Epiphany

January 19, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, ‘Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.’ So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, ‘Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.

I am so claustrophobic I probably would not have survived three days in the belly of a whale, but being caught in a whale of containment apparently gave Jonah the time he needed to come to his senses and follow God’s teachings. Living for 11 months sheltering at home, attending meetings through Zoom, and attending live-streamed worship may be the closest thing to the belly of a whale that I have experienced. I have read several novels and biographies born out of World War II and the Holocaust during this time. Learning from reading has enlightened me further on trusting in God whatever the situation, the great pain of loss, but the power to move forward no matter what.

We do not know how 2020 and 2021 will be described in history. Charles Dickens may have summed it up best when he wrote in A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

In the final analysis, our future is in our hands, and with God’s guidance, we can learn from our foolishness and incredulity clothed in darkness and channel our energies into light and hope and love. Like Jonah, we are being spat upon the earth to continue our mission of spreading God’s love throughout the world, and we need to start here at home.

Prayer: God of possibilities, help us learn from our mistakes as we strive to love our way into your light. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.