The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a warm worship service on a beautiful Autumn morning. As part of the service, we concluded our four-week study of Jonah, the "lone wolf prophet of God." We turned to the end of the prophet's story, where Jonah succumbs to ridiculous levels of self-pity, to the point where he is even resentful of God's grace toward others.
In "...And I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore," alluding to the famous catchphrase in the classic movie Network, we considered how Jonah, despite his relationship with God, seems unable to gain a wider perspective on the world. In part, I suggested that Jonah needed friends to help him break out of the cycle of self-pity, offering different ways to understand and appreciate the same experiences. And I wondered how often we are like Jonah, wallowing in self-pity and oblivious to the blessings of God all around us.
To be honest, I've really enjoyed this series on Jonah. It's been a lot of fun to prepare the sermons, and I think the story is fascinating because of Jonah's reluctance and mistakes, which are unexpected in a prophet. I hope others have enjoyed it too.
If you missed this sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with others, you can listen to an audio recording here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment