Take Two - Jonah 3:1-3a, BREAKAWAY THURSDAY


I have a bit of trivia for you today, and if anyone can answer the question without any further information, I will declare you trivia master, and may even petition Hasbro to name a new movie addition of Trivial Pursuit after you.  Who is Danny Lloyd?  Well, as of December of 2007, Danny was a teacher of Hard Sciences somewhere in Missouri.  However, he was also a child actor who only participated in two movies before declaring, around the age of nine, that he wasn’t interested in an acting career.[i]  I am not surprised that he grew tired of acting and gave it up, because during the first movie, he was part of a scene with Scatman Crothers that holds a world record.  This one scene, between the two actors, which, according to the Internet Movie Data Base, had to be shot 148 times.  Here’s a second chance trivia buffs, “what is the movie?” The Shining.
Take One happened during either the summer of 1985 or 1986.  Those of you who have talked with me this week have learned (if you didn’t already know) that my memory is a lot like this picture, grainy without very fine detail—the result of using the ever-popular (during the 1980’s) and never-heard-of-now Kodak disc camera (resulting in the graininess of the picture, not my memory).  It is one of a couple of reasons that these Conference Youth Events mean so much to me.  And while I do not remember the year, I do remember the rest of the details pretty clearly.  We were at Methodist College for ACS.  It was not in this room, but in Reeve’s Auditorium.  I had shared earlier in the week during growth group time that I was planning to be a teacher of middle school or high school science.  However, as I sat on the front row of Reeve’s during the speeches for the election of conference youth officers, my focus was taken from the speeches as another voice took their place, as clearly as if it were coming from one of the speakers on stage: “I want you to teach, but not science, teach My Word.” It was my initial call to pastoral ministry.
Fast-forward to 1990.  At Methodist College once again (Yes, I know it is Methodist University, but back then, it was not—it was Methodist College.).  I am once semester from graduating with a degree in religion.  I am two sessions away from completing my Candidacy Guidebook for Ordained Ministry.  I have already been accepted to Duke Divinity School.  However, I am also in a life-draining three-year engagement and a little over six-months out from the wedding that I really wasn’t sure was a good idea.  I also am close to the peak of the onset of my battle with bi-polar disorder.  And I turn to God and say, I am tired of this.  I am tired of doing what everyone else expects of me.  I am tired of doing what you expect of me.  I’m done with this.  I’m not doing this.  And with that, I walked away from my calling—I didn’t want God to be the director of my life—I wanted to direct my life.  In the months and, for a couple of years, following the decision to direct my own life, not only did I walk away from my calling, but I pretty much walked away from living as if God’s Word was part of my life…I may have dropped in on a church or two, but my lifestyle clearly did not reflect my being a child of God with the Word of God flowing through me—cursing so bad a retired Navy officer said she had not heard that kind of language on her ship, smoking and drinking more than I ever had (which had started in high school)—His Word was not the apple of my eye or written on my heart.
Do you remember this week’s theme verse that I read on Monday?  “I know, O Lord, that the way of human beings is not in their control, that mortals, as they walk cannot direct their steps.” 
Fast-forward to 2001—six years into Take Two as Bishop Marion Edwards and the Bishop from the Russian Conference of the United Methodist Church lay hands upon my head during the ordination service.
I know Jonah.  I have lived Jonah.  Not all of us here may know the story of Jonah…so let me give a brief synopsis.  Jonah was a prophet of God.  God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh.  Jonah wanted nothing to do with Nineveh.  He probably had a myriad of reasons.  First, they were not part of the Jewish people.  Secondly, not only were they not part of God’s people, but they had treated God’s people harshly.  And while God’s message that Jonah was to deliver was a message of judgment, Jonah knew God’s nature, Jonah knew what would happen.  So Jonah said (not out loud, but through his actions), “I’m not going to Nineveh, I’m directing my life.”  Jonah goes down to the city of Joppa, finds a boat, and sets sail in the complete opposite direction of Nineveh, heading toward Tarshish.  A storm comes upon the ship, and after many attempts to sort out what to do, Jonah had the sailor’s throw him overboard—the storm stops and Jonah is swallowed by a huge fish.  After spending three days in the belly of that fish—and note, even while experiencing “punishment” God’s protective hedge is around Jonah because he has been three days in the belly of this fish and not even begun to be digested—but after three days, Jonah realizes that he needs to surrender direction of his life back over to God and pleads for God’s mercy.  Our Scripture passage this morning picks up “Take Two” for Jonah as we read, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah as 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.”  And you know what, Nineveh received a “Take Two” from God, as the proclaimed judgment turned to mercy when the people of Nineveh repented and turned to God.
During my time fleeing to Tarshish, God had that protective barrier around me—despite poor judgment in my recreational activities, multiple surgeries and illnesses, and being attacked on the job, bitten and scratched and having to undergo tetanus shots and preventative Hepatitis vaccines, the digestive juices didn’t kill me.  God gave me a Take Two—and I praise God for that, because that is the only reason I’m standing here with you today.
My friends, can’t we give praise that our God gives us a Take Two.  It doesn’t matter what we’ve done.  It does not matter how we have tried to direct our own lives.  Maybe we have sought to be in so many other activities that we asked God to take a back seat to sports, clubs, or just hanging out with friends.  Maybe we’ve turned to activities that just don’t jive with following God.  Maybe we’ve doubted or questioned God (and that’s not just a Jonah thing—a great number of God’s people have questioned Him throughout the Scriptures).  We’ve probably encountered some folks in our lives already that if we ignored them, walked away from them, or did not do what they wanted us to do, just washed their hands of us—they wanted nothing to do with us.  Maybe they even judged and condemned us forever.  Thanks be to God that the God we worship is a God of mercy and a God who will give us a second take.  In fact, he won’t stop just at Take Two…if He has to and we come back to Him, he’ll go to Take 148…and if necessary he’ll let us make Danny and Scatman look good and go even further, if we’ll just let Him direct us once more.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.





[i] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0515950/bio

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Life Between The Trees: The Cedar Tree - Ezekiel 17:22-24

So, What Are We Afraid Of? - Matthew 10:26-33

Who Are We? A Royal Priesthood - 1st Peter 2:9-10 (Sermon from 02/15)