July 7, 2024
Wait:  waiting and praying
Lighting the Christ Candle

Welcome and Announcements 

Call to Worship
The Voice calling long ago. 

The Voice calling today.
The Voice compelling Jonah to go also compels us to go.
The voice compels us to share the good news of God’s redemptive love.
With those who would be enemies.
The people of Nineveh, beloved of God.
The people of the Ukraine, beloved of God
The people of Russia, beloved of God.
The people of Israel, beloved of God
The people of Palestine and Lebanon, beloved of God
The Voice was calling long ago.
The Voice is calling still today. 

 

Hymn:  585 Christ you call us all to service

 

 

Prayer of Adoration 

Call our names, Lord.  Call us as you called Jonah, when we are running away in the wrong direction.  Speak to us in unexpected voices and set us on a new path.  Call our names, Lord. 

Call our names, Lord.  Call us as to be an instrument of healing, to be agents of change, 
to speak truth to power.  Even when we are fearful of the cost, give us trust in your sending.  

Call our names, Lord. 
May we see the connection between love of you and love of your people;  that we too may feed and be fed, and follow you. 
Call our names, Lord. 

Call our names, Lord.  Call us to service.  Call us to repentance and hear us as we pray together, saying…. 

Prayer of Confession:
Holy One, what a blessing and privilege we share 

here in this sacred space and among this loving community. But, like Jonah, we sometimes are jealous of what we share here.  We know that others are longing and thirsting for what we know and experience.  Forgive us our reluctance to open our doors, open our hearts to others; some like us, some not.
We repent of our hesitations and unwillingness to witness to those we have considered strangers and even enemies for fear they just might become friends. Amen. 

Assurance of Pardon 

The one who calls us to this place calls us to reconciliation through grace.  God will not deny a repentant heart or an open spirit.  Know that you are forgiven and walk in the new way that is made known to you in God’s love.  Amen 

Passing the Peace 

Hymn:  641 One more step along the road I go

Scripture:

Jonah 1 : 1-17  p 1436
Jonah 3 : 1-10  p  1438 

 

Sermon:  Jonah:  waiting and praying  

 

Root and Bertrand remind us that congregations are always examining themselves by a standard of faithfulness that is important to them, or perhaps because they feel they need to be more like congregation B.  For each congregation that standard of comparison is something different: 

Attendance numbers
Offering amounts
Mission support 

Midweek programs
Sunday School Enrolment 

Hits on the website 

As a result, congregations move from identifying a problem to plotting, planning and organising a response to the problem they perceive that they have.  They do so with little or no regard to first understanding what God is really calling them to be and to do.   

So we are called to, first of all, quit striving, and to wait and listen for God.   

We have seen that the time of waiting is a time when we learn more about God.   

The time of waiting is about growth in confidence with God. 

The time of waiting is about learning to trust in God. 

And learning to hear God’s voice in the cacophony of the world. 

And learning to trust in God’s timing. 

Sometimes though what we really need to learn, is obedience. 

 

Jonah is that classic example of learning obedience.  And also, an example of the need to let go of our prejudices and biases, and respond with grace, no matter what God is asking of us. 

When God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to them about repentance, he measured his response by his feelings about a hostile nation.  He regarded their sinfulness. 

Then Jonah measured God’s merciful nature, and he knew that if he went to preach to them, if they obeyed, God would forgive them.  That was unacceptable to him, because he believed that they should be punished, and that God’s mercy was unfair. 

 

In short, Noah wanted no part in the people of Nineveh receiving grace and mercy.  His response to God’s calling was to run away. 

 

We see this happening in our world today.   

We judge nations by our standards.  Russia, North Korea, China and even lately Israel.  Sometimes we hear the message that maybe they deserve to be destroyed.  They need to be punished.   

We forget that the people are not the leaders whose decisions and actions are reprehensible.  The people are often victims of their own government.  All of them, even the corrupt leaders, are deserving of the grace and mercy of God.  

We judge people by our own prejudices.  Race, economic status, socially acceptable behaviours, mental health and addiction issues.  We forget that too often the problems that beset others are caused by the limits we place on them.  Or the lack of resources available to them.  Or the resources denied to them.  All of them are deserving of the grace and mercy of God. 

For the Church, God has the expectation that we will heed his calling to help.  When God calls us to reach out, love, and help a certain community, our response needs to be one of obedience.  When that happens, we need to let go of our own opinions, and live so that God’s grace is apparent. 

 

When we, like Jonah, run away then we will be immersed in the storms of disobedience.   Sometimes it is that very storm that will cause us to finally say, “okay, God.  I get it.   I will go.”    

 

Jonah had a particularly difficult time in the storm of disobedience that followed him.   

He headed to Joppa and boarded a boat that was going to Tarshish. On the way a violent storm arose.  The sailors were frightened and started tossing out the cargo to lighten the ship.  When that didn’t work, they cast lots to see who was at fault for the storm.   

The lot fell on Jonah. 

 

They went to the hold to wake him up and find out what he had done to cause this storm.  He told them he was a Hebrew, who worshipped the Lord, the God of Heaven who made the sea and the dry land.  He also told them he was running away from God.  The sailors were terrified at this news, asking him, “What have you done?”  “How can we make the sea calm?” 

 

There are some clues here that Jonah is learning a little bit of humility as he waited through the storm.   

 

That is good advice for all of us.  When our roof leaks in a storm, we don’t go on the roof to repair it while the storm is still raging.  We wait until the storm is over, then we fix the problem.  But along the way we do learn a few things.   

But the sailors asked, “how can we make the sea calm?” 

The only answer Jonah had was one of compassion for the sailors, “throw me overboard and you will be safe”… 

But it seems they were unwilling to take that risk with his life.  The storm in the meantime kept intensifying in strength and ferocity.  Finally, they realized that they had no choice but to throw Jonah overboard.   

So, they did, and God provided a great fish to swallow Jonah.  He was in the belly 3 days and 3 nights. 

We see here that because Jonah learned humility, he was able to take responsibility for his own actions.  More importantly, Jonah was beginning to have compassion for those who were not followers of the God of the Hebrews.  He cared about their lives and the danger they were in because of the storm.   

 

But he still had so much more growing to accomplish. 

 

The times of waiting, like we saw with Joseph, could be cumulative.  It doesn’t all happen at once.   

Once Jonah was in the belly of the fish, his second time of waiting began.   

During this time Jonah prayed.   

He laments for his situation. 

He acknowledges that God is the God of salvation. 

He praised God for hearing his prayers. 

He vowed to make a sacrifice to God. 

He repented and vowed to be obedient. 

Then Jonah adds the words, “ What I have vowed I will make good.   I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”  Jonah 2:9 NIV 

Then we read, “10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” 

We read from chapter 3 this morning, “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 

3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 

While there he did exactly what the Lord had commanded telling the people of the forthcoming destruction at God’s hand.  The King hearing of the coming judgement announced a time of repenting, and fasting commanding everyone to wear sackcloth and ashes. 

 

And God spared all the people of Nineveh.   

 

So, you would think that Jonah would be happy. 

He had learned to have compassion for those who were not followers of God.  He had confessed and repented and obeyed God’s command regarding Nineveh.  Surely, we would expect him to be happy with the outcome.   

There is still more Noah needs to learn.   

Sometimes I wonder if we are slow to be obedient because we fear the outcome.  If we bring people to Jesus, they may start hanging out with us, and worshipping with us, and bringing their friends along with them.  Our lives would change, our congregation would change.  We’d be responsible for all these newcomers.  

 

It would be so much better if only people who are like us come to join us.   

 

While we don’t yet know what God is calling us to be and to do, we can learn the lesson that waiting is not a one-time event.  We can lean that we will be responsible for the lives that our witness has affected. 

Joseph was responsible for his family.  Moses was responsible for the people of Israel for 40 years in the desert.  Gideon was responsible for gathering an army.  David was responsible for the whole kingdom. 

Obedience has rewards and responsibilities. 

 

Jonah’s waiting has changed his attitude to outsiders and then compelled him to embrace obedience, but his transformation was not yet complete. 

 

In Chapter 4 we learn that Jonah was angry.  “2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 

 

Jonah went outside the city, and found a shelter, and sat down to sulk. 

 

Any of us who have ever sent a child to time-out know that they don’t go with a good attitude.  They may obey, but they stomp off, claiming to hate us, and sit in their rooms and sulk.  But in that time-out as they wait, they have a change of heart.   

God sees Jonah and he has compassion on him.  So he sends a plant to grow tall and strong and cover his shelter with protective shade.  Jonah enjoyed that.  

But the next morning God sent a worm that destroyed the plant.  There was an east wind and a scorching blaze that burned Jonah’s head.  He begged God to let him die. 

So God teaches him a lesson about how much God values all of his creation. 

 

In chapter 4 we read, “But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?” 

 

The waiting in the desert was a time for him to learn the value of all creation.  The earth, the plants, the animals and the people.  All created by God, loved by God, and redeemed by God.   

 

Sometimes we wait and learn from a great epiphany.  Sometimes we have a lot of little waits along the way, learning enough to get us through the next phase of what we need to do.   

Maybe the whole concept of learning to wait, is a part of the sabbatical commands of God, where not just Sunday is the sabbath, but there are also sabbath years.   

Times to just rest and be with the Lord.  Sabbatical time to wait for God speaking to us and within us.   

Time to slow down from the rushing and challenges of life to rest, to pray, to connect with one another and with God.   

Time in which to re-evaluate our attitudes to God and others.   

Time to repent from our disobedience.   

Time in which the truth of God’s love and compassion becomes something we embody and becomes a part of our nature. 

Maybe we it is time for us to look for the opportunities God gives us to wait until what he wants for us becomes clear. 

Amen.    

 

Affirmation of Faith:
Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40: 31 NRSV 

Hymn:   672 Jesus calls us o’er the tumult

 

Offering and Doxology 830

Offertory Prayer
You call us into a life that others have told us is easy, but it is not. 

You challenge us to forgive, to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us.  Accept from us this offering of our tithes, our wealth, our time and our service.  Send it to those whom we may overlook.  Send it to our enemies.  Send it so that all may hear that you are the God of salvation, and repenting be gifted with grace and mercy.  In Jesus name. Amen 

 

 

Gathering Prayer Requests
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession 

Holy God, you knew us before we took our first breath.
You uttered your living Word and brought forth light, love, and life.
You gathered us from the dust of the earth and called us your people.
You sent us into the world to proclaim your mighty and wondrous deeds.
You are with us even now as we continue our call.  In your strength we share love, and good deeds with the world around us. 

JOYS 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCERNS 

 

 

 

 

 

WORLD
 

 

 

 

 

 

Faithful God, your power and your righteousness reach the heavens.
Hear us, your servants, as we follow you to the day when
faith, hope, and love will be upon the lips of all of us, your children.
We thank you for speaking to us and ask that you help us to listen for your voice every day.  With thanksgiving, we pray together as Jesus has taught us, saying,  

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever.  Amen 

 

Communion… See insert 

Hymn:  592  I the Lord of Sea and Sky

Benediction 

 We have sung, we have prayed, we have worshiped together. 

Now we go back out into the world.  We came together to build relationships, relationships with each other, and our relationship with Jesus. 

We go out as people who are strengthened by our connections.  Ready to love and to serve.  Ready to carry God's love to the world.  May grace, peace and mercy from God:  Father, Son and Spirit be with you now and forevermore.  Amen 

 

Blessing Song:  500 Open my eyes v.1 & chorus

Open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free Silently now, I wait for thee ready my Lord, thy will to see open my eyes, illumine me Spirit Divine
Public Domain