Turning Around - February 22, 2023
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 95* & 32, 143; PM Psalm 102, 130 ; Jonah 3:1-4:11; Heb. 12:1-14; Luke 18:9-14
Today’s Reflection
When I was five or six, my dad's parents gave me a three-wheeled vehicle called a Green Machine. Similar to the super-trendy Big Wheel, the Green Machine had a big front tire and two smaller rear tires, all made of durable plastic. The Green Machine, however, had no handlebars at the apex of the front tire. Rather, to adjust direction, there were two stick-shift style handles that turned the rear wheels. This meant I could gather speed while pedaling down the driveway and then spin out before I reached the sidewalk. It was the delight of many days, hearing the crackling of the rolling tires upon the cement pavers. Neighbors wanted to take part in the rear-wheel action, too. Spinning out was the cherry on top for going fast - and there was something about holding the steering handles that felt powerful. In control. Older. (Maybe that's why I still like a standard-shift transmission!)
As Lent begins today, Ash Wednesday provides that avenue for a quick turnaround. We can take the handles of our lives and change direction. We can turn our backs to the ways we have been unloving. We can choose to listen to God's call to serve. We can confess our many ways of being unfaithful and self-indulgent. We can readjust our course of faithful living, not wallowing in regret, but honestly addressing the areas we can rely more on God, following the example of Christ. This is not easy, and it is also hopeful work.
Jonah agonized as God asked him to go to Nineveh and proclaim repentance to the sinful people. He went the other way to avoid doing so, and that is what led to the story of Jonah being swallowed and then spit out by the large fish (Jonah chapters 1 and 2). He did not think that his own voice was needed - surely God would not destroy a city! This God who is "gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing" (Jonah 4:2).
Where we read today in chapters 3 and 4, Jonah proclaims "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" The people take this message seriously. We read that they believed God, began fasting, and all people put on sackcloth, even the king. He makes a royal announcement to his people, as he sits in ashes rather than upon the throne: "All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish." (v. 8b-9). God sees what they do, and how they work to turn away from the temptations around them. The destruction that had been promised does not come. God has a change of heart and mind (Jonah 3:10).
Oddly, this change of course irritates Jonah. He gets mad at God, saying "I knew it! I didn't need to leave my house for these people to change! I knew you were a merciful God from the first! Just leave me alone!" God wants Jonah to also have a moment of repentance, to grow in his faithfulness to God - and to understand that God is deeply connected to the growth and life of each human being and animal and tree...God labors over each of us and loves each of us. God wants the best for us.
Turning around is not easy. And yet, it is hopeful work, for God wants the best for us. May you enter this season of Lent open-hearted, knowing that you can return to God.
Katherine+
Questions for Self-Reflection:
Pray and review the Litany of Penitence on page 267 of the Book of Common Prayer. What pieces of this prayer feel like you need help from God to address? Which of these are painful? Which are you already working on?
Through Lent, revisit this litany. Listen prayerfully where God, who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, is with us, no matter what.