Searching for What God has Made - March 11

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm [83] or 42, 43; PM Psalm 85, 86; Jer. 10:11-24; Rom. 5:12-21; John 8:21-32

Last night, our Young Adult Bible study met on zoom to discuss the book of Jonah.  Over the past few weeks, we have tried to take reasonable amounts of Scripture and read bits where we can really get a sense of a story.  I think it’s fun to say that we read an entire book.  We read Ruth two weeks ago and the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew last week. 

Jonah is an interesting book, really because it is a story that focuses on the prophet and is not a story calling out the actions and behavior of Israel.  That seems to be the focus of the other prophets in the Bible, like Jeremiah, who we are reading now in Morning Prayer.  The purpose of Jonah is really about the breadth of God’s saving love being far more expansive than Jonah can imagine.  In fact, he is quite mad that God cares more about the Ninevites than his precious little ego (that’s another story worth unpacking).  

One of the people in our study was commenting on the role of the animals in the story.  Obviously, there is a large fish, but when Jonah travels to Nineveh and commands the people to repent, the humans and the animals both put on sackcloth.  My kids have tried on several occasions to dress up our cat, and it didn’t work out in the least.  I can’t imagine a whole town of animals dressed in sackcloth!  And then in the very last passage, the Lord asks Jonah, “And should I not be concerned with … many animals?”  Really God?

We don’t often consider it as such, but I think the book of Jonah is a window into God’s care and inspiration for all that inhabit the earth.  The animals, the land, and the plants all matter.  Last Saturday about two dozen of us gathered for our first Holy Hike of 2021.  We walked together along a trail off of Dunnavant Road.  Kids played on logs that stretched across a beautiful stream.  We all marveled at the magnificent setting for a Saturday morning.  On Sunday, many on our congregation drove on to the beautiful grounds of Saint Stephen’s, alive with hundreds of daffodils planted in 2018 exploding with beauty and color as we gathered as the Body of Christ. 

If I am completely honest with you, I have never worshipped in a parking lot before.  But I did on Sunday, amongst our people and daffodils, and some beautiful music.  I looked out at the trees that separated our church from the neighborhood behind, the large pine trees moving up the hill. They almost danced in the breeze.  On Saturday, we walked along a well-worn trail, taking in the smells of a spring that is about to break through, of buds beginning to give a glimmer of life, and slowing down enough to be filled with awe and wonder.

The prophet Jeremiah draws our attention to God in this way:

“It is he who made the earth by his power,
   who established the world by his wisdom,
   and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
   and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightnings for the rain,
   and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.”  

And then he points to Israel that has put her trust in all of the false idols.  And I am left wondering what are ours.

We are all search for God and often I wonder if it is in the very idols that we have fashioned with our own hand.  If we are looking for peace, for God’s promise of security and abiding presence, I wonder if we are just a walk away.  Just outside our cubicles, or offices, and or kitchens is a sidewalk or a trail that is waiting to be discovered.  We keep looking to our phones, our email, our work, our productivity, or our shiny new toys as if they are to fill us with awe and wonder.  And all along, it could be as simple as a walk outside and some more daydreaming through a window.  Have a few minutes?  Close this email and go search for something God has made.  It might change your whole perspective. 

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  How much time do you spend in nature?  What was the last meaningful experience outside you had? 

Daily Challenge:  Power your phone off for fifteen minutes and go for a walk outside.