Called

How long does it take us to answer God’s call? We very often have quite a go-round before we finally answer. Do you think we all have a bit of Jonah in us?

God needed someone for a messenger and Jonah was chosen. What did Jonah do? He set out to flee, to hide from God. We all know what happened to Jonah; God was in charge and things did not go well. Jonah experienced some unexpected events that he did live to tell about. Jonah finally answered God’s call to go to Nineveh, and what a surprise it was that the people of Nineveh listened to him, which led to God sparing Nineveh from destruction.

God provides for us just as God did for Jonah. We, like Jonah, need to understand that this is God’s world, and God will do with it what God wants to do; we need to answer God’s call to witness.

At the Joint Assembly of the Anglicans and Lutherans in 2013, I heard these words of a retired New York bishop as he dismissed the people at the end of the eucharist, “Get up, get out, get lost.”

Dear God, keep us in line. Help us to be your messengers and not to run and hide. Amen. — DMF