Since just after Easter I've been sharing with a small group on Zoom my reflections on the Journey 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 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 failings
But change our ways
And minds, knowing that God can change his
Or do we prefer immutable
Kings and Gods who command and control?
Do this! Go there!
Say this, think this and don’t do this!
Rather than the Word which asks questions
Wanting us to use our God given brains
And who doesn’t
Finish the story…
Selah
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