Prospect
The Rev'd Robert Warren.
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Mark 1:14-20
In the first Lesson this week the Lord calls out to the Prophet
Jonah (a second time) to go to Ninevah and preach to its sinful
inhabitants. Jonah does just that and
the inhabitants of the city, from the greatest to the least, repent and are
converted. In this week's Gospel reading
Jesus calls out to Peter and Andrew, James and John to follow him and to become
"fishers of men" and they (according to Marks Gospel) "immediately"
leave their nets, their families and their livelihoods and become
disciples. What a remarkable set of
lessons for a Sunday service preceding an Annual General Meeting. God speaks, men and women say "yes
sir" and the product is delivered nicely wrapped in plastic.
The sermon is bound to be short.
We can be out of here before 1:15.
If you're not a member of the Lunch Bunch or somehow missed
Sunday School during your childhood, because your parents wanted to keep
Sundays free for other things, you might be forgiven for not remembering that
Jonah's successful preaching mission to Ninevah only happened after the second
time of asking. When first asked Jonah
ran away, there was a ship and a storm and a great fish which vomited him out
upon a beach with a few square carrots.
You might also have overlooked the fact that while the core disciples of
Jesus are gathered quite swiftly in the Gospel account it takes them quite a
long time and considerable mental and physical distress before they understand
what it is that God has called them to do. There's nothing automatic about it.
These are deceptively simple accounts if you take them for what
they are without wider reading and reflection.
Who preached to you first?
Did anybody lower the bar to make it seem easy to say yes to what God was claiming in you?
Did you hope that it would leave your lifestyles untouched, your
ambitions and your boundaries? And did
it all end in tears or with a sense of failure a decade ago? Are you on your second try now? Or are you considering a second try because
the call of God is still not dead within you but merely waiting for you to push
open the door?
Know this - that God will call his workers to the field, his
fishermen from their boats and his prophets to Ninevah and
Clermont-Ferrand. He will not stop
asking. Many will say yes. Even after a false start or two the message
will sink in. Because it is time and the
prize is rich, the many will allow themselves to be hardened to the task and
set to the work.
Bonne année
Bon meeting
