Jonah And The Worm

Jonah 3:10-4:11

There's one question I ask children and adults which, almost 100% of the time, gets the same response of a look of confusion as well as a disbelief in my knowledge of bible stories: Do you know the story of Jonah and the worm?

We all know about the whale, but almost none of us know about the worm. We've all been told of how Jonah was a reluctant prophet, unwilling to speak on behalf of God to a people Jonah felt had no chance at forgiveness from God. We all know about how God made a storm come upon the sea as Jonah was travelling and how the ship's crew, fearing for their own lives, threw Jonah overboard to calm the storm. We all know of how a whale swallowed Jonah and spit him up on the shores of Nineveh to do God's bidding anyway.

But, a worm? What does a worm have to do with the story?

We have a student in our classes who stopped coming to school half-way through his freshman year. This year he's a senior, but with nowhere near enough credits to graduate. Most of the teachers don't know what to make of the situation because on the one hand he honestly doesn't have the skill-set to do the necessary work in order to pass their classes, but on the other hand he wants to try.

Some of the teachers have had an "I told you so" moment with this student, while others have simply chosen to ignore him. But, there are one or two of us who are willing to work with him, as long as he is willing to do the work himself. I will tell you that this young man is kind, gentle, and wants to do what is right. He knows he doesn't have the skills to succeed, but he also admits that that's why he's back in school.

As for myself, I have seen him try, and I have confidence he can learn what he needs to in order to be successful in life. But, I will also admit it took a lot for me to get outside of my comfort zone in order to take the time necessary to give this young man the attention he deserves.

If we are to understand the lesson of the story as told in Jonah, it isn't our duty to judge others, only our duty to work with them to somehow improve their lives, just as long as they are willing to do their part as well. Sometimes all we need is a worm to remove our comfort zone to realize where our heart truly is.

Love Knows No Bounds

Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13

I saw a video post yesterday which touched me deeply. It showed an elderly women laying on the ground, obviously unable to do more than lay there. She looked as though she was well into her 90's and had advanced Alzheimer.

Sitting next to her was her son, a man who seemed to be in his 60's. He had a bowl of something that looked like cream of wheat in his hands and was slowly feeding his mom, taking one spoonful at a time from the bowl to her mouth. She would open her mouth to take in the meal, absent-mindedly chew it, then swallow. At which time her son would give her another spoonful.

What's so great about this, you might be asking. See for yourself.

If you're not on Facebook, I apologize for your not being able to actually see this video. What the video shows is that the elder lady's son has no hands. He is sitting with his legs crossed, holding the bowl of porridge on his lap, and with the spoon firmly held between the stubs of his two wrists, he feeds his mother, one spoonful at a time - careful not to drip anything on her.

Now that's compassionate, merciful, patient, and faithful love.

The Guardians Of...

Psalm 119:33-40

Guard:  a state in which someone is carefully looking for possible danger, threats, problems, etc.

When was the last time you guarded something?

Protect, sure. Defend, more likely. But guard, I'm not sure.

To guard something means to be proactive as to how safe we keep something. Actions such as defend or protect usually mean that danger or harm to that which is important to us is imminent and in need of being kept secure. When something is guarded, it's done so at all times; whether or not danger is at hand.

When my son went to his first party as a teenager, my wife and I promised each other we wouldn't worry. He was with people we knew, the friend who came to pick him up was the son of a family friend, and we trusted our son completely. There wasn't anything to worry about.

My wife and I stayed up to watch TV and before you knew it we fell asleep on the couch. We heard our son come home and woke up, pretending to be asleep because we didn't want to be those parents who stayed up all night waiting for our kids to come home. It took all the will power I had not to snicker as he quietly sneaked by us to get to his bedroom, trying not to wake us up.

After he settled into his bedroom, my wife and I moved to our own bedroom, almost laughing as we too moved quietly so as to not wake him up. The next day she and I talked about what happened, and we both agreed that our actions were a way of being sure we would be available if our son needed us for anything. In a sense we were guarding him - keeping him in our thoughts and actions so that we would be at hand for whatever might happen.

In today's Psalm, the psalmist says that if God will teach him what is expected to live an acceptable life that he will do everything he can to keep those teachings safe. The writer states that he will guard every part of those teachings
. Just as my wife and I did with our son, the psalmist will keep God's teaching as a living part of his mind, heart, and soul, being available at all times to protect the words God has given.

What do you guard?

If At All Possible...

Romans 12:9-21

One of my favorite songs is "Let There Be Peace On Earth". If you're not familiar with the words It begins with the line, Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me. In my opinion, no truer words could be sung, especially in times of unrest.

The unrest I mentioned doesn't necessarily have to be the kind we've been seeing on the news; civil disobedience, genocide, war. Unrest can also describe how one is personally doing; not getting enough sleep, stresses of meeting deadlines, unhappy with the life choices made so far. Either way, unrest is exactly what it sounds like: not at rest.

Another way to say that one is not at rest is to say they're not at peace, either with themselves, people around them, or God. Peace is a funny thing. When asked how people define peace, the most common answer by far is "not at war." For some reason we've come to associate peace and war as two words dependent on each other. If we're at war we have no peace, if we have peace we're not at war.

However, peace is so much more than lack of battles with missiles and guns. Peace is that place where all things are in sync with one another, that place where one does not feel unsettled, rushed, out of place, emotionally or spiritually uncomfortable, or for any other reason out of place.

Peace is not an easy thing to achieve. It takes a consciousness, or active participation, as to what is going on around us and how our words and actions affect those things. If we're having a bad morning and treat others as though they're the reason it's bad, how do you think they're going to react? But, if we're having a bad morning and treat others with kindness, my guess is that you'll be calmer a lot sooner.

How we treat others and ourselves is in direct correlation to our
physical peacefulness. By the same token, how we treat God directly affects our spirit. Today, if at all possible, take a look at how much peace you have in your life, then take notice at how your own words and actions are directly responsible for that peace, or lack thereof.

Remember, in order to have peace in this world it has to begin with you.

Going Back Home

Jeremiah 15:15-21

Yesterday, while performing my duties as a hall monitor during lunch, I had a conversation about youth and young adults within the LGBT community. I was a little apprehensive at first, but as the conversation ensued I was glad I had it.

As a project for graduation, one of our high school seniors is going to start a Gay and Straight Alliance (GSA). It's a club in many high schools and colleges which invite people from the LGBT community to understand that there are straights who accept them without conditions.

I was talking about this idea with my hall monitor partner, forgetting that she was raised an evangelical Christian. She began by asking questions about why such a club is needed, to which I blabbed a few statistics: over 80% of teens who come out are bullied at school, 26% of teens who come out get kicked out of their homes, etc.

She had no idea there was an issue, but after thinking about it she recalled when her niece had told her family she was a lesbian their first reaction was anger caused by betrayal and they kicked her out of the house, causing her to live on the streets. My hall partner began recalling how her niece soon turned to prostitution and drugs, to which I told her that's the normal pattern for youth and young adults who end up on the streets.

I also reminded her that's what happens when we forget to accept people for who they are, instead of who we're told they need to be.

She thought for a while in silence, and continued the story about her niece, remembering that after a few months her parents went looking for her and brought her back home, where they apologized for not understanding and vowed to try harder to be accepting. Today her niece is living a successful life and is in a very happy relationship.

I hold firm to the belief that God does not "kick us out" for any reason. The God I believe in understands that sometimes we need to leave on our own to search for our personal truths. The good news is that God will always be there to hold us tightly in God's arms when we do decide to come home.

Doing The Right Thing

Psalm 26:1-8

On the way to church yesterday my wife and I had a conversation about what's going on in the world. It would seem that everywhere we look there is trouble. War, disease, man-made and natural disasters all seem to dominate the news media. My wife and I like to think and live as positively as possible, but sometimes that can become difficult when it seems the rest of the world is always in a negative place.

Our conversation began to focus on what we could do about the things which are in the world. At first we thought the problems to be so big that there wasn't possibly anything we could do. However, as we continued to talk I came to the realization that if we try to fix the problems of the world alone, they'll never get fixed.

There is a tendency to look at the things which are happening in the news and simply shake our heads and complain. Sometimes we offer our words of discontent and rarely act on them, choosing instead to believe our actions won't matter.

Sometimes.

As my wife and I came to agree on yesterday, if everyone does a little, greatness will be achieved.
The actions you take affect the actions of those around you, which in turn will affect the actions of those around them. A ripple effect of good actions has to begin somewhere, and as the song says, let it begin with you.

As today's Psalm remind us, we can find justice when we surround ourselves with goodness. When we begin to ensure the right things are done for the right reasons, and make living in such a way that can only make others want to live the same way, righteousness and justice is not far behind.

Have We Forgotten?

Isaiah 51:1-6

I came across an interesting reading this week. It's a sermon by Ellen Lippmann, a progressive Jewish Rabbi, which speaks about humanity's connection to God. The sermon title is called "The Thread That Binds Us" and starts out this way:

The rabbis of the Talmud are speaking. They say,
“There are 613 commandments given by God to Moses.
David came and reduced them to 11 principles.
Isaiah reduced them to 6 principles.
Micah came and reduced them to 3 principles.
Isaiah came again and reduced these to 2.
Amos came and reduced them to one.
Finally, the prophet Habbakuk came and based them all on one principle.”

Rabbi Lippmann goes on to explain that in this teaching the Jewish people are reminded that both tradition and progression live in harmony and that our place in humanity is to recognize that the people we are today is a direct correlation to the people who came before us.

This morning my wife and I were discussing a book review we saw in the newspaper. The book is based on the idea that World War 1 never happened. In the utopia which follows, several things are assumed: Adolf Hitler goes into the health food business, Vladimir Lenin comes to the United States and becomes a university professor, and Richard Nixon is an evangelical minister.

I must admit, I had a chuckle at the ideas represented by the author (Richard Ned Lebow - "Archduke Franz Ferdinand Lives"), but my wife took it seriously and said that if we follow this train of thought we can truly envision a better world today.

That's the problem, isn't it? Most of us are cynical and believe that if someone is bad they are bad, and nothing can change that fact. But, imagine if you can (and as I did) that war didn't exist, that there was absolutely no reason for people to "rule" over others. Imagine what kind of a world it would be if instead of money and power, love and justice guided our every thought.

Less we forget, the stories of history don't only teach us about domination, it also teaches us about peace. Mahatma Ghandi, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are just a few of those people who lived for one purpose - to be the image of their God in whatever situation they were placed.

I think it's time we do the same.