Virtual Methodist

Since just after Easter I've been sharing with a small group on Zoom my reflections on the Journe y of Jonah, the Preposterous Prophet. I'd like to thank all those who have shared with us, especially the friends and colleagues who have acted as "guest responders" coming along to challenge my thinking and those of others with their own questions and reflections. The series isn't over yet, but we're taking a break next week to allow people to "attend" the installation of Rev. Dr. Tom McKnight as President of the Methodist Church in Ireland. But even when we return in a fortnight's time one of the things we will look at is how the story doesn't actually have a definitive ending... And into that gap and indeed into some of what is happening at present in the USA, where I first delivered these talks as part of asummer faculty at Holden Village in Washington, I offer this poem, that I also wrote there...  The Word of the LORD came to Jonah The capi...

So little over a week ago I served notice that I would be Recording my hoary old Jonah monologues and putting them up on YouTube, and Starting a series of Bible Studies/lectures on the Book of Jonah based on the series I delivered at Holden Village last summer. Well, I delivered on the first of those promises/threats, and if you haven't yet seen them, here is the first of them in glorious Technicolour (he says carefully inserting superflous u to avoid any copyright/trademark issues - something I have been tip-toeing around more than ever recently)  Tonight I start my series on this book, technology permitting... It's going to be going out live on the now ubiquitous Zoom, so there is no point putting a link on here that will be redundant in 9 hours time. But if you are reading this before then and are interested in joining us (and by us that could be me, Rev. Dr. Janet Unsworth, Principal of Edgehill Theological College, who is going to lead off in the Q&...

Today in the Daily Lectionary my mate Jonah made another appearance and so as my #EasterArt post I shared this illustration from the Cervera Bible, a late 13th century Hebrew folio in the Lisbon Museum, illuminated by Joseph the Frenchman. I love the image, and I love the fact that the artist, who was working in Spain at the time was simply known as “Joseph the Frenchman.”  In 2019 as part of my Sabbatical I headed off Holden Village, a Lutheran Retreat Centre in of the north Cascade Mountains in Washington State, USA, where I could easily have been referred to as David the Irishman because (for that week at least) I was in a minority of 1. I Had the honour of being invited to lecture there, and indeed, was supposed to be returning to share a second set of lectures this coming summer but Covid-19 has put paid to that. The subject of last year’s lectures was the book of Jonah, a book which I have been fascinated with for years, and I incorporated in the lectures the series o...

I've been lecturing on the story of Jonah for the past two weeks and the importance of story in scripture for shaping our stories, and this is a short poetic distillation of some of it. (Note: this is now a revised version one week further on with 2 extra verses and a few other amendments.) The Word of the LORD came to Jonah The capital L.O.R.D. Lord The God who is Rather than the God we might prefer The Word which commanded light to be Begins this story and all stories That ever were And all that are still to be written. But will we respond to this command Or will we just like Jonah resist? No way Yahweh! My story is never going there. Is God prompting us to cross borders And the boundaries between us and them? Love the other Whosoever that other might be. Does God need to catch our attention With sea monsters and swift growing vines To turn us round And reset our stories back on track? Are we ready to change direction? Not just to confess all our fa...

I didn't send any postcards on my own holidays this year, but on my return I "found" this postcard waiting for me...  Just incase you can't read it, here's what it says... Dear all in South Belfast Methodist, Well, made it to Nineveh at last. Don’t know about “Wish you were here,” but I wish I wasn’t.  It’s every bit as bad as its reputation... even worse than Belfast. And it’s huge... I’ve been trekking across it on foot all day (the public transport is non-existent... that’s government cutbacks for you), and I still haven’t got to the city centre.  But I think I’ll set up stall here, and let them have it. See you soon. Should be finished here in forty days. Nineveh should be finished in forty days too. Yours in God’s service, Jonah, son of Amittai. This morning at the Agape Centre we're going to read the third chapter of Jonah's surreal story and find out how things turned out… as well as what it means for us... Selah

Episode 2 of our Journey with Jonah. (The blurry photo is of the performance of parts 1 & 2 in Dublin in 2004 that started me on the blogging pathway) You really won't believe it! Where had I got to? Oh yes... I told you how I ended up doing the doggy paddle in the middle of the Mediterranean. God had asked me to go to Nineveh and I just happened to take a wrong turning... Ended up heading in the opposite direction... In a boat headed for Tarshish. But God soon caught up with me and whipped up a storm just to grab my attention, and before I knew it the sailors had grabbed me and threw me over the side to keep God quiet. So there I was... Fishfood... Literally, as it happened. Have you ever had the misfortune of listening to fishermen telling you tales of the one that got away? It was this big, they tell you... When you know fine rightly it was this big. Well I've got a story that will top any of their's... Not so much the one that got away as the one that got me... ...

Back in ancient history I was first prompted to start a blog because people were asking for the text of a monologue I wrote based on the story of Jonah, Indeed the avatar for that blog was me, seaweed strewn emerging from a Dublin fountain... A few years later that blog moved across to this platform and the avatar and Jonah got pensioned off. But for the "summer season" this year at Belfast South Methodist, I thought I would dust him off again, and draped in bladderwrack taken from Mahee Island on our Celtic Spirituality Pilgrimage yesterday, he re-emerged in the Agape Centre this morning... So here is the first of a 4 part "Journey with Jonah." You just wouldn't believe it! The week I've had. It all began with a message from God... Recorded delivery, so I couldn't even pretend it had got lost in the post. It was addressed to Jonah, Son of Amittai, Prophet of Israel... That's me... But I was in no way ready for what was inside. It said "D...

I've always had a real love of the Book of Jonah... perhaps it's because he is such an appalling prophet - God uses him despite himself - giving hope to all of us preachers and pastors who are all too aware of our failings...I've preached my way through the book a couple of times and, way back when wrote a series of monologues based on the 4 chapters that I've performed in various settings (sometimes to the detriment of my health). But the mention of Jonah and the Whale in "Accentuate the Positive" , which I posted yesterday, sent me scurrying back to Jonah chapter 2 where the prodigal prophet finds himself in the belly of the whale and composes a psalm - Is it genuine thankfulness for his strange salvation, or a piece of "cod" piety cobbled together from bits of various psalms? It is hard to say, indeed the whole book in places reads like a satire on hypocrisy.  But here is my take on Jonah's psalm: In deep distress I called to the Lord,  a...

(Jonah comes in gasping and covered in sun-block) I just don't believe it! One week I'm drowning in water... Another week I'm gasping for it... Any chance of a drink? (Someone gives him a glass of water) Ah! That hits the spot! Anyway... Did you get my postcard, from sunny Nineveh? Dreadful place! Give me Ballybeen any day. But you'll never guess what happened after I wrote the postcard... There I was, I'd done what God had asked me to... I'd told the Ninevites exactly what God thought of them... I didn't miss them and hit the wall, let me you! I told them they had 40 days before God was going to destroy them... And you should have seen their faces. They knew their number was up. I'd really got to them... They started weeping and wailing, and did the old sack-cloth and ashes bit. Its always the same; tell people they're doomed and they start on about how dreadfully sorry they are... Well, I said, its too late... 40 days and you've had your chip...

A postcard from our illustrious prophet to my congregation in Ballybeen, Northern Ireland. Perhaps you can't read his writing. He writes: Dear friends, Well, made it to Nineveh at last. Don’t know about “Wish you were here,” but I wish I wasn’t. It’s every bit as bad as its reputation... even worse than Ballybeen. And it’s huge... I’ve been trekking across it on foot all day (the public transport is non-existent... that’s government cutbacks for you), and I still haven’t got to the city centre. But I think I’ll set up stall here, and let them have it. See you soon. Should be finished here in forty days. Nineveh should be finished in forty days too. Yours in God’s service, Jonah, son of Amittai. © David A. Campton 2001 Thankfully Jonah's powers of prophetic foresight were not very well developed, and his words became a self-defeating, rather than self-fulfilling prophecy as the city of Nineveh responded in repentance. There are times when I fear that the Good News of God's...

Part 2 of this series on where Jonah comes in towelling himself off. You won't believe it! The last time I was speaking to you I told you how I ended up doing the doggy paddle in the middle of the Mediterranean. God had asked me to go to Nineveh and I just happened to take a wrong turning, and ended up heading in the opposite direction... In a boat headed for Tarshish. But God soon caught up with me and whipped up a storm just to grab my attention, and before I knew it the sailors had grabbed me and threw me over the side to keep God quiet. So there I was... Fishfood... Literally, as it happened. Have you ever had the misfortune of listening to fishermen telling you tales of the one that got away? It was this big, they tell you... When you know fine rightly it was this big. Well I've got a story that will top any of their's... Not so much the one that got away as the one that got me... How big was it? It was that big! Big enough to swallow me in one gulp, and I'm quite ...

David Clawson, a former member of Dundonald Methodist who is now Assistant Minister at Craigyhill Presbyterian in Larne, was back in Dundonald speaking at our Youth Fellowship service... He (and indeed the whole service led by the young people) was excellent... He was speaking from Jonah 1 & 2... Prompting me to post a series of pieces based on the book of Jonah... the complete antithesis of what a prophet should be... Originally I delivered this first one covered in water and swathed in seaweed... I also adapted it for use in the Connexions event at the 2004 Dublin Conference, and delivered it standing knee deep in a fountain. You just wouldn't believe it! The week I've had. It all began with a message from God... Recorded delivery, so I couldn't even pretend it had got lost in the post. It was addressed to Jonah, Son of Amittai, Prophet of Israel... That's me... But I was in no way ready for what was inside. It said "Dear Jonah, I would like you to go and tel...