Going Overboard

You’ve heard the story about Jonah and how he ended up in the belly of a big fish. If you remember, God had a specific call for Jonah.  He was a prophet, so he should have expected a call from God, however he did not like what task God gave him. He was supposed to go to his enemies in Ninevah with a message from God to repent of their wickedness.

Jonah headed in the opposite direction, taking a ship that was bound for Tarshish. He thought he could get away from God, but while Jonah was asleep in the hold, the ship ran into a huge storm that threatened to break it apart. The sailors were frightened for their lives. They had to have prayed to every god they knew. The captain woke Jonah and begged him to pray to his god, not knowing to which one Jonah would pray. We don’t know if Jonah didn’t pray, refused to pray, or what. The crew then cast lots to see whose fault the storm was. It fell on Jonah.

As frightened as the crew was, they took time to ask him questions: What was his profession? Where was he from? Who were his people? They didn’t jump on him. They wanted to understand so they could decide their course of action. Jonah told them to throw him into the sea, and the storm would calm down. They didn’t grab at this solution. They tried as hard as they could to save the ship without throwing Jonah overboard, but the storm strengthened. Finally, with prayers to Jonah’s God, they threw him overboard. That’s how he ended up in the belly of the big fish.

Today, I heard a brand new insight into this scene. Jonah knew he was the one who needed to go overboard. He could have jumped into the sea himself to save the crew and their ship; instead he waited until in desperation they threw him overboard. Jonah could have taken responsibility for himself, but he made the sailors take responsibility for him.

How hard it can be to take responsibility for ourselves, and our own actions, rather than to make others take it for us! Jonah was trying to avoid responsibility all around. He didn’t want to go to his enemies with God’s message. He ran away. He made the sailors throw him overboard. Where in my life, where in your life, are the Jonah tendencies? How am I, how are you, holding back from answering the challenge? How can I, how can you, take responsibility for answering God’s call in this moment?

Prayer Walking

You may know that as I walk I use the time for intercessory prayer, using an old form known as the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” After beginning with that prayer, I modify it to, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on ___,” using the name of a family member, a friend, a colleague, or someone else I know. The best I can offer is holding them within the light of God’s mercy.

This Saturday, we have the opportunity to take time to pray as we walk around our city. We will do this with folks from The Vine, a United Methodist Church plant in Dunn Loring. Together, we will take time to hold the people, businesses, establishments, and institutions within the light of God’s mercy. While doing this, we will also be holding each other in prayer as we get to know each other and explore working together to reach people who do not yet know God’s love in their lives.

So come on out this Saturday, November 7. We will gather at 11 a.m. in the Christ Crossman parking lot (or inside, if it is raining) to begin. Then in small groups, we will make our way across the city for 40 minutes. For those who cannot walk that far, or who choose not to walk, a small group can be in prayer in the church. This is for all ages. Those with children could easily group together and pray around the park. At 11:50, we will meet back at the church to share our experiences. Afterwards, folks who choose may eat together and talk it through more.

The best we can offer is to hold our community within the light of God’s mercy. Let’s do it together.

Isaiah 2.5:

O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

Barriers, and then again BARRIERS

Barriers can come in many different forms. My favorite barrier is represented by the Outer

Banks, the barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina.

There are barriers that have been erected for a purpose. Frankly, I often feel safer with some sort of door or gate between me and outside. I keep my apartment door locked, as I did the front door of our house. I almost always lock my car. While these doors and locks won’t necessarily keep out someone who is determined to obtain entrance, they do provide a measure of deterrence to others.

Scott Tong shared with me this picture of a typical threshold at the entrance to a home or other building in China. He said that older thresholds were even higher than this one. They were intended to keep rising water out, I believe (Scott, correct me if I remember this wrong). While they might serve to keep water out, they also could easily become a stumbling block to someone entering the home.

These are barriers that can be helpful, but then there are others that inhibit, not just physical ingress (entrance, not the online game), but also psychological entry. Some could be styles that disinvite persons from finding a way in—doors that are not clearly marked, steps that are hard to climb, body language, insider language, and others.

If we are called to offer the light of Christ to persons in the world, then we need to provide a true welcoming spirit and place. CCUMC does seek to be welcoming.  The question to ask is when, where, and what barriers are helpful, and when, where, and what ones are truly a hindrance, especially inadvertently.

I love my particular favorite barrier island of Ocracoke; I feel more secure with a door and lock; and thresholds can block water from entering a home, but the impediments that keep persons from finding relationship with God through God’s people are not okay. How can we take a look at our practices and our structures to be even more open and inviting?

Revelation 3:20

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.

Change the Angle Just A Little Bit

Learning never stops, or at least it shouldn’t. During this week’s Covenant Bible study, I think we were all surprised to consider Moses from a different perspective. The presenter, a Jewish scholar, said Moses was raised as an Egyptian, and did not speak Hebrew, or only a very few words or phrases. This puts Moses’ protestation that he is not an eloquent speaker in a different light. Pharaoh would have understood Moses, but the Hebrews would not have. Moses needed Aaron to speak to them.

How often do we tend to keep looking at something—an issue, a practice, a belief, or even an object—from the perspective we have always used? We will see what we expect to see. If, however, we change our angle, maybe even just a tiny bit, a new shape, thought, or insight might be revealed. A retired colleague posted a photo on Facebook of a deck post at a beach house he has rented several times. For the first time this year, he caught a glimpse from a different angle. There in the wood was a heart shaped by a knot opened up by a saw making a corner.

Where in our life is God asking us to change the angle from which we view our work or our practices? What hidden treasure or insight might we discover just by tilting our head, as it were? So often we end up keeping our lives in compartments and we do not think to bring persons from those different niches together? What if I turn my eye just a slightly different way and see an acquaintance or a friend whom I could invite to share a meal or an event with other friends? All of our lives would be richer, and just maybe they might be the Aaron to your Moses.

I Blush to Recall

Oh my, I just remembered a note I wrote on the bulletin as a youth to a friend during a worship service! As a pastor and a somewhat practical theologian for many years now, I blush to recall my naivite, but remember I was young and though thoroughly churched from infancy up, I didn’t really have enough experience to discern the depths. What did I write, oh so many years ago as a 16 or 17 year old?

--“God must get tired of hearing us talk about Jesus all the time.”--

What brought this to mind was an essay posted this week by a Canadian pastor/leadership blogger, Carey Nieuwhof. I admit I don’t read everything he posts. Usually, I find what I read thought provoking at least. This week he posted on 5Surprising Characteristics of Churches that Are Actually Reaching the NextGeneration. I have noticed that he does like to make lists, but what snagged my memory from the deep reaches of my past was his second item: Jesus over God. Immediately, he says, that “of course, Jesus is God, and God is Jesus.” His “tweet-able” explanation is: “God can mean many things in our culture. Jesus is far more specific.” True.

I could enter a deep mystical and thoroughly obscurant understanding of how our God is Three-in-One. I dare you to ask me, but if you do be prepared to be there for a while. Do not ask me until after October 15, though, please.

I get, though, why for many people—even most, I dare say—Jesus is far more approachable than a seemingly far removed God, and I don’t think it bothers God in the least. After all, it is because “God so loved the world…” God—our Three-in-One God—chose to come among us as one of us in order to show us the face of love. So I get why for folks speaking and singing of Jesus is more accessible. Someone touchable; knowable, in a way; and thoroughly familiar with our experiences in life.

I don’t think God minded my naïve note, and I don’t think God minds some folks preferring to talk of Jesus. After all, God is relationship from before the beginning, and whatever draws us into relationship with the One who is the Source, Presence, and End of Creation is just fine. We will understand it all better one day when we are face to face. For the time being, let’s fully engage in being the people are the face and hands of God for the world.

John 3:16-17

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”