Changing Directions

A few weeks ago, I had the occasion to preach a sermon based on the familiar text from the book of Jonah (Jon. 3:1-10). Perhaps it was not ironic that this was one of the lectionary texts for that week. I have preached several different sermons from the Jonah text over the years, but this time it seemed to relate to the experiences of the church and society in ways that it hadn’t before. Perhaps this is because of the change that is all around us. Maybe it is because the change that we experience today is unprecedented in many ways – as tumult and turmoil seem to characterize where we are collectively, and (for many) individually. The times in which we live have been described by writer Tom Peters as being "topsy-turvy" times.

As, this week, we have entered into the Lenten season, the Jonah text has stayed with me. For some reason it has resonated with my conscience – pricked the nerve center of my being. I – like many Christians – seek to experience the 40 days of Lent as days of self-reflection, forgiveness, and repentance. Repentance denotes renewed connection and commitment in our lives - our efforts to change directions – to go on a different pathway from that which we have travelled.

These are days of repentance for our nation as well. The economic stimulus package championed by our new president seeks to redirect our economy away from economic demise, exploitation of big business and unsound lending practices - and toward stability. A few days ago, President Barack Obama shared a renewed commitment that by 2020, America would again rank as the leader in the percentage of college graduates in the world. And today, President Obama shared his intention to end America’s military involvement in Iraq by the end of 2011. Indeed, these are days of repentance - changing directions - for our nation.

One of the interesting things about the Jonah story is that embedded in it are two call stories. God calls Jonah twice. Chapter 1 of the Book of Jonah begins with God's first call for Jonah to go to Nineveh and proclaim judgment and to call the city to repentance. But when that first word came, Jonah did not answer as God had intended. Instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah decided to go in another direction - toward Tarshish.

To understand Jonah’s decision not to go to Nineveh and to head toward Tarshish, perhaps it helps to know something about Nineveh. In the seventh century BCE, Nineveh was the largest city, the capital of Assyria, the most powerful nation in the world. God told Jonah – this unknown prophet - to go to Nineveh, the big city, to preach judgment to the people.

And given this tremendous task that God had placed before Jonah, he decided instead to go to Tarshish. And so Jonah ran to the sea, boarded a ship and headed toward Tarshish. During a violent storm, the sailors realized that God was angry with Jonah and was causing the storm. So Jonah was thrown into the sea, where he ended up in the belly of a giant fish.

Eventually, the big fish spat Jonah out onto dry land. God saved his life, and obviously had something more for him to do.

In chapter 3 we find that God called Jonah a second time. This time, when God called, Jonah changed directions and went to Nineveh as God had commanded. He went, proclaiming God’s judgment and calling the Ninevites to repent of their sins and return to God.

One of the prevalent changes in our society today is the emergence of the GPS – the global positioning system. Many of us today have GPS systems in our car as a replacement to maps and atlases (and Map quests) which used to suffice in helping us get from one place to another. One feature of the GPS comes into play when the driver has taken a wrong turn, gets off track, and is about to get lost. A voice emerges in the vehicle and indicates that “you have made a wrong turn, and the system will now need to re-calculate your route.”

Could it be that during this Lenten season, God seeks to re-calculate our route, and beckons us to enter into a renewed relationship with the divine? Could it be that it is God’s ultimate desire that we, like Jonah, point our lives in the direction in which God seeks for us to go – to re-calculate and go where God is leading us?