 |
| Photo by author, taken in Joppa, Israel June 2014 |
Meditation for Feb. 25, 2015:
First Wednesday in Lent
The Rev. Vicki K. Hesse
St. Philip’s In The Hills, Tucson, AZ
Jonah
3:1-10 and Luke 11:29-32
I speak to you in the name of one God:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
What sign is God offering you, today?
Last
Saturday, a group from St. Philip’s went on a “Desert Meditation.” We followed
the “Romero Ruins” trail in Catalina State Park and took two hours to complete
it. It was really more of a “meditation”
than a “hike.”
The trail through the Romero Ruins was accompanied
by several signs along the way, explaining such things as the “ball park” that
the Hohokam people used for recreation, or describing how the trash piles
became hills from which the archeologists could learn about the peoples’ diet,
culture, lifestyle. We paused at each of the signs, wondering about various
signs that God offers along our own life’s trail.
I would like to suggest that, given our readings
about the sign of Jonah, that we reflect on
What
sign is God offering you, today?
We heard the pivotal moment in the story of Jonah
when God changes God’s mind about the destruction of Nineveh after the king
himself covered himself in sackcloth and ashes.
That king, himself, proclaimed
“who knows? God may relent and change God’s mind, and turn away from
anger…” In this sense of humility to
something greater than himself, the king proclaims the grace that God’s mercy
is more than he can offer.
What
sign is God offering you, today?
Second, we heard from Luke how Jesus reframes the
peoples’ demands for a “sign” when Jesus himself is the sign – like the
sign of Jonah was to the people of Nineveh.
Jesus reminds the people of the story from 1Kings.
The queen of the south, or Queen of Sheba, went to visit King Solomon and was
convinced of the wisdom of God given *that* king.
She condemned her people because they had a God
that was even greater than Solomon, but they did not recognize that God.
Similarly, as we heard in Luke’s gospel, the
people of Jesus’ time did not recognize God’s sign in Jesus. God offered Jesus
as a sign.
What
sign is God offering you, today?
In Thomas Merton’s book, The Sign of Jonas, he
writes some very profound reflections about Jonah and his journey:
“…Receive, O monk, the holy truth concerning this
thing called death. Know that there is in each person a deep will, potentially
committed to freedom or captivity, ready to consent to life, born consenting to
death, turned inside out, swallowed by its own self, prisoner of itself like
Jonas in the whale…”
What
sign is God offering you, today?
Merton’s reflection reminds us of the truth of
death which, printed in the heart of every person, leads one to look for the
sign of Jonas the prophet. While Jonas
swims in the heart of the sea, we hope for the whale to save him, but it is our
whale that must die, so that Jonas may live.
Today, these stories remind us to “get our inner Jonas
out of the whale” and move into the clear, busy with our proclamation of God’s
love, clothed and in our right mind, free, and holy and walking on the shore.
What
sign is God offering you, today?
At this beginning of Lent, today we are reminded
of God’s peace that finds us there, standing in front of Jesus, God’s true sign
of Love.
Today, may we respond to God’s sign, so that we
may walk in clarity, by the light of the stars, knowing that we, too, will be
raised to God’s heavenly country.
What
sign is God offering you, today?
No comments:
Post a Comment