Rise & Shine - January 24, 2021
Proclaim the Message That I Tell You
Rise & Shine, January 24th
Click Here for a Copy of This Week's Discussion
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
Commentary from Facilitator Maggie Gough
How do we, as Christians, do the work God is telling us to do? How do we work to heal the wounds we’ve endured? How do we become voices of salvation?
In the News
Stubborn Christians
I became a priest, in part, out of stubbornness. I was a waiter at the time, and my coworkers had a lot to do with my decision. Throughout our time working together, many of them consistently communicated surprise that I was a devout practicing Christian who attended church regularly. They were perplexed because I didn’t try to save their souls when we talked, because they knew I liked them for who they were and not who I hoped they might be someday. They routinely expressed their understanding that to be Christian meant to be homophobic, to be judgmental, to be sexist, to be a science denier, to act superior.
And it was difficult for me to argue with them: I grew up in a denomination whose doctrine and culture do, in fact, promote homophobia, sexism, and science denial. And I was definitely taught that a lot of people I knew were going to eternally burn in Hell when they died if they didn’t get on board with what we were teaching. I found myself wanting to say that such people weren’t really Christian, but I couldn’t get there: I knew that wasn’t true. I knew the sexists and homophobes and science deniers and people worried about my soul were in fact Christian. Because I had been one of them. I had been baptized and raised up alongside them, attending school, memorizing verses from the Bible, and worshiping God with them for the bulk of my upbringing. In fact, they were and are Christian. No way around it.
Continue reading Stubborn Christians a blog by the Rev. Philip DeVaul.
