Jonah Shocked
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
Prayer: Forgive them all
Forgive them all, O Lord:
our sins of omission and our sins of commission;
the sins of our youth and the sins of our riper years;
the sins of our souls and the sins of our bodies;
our secret and our more open sins;
our sins of ignorance and surprise,
and our more deliberate and presumptuous sins;
the sins we have done to please ourselves;
and the sins we have done to please others;
the sins we know and remember,
and the sins we have forgotten;
the sins we have striven to hide from others,
and the sins by which we have made others offend;
forgive them, O Lord, forgive them all for his sake,
who died for our sins and rose for our justification,
and now stands at your right hand
to make intercession for us,
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
John Wesley, 1703-1791
(Sourced from A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
Jonah 3:1-10. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
1Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.”
3 This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. 4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” 5 The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.
6 When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. 7 Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city:
“No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. 8 People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. 9 Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”
10 When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.
(Jonah 3:1-10 NLT)
Thought for the Day:
Jonah is the grumpiest, most sullen evangelist the world has ever seen. Feeling obliged to go to the Assyrians now that God had outflanked him with the sea monster, Jonah’s message is so short that he could not be bothered including the obligatory part about repentance. Imagine his shock when God uses even these few grumpy words to touch the hearts of the brutal Assyrians. They repent even though they don’t know if it will change anything.
Jonah is shocked because he has projected onto the Assyrians a rough callous persona but the reality is there is a lot of inner turmoil and troubled consciences that Jonah cannot see; but God can.
Do you project onto people what you expect to see? Perhaps God is calling you to speak words of love to these people?
More From 'Devotionals'
Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!
With the joy of Resurrection still glowing brightly, we enter into the sacred Easter time which leads us all the way to Pentecost.
During this time, we will focus on “Practising Resurrection”, a series of sermons that invites us to recognise Jesus and respond with trust and commitment.
For this series, we follow the lead of an old joyous German tradition that allocates themes to the Sundays of Easter. Each Sunday has its own (Latin) name:
2nd Sunday of Easter: quasimodo geniti “Like the newborn children” (1 Peter 2:2)
3rd Sunday of Easter: misericordia domini “The earth is filled with the lovingkindness of God”
4th Sunday of Easter: jubilate “Rejoice!” (Psalm 89:2)
5th Sunday of Easter: cantate “Sing!” (Psalm 98)
6th Sunday of Easter: rogate “Pray!” (Psalm 66:20)
7th Sunday of Easter: exaudi ”Hear me, Lord!” (Psalm 27)
Many churches use the colours white or gold in decorations or clothing to symbolise Joy, glory and light. A beautiful way for us, as people of faith, to witness to Jesus’ Resurrection!
How do you want to practise resurrection?
May this time of celebration be filled with goodness, trust, creativity and renewed commitment to God.
Ellen Grabner | Minister
Lord, Let me be a Mary
Lord, let me be a Mary.
Not Martha’s sister, who sat at your feet, although I find most days I’d much rather be there than in the kitchen.
Mary has chosen the best part; it will not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:42)
Not the mother of our Lord, whose greatest honour brought forth her greatest suffering.
A sword pierced her own soul just as Simeon prophesied. (Luke 2:35)
Let me be a Mary Magdalene, forever and always the first eyewitness to see an empty tomb.
Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. (John 20:1)
Let this news move my feet. Every Resurrection Sunday, from sunrise to sunset let me proclaim your holy name to those who deny you and those whom you call beloved.
He isn't here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. (Matthew 28:6)
And in our private moments of intimacy, let me recognize your voice the instant you say my name.
“Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”). (John 20:16)
Let me remember the desperate times in my past only so much as they show me my very real need for you.
For only in our great need do we come to appreciate a Resurrection Sunday.
After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons. (Mark 16:9)
By: Traci Rhoades
Ref: Lord, Let Me Be A Mary - A Poem (Traces Of Faith {Traci Rhoades})
The Resurrection Brings Joy
Three significant truths rooted in the Resurrection open a window and highlight some of the reasons for our joy.
First, the Resurrection is a proclamation that Jesus is alive and present with us. In the Resurrection appearances, the disciples experienced Jesus in their midst. The same Jesus who had walked with them now again touched their lives and spoke and ate with them. But Jesus was radically changed. Clearly, Jesus had not simply come back to life like Lazarus did. Jesus now lived the glorious life beyond death, but he was again with them. The Resurrection proclaims that Jesus is with us as well. Luke’s story of the Ascension is not a declaration of Jesus’ absence. Luke is announcing that Jesus is now present in every space and time. We encounter Jesus in the Scripture, in the sacraments, and in our brothers and sisters. As we recall the stories of the Resurrection appearances, Christ is once again with us, forgiving, feeding, and consoling.
Second, death has been conquered. Death opens the way to eternal life. Jesus gives witness to God’s faithfulness even in death. We need not be afraid of death since it is not the end, but the beginning of eternal life. Jesus’ Resurrection gives meaning to suffering and death as a way to salvation.
Third, Jesus’ Resurrection affirms the value of the human person and the world in which we live. Jesus was raised as a whole person—body and soul. Jesus did not take on human flesh and then discard it. Jesus retained his whole humanity. Along with the doctrines of the Incarnation and the Eucharist, the Resurrection assures us that God has identified with matter. God has embraced the human condition. A profound unity forever exists between God and the world, between spirit and matter. As Christians, we do not believe simply in the immortality of the soul. We believe in the immortality of the human person. Jesus’ Resurrection and ours speak of continuity between this life and the next. Jesus’ Resurrection also acknowledges the value of creation.
This world is a gift of an all-loving God. Our faith in the Resurrection assures us that everything of beauty and love and creativity lasts forever. The Resurrection is the foundation of a holistic view of the human person and an incarnational and sacramental view of life.
Jesus is with us, death has been destroyed, and human life and activity have lasting value. These are all reasons to rejoice.
Ref: Gerald M. Fagin, SJ
The Resurrection Brings Joy -
IgnatianSpirituality.com
From Putting on the Heart of Christ: How the Spiritual Exercises Invite Us to a Virtuous Life