Epiphany
3B (Jonah 3:1-5, 10)
Today’s
reading from Jonah begins in an odd place – “The word of the Lord came to Jonah
a second time. . .”[1] Our lectionary can be funny that way,
dropping us into the middle of a story and leaving us wondering, “Wait? What’s
going on here?” And in the case of
Jonah, that’s a really important question.
The word of the Lord does indeed come to Jonah a second time but the
message God delivers is essentially the same as the message delivered the first
time. When God first comes to Jonah, the
Lord says, “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city.”[2] And now, a second time, “Get up, go!” Oh, and I probably should mention, the
message God wants Jonah to deliver to the Ninevites hasn’t changed either. It’s just that on the first go round Jonah
thought he had a better idea. God called out to Jonah with a mission, a plan and
Jonah ran the other way! Not only did
Jonah not go to Ninevah, but he
actually hopped on a ship heading in the opposite direction! Jonah fled “away from the presence of the Lord.”[3]
Well, if
you’ve ever decided to do precisely the wrong thing – especially when you’ve
known it is the wrong thing – you
have probably discovered all the ways things go wrong. That thesis draft you were supposed to submit
on January 2 that just didn’t quite get done; that important business meeting
that you missed even though it was on your calendar, taped on a sticky note to
your mirror and written on the back of your hand; that exit you just missed on
the interstate because you were texting while driving even though you had
promised your friends and family members that you would stop doing it! Things can go really wrong, really fast – and the implications can be great – not
only for you, but for others around you.
And that
is exactly what happens with Jonah. God is angry with Jonah for going the wrong
way and sends a storm on the sea – a storm so bad that the mariners are afraid
and begin throwing cargo overboard in an effort to save the ship and their
lives. Ultimately, upon discovering that
Jonah’s disobedience is to blame, they throw Jonah overboard – and he is
promptly swallowed up by a very large fish.
Now, you already know that Jonah is saved from this great ordeal
because, as today’s passage begins we hear, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah
a second time.”
And this
is precisely where I want us to focus our attention. Because, yes, we can do really foolish
things. We can go left when God says go right. We can even hear a voice, a
call, an invitation and mistake it for the voice of God. And, through it all, God will continue to
work God’s purpose – perhaps using us again, giving us another chance – as God
does with Jonah or perhaps by finding another way altogether. But God continues to work out God’s purpose
for all of creation.
Way back
in September, you may remember that I shared a syllabus for a new course at St.
Mark’s. The course was (and still is) called, “God-Centered Living across the
Lifespan.” I talked about our life
together as Christian community, as a learning community characterized by
dialogue, mutual respect, appreciation of diverse views, and walking alongside
others in their journey of faith. A
place where we can listen for God’s voice, and go where God calls us
discovering new things about ourselves and our community along the way –
risking that what we learn might be that we got the message wrong or that we
tried something and it didn’t work out the way we planned; but trusting that in
the long run, these risks together would be worth it so long as we kept our
hearts and minds focused on working alongside God for the good of our
community. Next Sunday, when we gather
together for our Annual Meeting, we will receive an Annual Report in which we
can read about the successes and the struggles we’ve experienced along the way.
But I
want to highlight a couple of them for you today. In your bulletins you have an insert from the
Stewardship Team and it lists a variety of ways in which St. Mark’s has heard
and responded to God’s call to “Get up and Go!”
In the three months – August through October – St. Mark’s responded to
God’s call to get up and go to help local school children receive school
supplies and backpacks, to help hurricane relief victims, and to help the
hungry in our own community and throughout the world by raising more than
$4,000. This is $4,000 above and beyond
your generous gifts to St. Mark’s to support our own ministries which average
more than $20,000 per month.
But, of
course, it’s not only about our financial gifts. St. Mark’s has responded in other ways to
God’s call to “Get up and Go!” We have
this beautiful building – in conversation cafes many of you noted how much you
appreciate the beauty of the stained glass and a desire to share this space and
the rest of our space with outside organizations. Perhaps my favorite photo of St. Mark’s this
year is one that doesn’t have any people in it.
That’s unusual for me, because the people – you – are truly what makes
St. Mark’s who and what it is. But, my
favorite photo is the one that appears in the top right corner on the backside
of the insert --- St. Mark’s at night, on a Wednesday. Because several years ago that picture would have
looked very different. It would be
dark. But on that particular night, two
outside organizations, in addition to the St. Mark’s choir, were meeting here
and, in fact, in 2017, 33 outside organizations or individuals used St. Mark’s
spaces for their work – a 30% increase over last year.
But the
last way I want to share in which St. Mark’s Gets up and Goes when and where
God calls is the countless time YOU spend in giving back to the community
through advocacy and outreach work. In
the single month of January, St. Mark’s parishioners spent at least 126 hours
volunteering. I say at least because
this doesn’t even include the ways in which you give back to the community
through volunteer work that doesn’t begin at St. Mark’s. And I don’t think that January was an
exceptional month for St. Mark’s. It is probably a good average which means
that in the course of a single year, you all give more than 1500 hours in
unpaid ministry to our neighbors in need.
When God says to St. Mark’s, “Get up and Go!” you listen.
Where
will God call us in 2018? Time will tell. But for now, let’s keep our eyes and
ears open for that next opportunity to Become the Story We Tell . . . that we
are a People Called to Get Up and Go!
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