Ash Wednesday

In your great goodness,  O Lord, you have promised forgiveness to sinners, that they ay repent of their sin and be saved. 

Canticle 14

It’s like I have never read Jonah 3:1-4:11 on Ash Wednesday until today. I have loved bits and pieces of it... I love the irony of:  “A second time the word of the Lord came to Jonah saying Get up and go to Nineveh.. and he got up and went.”  Well, I guess so! I have workers coming today to put in carpet and vinyl and I did my prayers sitting in the torn apart room. All that is as usual is my rocker with my little book table which will also soon need to be moved.  It’s such a familiar story,  I thought I’d just zip through it. And then it was all new! Unfortunately, all AHA moments, when reduced to words, leave even me feeling: Yea, so? But I’ll try. As I said, I’ve read it, but somehow today what was new was that Nineveh never would have been saved without Jonah’s obedient - if reluctant - preaching and witness (Which doesn’t seem AHA at all but quite obvious) - a fact which he seems to have missed entirely because he’s so caught up in himself. He’s like a toddler yelling “I told you so, I told you so!”  It was because of him and Thorough his actions that they were enabled to hear the Word and repent and God, in his great goodness, saved. We think we know God and what he should do and how he should do it - and he should really spare us the trouble because He’s going to save after all!  But it is only through our efforts that it comes, which is quite glorious, actually, If I can get out of the way long enough to see it. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith..."Consider him... so that we may not grow weary or lose heart.." (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Maybe next time I hear “Get up and go” I’ll  go the first time and leave the results to God.