"Remembering the Lord"
Jonah 1:17-2:10 (Preaching Text-Favorite Passage); Romans 8:31-39
Favorite Things Summer Worship Series
There are many stories out there. Stories surround us every day. Sometimes they are called news. Sometimes memories. Sometimes fairy tales. Sometimes fiction. Sometimes nonfiction. Sometimes narrative. Whatever we call them, we live surrounded by stories. One of the themes of our summer during this sabbatical time is narrative--stories. And not just any narratives, but especially the stories we tell about ourselves. Who are we as a congregation? What stories do we tell about ourselves and remember about our past, and how will these stories lead us into the future?
On August 15th we will have a Narrative Workshop, and I hope everyone will make an effort to be here as we look at our congregation's story. Kelli Walker-Jones and her coworker Dick Hester will be here for worship and the workshop after lunch, and it promises to be a fun time of remembering who we are and what our story is as a congregation. They remind us, "Our personal or self stories hold together the past, present, and future. Our memories come to us in stories. And in the present moment we extend that story. That unfolding story of past and present takes us into the future." [1]
As we think about the unfolding stories that surround us, we see the summer blockbusters--Shrek and Toy Story to name a few. Why do we like these stories so much? I believe one reason is because they connect with our own unfolding stories on some level, often in ways we might not even be aware. How many of us have that green ogre inside us that we don't want anyone to see? How many of us want to be Andy's favorite toy and be the most popular toy in the toy chest? How many of us want to live "Far, Far Away" or at least vacation there for a week? These stories connect with our own stories and form the narrative of our lives. Many of the stories we find in Scripture are the same. The characters sound familiar. The situations seem recognizable. They connect with our own lives, and we see ourselves in them as the stories unfold before us in the pages of Scripture. And through it all we see how we become part of God's story.
The story we are exploring today, I believe, is the same. In fact the opening word of the first chapter of Jonah is the Hebrew equivalent to the way our fairy tales open.[2] So let us venture into the story of Jonah... Once upon a time, in a land far, far, away, there lived an unlikely prophet named Jonah.
Jonah is unique among the Old Testament prophets. Unlike all of the other Prophets, this book tells about Jonah. It's a narrative of a portion of his life. The book doesn't mention much at all about his prophetic voice or his preaching. It is a narrative about Jonah himself and his attempts to run away from God. NOT YOUR TYPICAL PROPHET for sure! And yet, God worked through Jonah despite himself... and I find real comfort in that! This book consists of 4 chapters--44 verses in total, and references the Lord, God, or Lord God 39 times. [3] In the Sunday Preview email this week that went out Friday, I invited you to read the whole book--all 44 verses of Jonah before worship today to reacquaint yourself with this great story from Scripture. I hope many of you took the opportunity to do that. Despite the short length, the book of Jonah is packed FULL of good stuff!
Have you ever thought about how stories can be viewed through different lenses based on your perspective? Kelli and Dick, in their research, remind us, "Any situation can be understood through more than one story, because no single account can tell everything that happened."[4] I heard a story recently about this passage from Jonah. The pastor asked the children during the children's message to tell the story of Jonah from the whale's perspective. One little boy, known for volunteering answers, raised his hand. The pastor invited him to step into the pulpit and share the whale's tale with the whole congregation. He stood up, and much to this pastor's and the congregations surprise, and BURPED into the mic, and sat back down.[5] It certainly is a different view of the story we read this morning.
Today's Favorite Passage comes from chapter 2--Jonah's prayer. We overhear Jonah's prayer from inside the belly of the fish. We don't get all the details we might want here when it comes to what kind of fish? Was it a whale, a shark, a leviathan, or some other form of sea monster? We don't know. All we know is that God used this sea creature for good.
Our passage opens with Jonah, perhaps seated on a kidney, singing the blues.[6] He's been swallowed up by a fish and has time to kill during the three days and nights he is in the smelly darkness. Though he's been running from God, for whatever reason, he finally decided to call out to God. But did you notice the tone of this prayer? Though it first appears to have been prayed from inside the belly of the fish, it comes from the viewpoint Jonah must have had AFTER the fact. I believe there is no doubt Jonah prayed and PRAYED HARD while he was inside that belly. Crisis situations as big as a whale would tend to lead anyone to prayer. But I imagine that Jonah's prayer received some editing between the first draft and final publishing.
Let's think back for just a moment before we look forward. Chapter one of Jonah finds this prophet boarding a ship heading in the exact OPPOSITE direction from where God asked him to go. Jonah is running from God's call. A horrible storm ends up causing the sailors to reluctantly throw Jonah overboard to try to stop the storm. To their amazement the storm stops, Jonah begins to sink, and the sailors decide that Jonah's God must be the best God to worship, and so they convert. Just when Jonah must be thinking he's really escaped God's call for sure now, God has a different plan, and the fish enters the scene. Jonah became lunch for some fish cruising by.
Chapter one ends inside the fish, and we see Jonah's prayer in Chapter two. The prophet who was running from God ends up singing God's praise and thanksgiving. Jonah's perspective changes from the time he gets swallowed up and he ends up sunbathing on some Mediterranean beach somewhere. What caused that shift in perspective? Why did his language and story shift? Look again at verse 7: "As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord." He remembered that he wasn't alone, and that God was indeed with him in the belly of the fish. God was present and was listening. Even somewhere so dark and so deep and so full of muck, God was there. The very God Jonah was trying to flee from was still willing to journey down with him into the bowels of death. He tried to flee from God, but his action toward God hadn't turned God away. Now there's a reason to sing!
This prayer or Psalm of Jonah consists of Thanksgiving. I doubt the first words out of Jonah's mouth were thanksgiving, but when he remembered the Lord, he was led to praise and thanksgiving. His anger, his frustration, his sorrow--all of these emotions, no matter how dark and despairing, were no match for God. God is bigger and more capable of handling our emotions--all of them. And Jonah was able to share these feelings without God running away. The prophet who had run from God remembered the Lord. Jonah realized that despite his efforts, God hadn't abandoned him. What a reason to give Thanks. It wasn't that God just showed up at that point, but Jonah realized in looking back at his situation, that God had been there all along.
I believe Jonah looked back at his situation once he was sitting on the beach, and perhaps edited his prayer to reflect this changed perspective. His remembering the Lord changed everything. Now, to be fair to the story, Jonah doesn't go about the rest of his mission with no problems, and doesn't become this perfect prophet... far from it. But in the moment, he realized something important, and it changed his thinking and his words. His faith in God grew because he realized if God will listen from the belly of death, then God will hear me no matter where I am.
I also don't think it is coincidence that this Psalm of Jonah sounds like so many of the Psalms we find in Scripture. I imagine Jonah grew up like most Jewish boys at the time who memorized the Torah and Psalms. They knew the Scriptures by heart and recited them day after day. They became a part of who they were as people. Through practice and prayer, these words become a part of us. As Ellen Davis says, "We understand [the psalms] also as God's word to us--or better, the Psalms are God's word in us."[7] Jonah didn't have a Bible or Prayer book or Hymnal with him inside the fish. But he had his memory. He had the stories of his faith from childhood. He had the words that were written on his heart, and he carried those with him into the belly, and they became his own words.
Ellen Davis goes on to say, "As we take the Psalms on our lips one by one, we eventually claim each of those experiences and feelings as our own, and thus we enter fully into the life of all those who call themselves Israel. What is distinctive about Israel's religious perception is this very knowledge that we are called into fully intimate relationship with the God who created the heavens and the earth, a relationship that is both probing and transformative. It begins with honest confession of our thoughts and feelings; yet the terms of the relationship are that we must always be willing to grow and change profoundly. So the Psalms honor our immediate personal experience, yet at the same time they keep us from becoming mired in it"[8]
This is where Worship and Scripture and Liturgy and Story ALL connect. It's one of the main reasons we are having both a Liturgy Workshop on June 27th and a Story Narrative Workshop on August 15th. Our hymns, our songs, our Scripture--as we worship together and practice sharing these words and learning them together, we are writing them on our own hearts. We are remembering the Lord and entering into the story of Faith--God's story. We are a part of God's story, and we carry these things with us wherever we go. As we look back at our own stories, we see where God is present, even when we didn't see it at first, and we can give thanks! When we can't see God at work in our lives, we have a community standing with us reminding us to "Remember the Lord" and helping sing the words when we forget. We write these words on our hearts and the hearts of our children through practicing together, praying together, singing together, and living together. So then when we, like Jonah, find ourselves in a dark belly, we can remember that God is there and hears our prayers and doesn't leave us alone.
God is at work in our story and is calling us to places yet unknown, and God is equipping us to do the ministry and mission to which we are called, both individually and as a congregation. As we tell our tales, and sing our stories, and remember the Lord, we will be able to give thanks together for all God has done and all God is doing, even with unlikely prophets like us. Amen.
[1]Richard L. Hester and Kelli Walker-Jones, Know Your Story and Lead With It: The Power of Narrative in Clergy Leadership (Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2009) 1.
[2] James Limburg, Hosea-Micah. Interpretation Series (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1988) 137.
[3] James Limburg, Hosea-Micah. Interpretation Series (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1988) 138.
[4] Richard L. Hester and Kelli Walker-Jones, Know Your Story and Lead With It: The Power of Narrative in Clergy Leadership (Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2009) 2.
[5] Susan Sparks, Workshop, Festival of Homiletics, Nashville, TN, May 2010.
[6] Referencing Aldous Huxley's "Jonah" in The Cherry Tree. Quoted in James Limburg, Hosea-Micah. Interpretation Series (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1988) 146.
[7] Ellen Davis, Getting Involved With God: Rediscovering the Old Testament (Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 2001) 9.
[8]Ellen Davis, Getting Involved With God: Rediscovering the Old Testament (Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 2001) 12.
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