worship of the Lord, such as bringing offerings to Him at the golden calf sites at Bethel and Dan. This is not pleasing to Him. There are also those, as we will see as we continue our study of the prophets, who are bringing sacrifices to the proper place in Jerusalem (especially the people living in the southern kingdom of Judah), who have no personal relationship with Him. Those offerings are meaningless to Him because they don't come from the heart. This next segment deals with the practice of only going through the motions. "I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to Me. Even though you bring Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps." (Amos 5:21-23)
It's possible to be heavily involved with church work and not be a child of the Lord. People attend religious services for a variety of reasons. It might be to enjoy a sense of belonging. It might be to look good to others in the community. It might be because their family has always attended church and they are expected to do likewise. These are just a few examples of why a person might spend a great deal of time working with the church and why a person might give large amounts of money to the church. But works aren't what make us right with the Lord; faith is what makes us right with the Lord. If He isn't Lord in our hearts, it doesn't matter how much money we donate or whether we sing in the choir. We don't get into heaven because of how much we put in the offering plate or because we play piano during the services. We get into heaven because we've given our hearts to the Lord and have trusted Him for salvation. This is why the Lord is warning the people, through the prophet Amos, not to look forward to judgment day. They won't fare well at judgment day if they continue living with hearts far from Him. The judgment they long to see falling on their neighbors will fall on them too if they don't repent.
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