Thoughts for January 07, 2007

Scripture Readings Leading to
Sunday January 07, 2007

Jonah 1-4               

There is a difference between a New Years resolution, hoping for change, and a fresh start, making change really happen.  That difference might be understood as a big chasm between where we are now and where we know we should be.  How do we get to the other side?  Are we trapped with no way to move closer to becoming the person God created?  A fresh start is in order.

Life change happens in climates that allow and foster change.  We must change the climate as we begin to make change in our lives or we will revert back to our old ways and fail once again.  I taught a Bible Study in Pod H of the Pott. Co. Jail for over a year.  I quickly learned that the brothers being released were usually sullen and sometimes weeping in despair on what I assumed would be a happy day.  They wept because they knew they could not go back to their old climate and survive.  They also knew they did not possess the skill to magically make a new climate appear around them.  They did not have the ability to make the jump across the chasm.  Theirs is a difficult situation to which we can all relate.  

We must have some outside source of hope to bridge the gap.  Hope changes the climate.  We find hope in our faith, our relationships with those who care for our wellbeing and by a change of life systems that provide a new set of boundaries and rules for us to follow.  This is dangerous work.  Some folks close to you will not embrace change in your climate.  Do not be surprised by attempts to sabotage.  Change in your climate will change theirs also.  Consider what would happen if one day you decided to take control of the thermostat and change the temperature in your house.  Climate change, even that change leading quickly to hope, needs to be planned and communicated.  

Jonah is an interesting Biblical focus for this topic.  Jonah wanted no change.  He ran from God.  After going through a terrible ordeal almost leading to his death he accepted God’s invitation to speak the prophetic word.  Even as the story closes Jonah does not fully embraced the God’s hopeful plan for the world.  And yet, there is a bridging of the gap in this story and we find a hopeful climate emerging which brings us all just a little closer to home.
    
Blessings, Dave Weesner
  
Sunday Worship
Scripture: Jonah 1:1-4; 2:1-3 The Message
Sermon Title: “FRESH Start”