Chatham Charge Worship Service January 24, 2021
We come together as a community of faith to praise and worship our Father Almighty, He is the one that calls us to worship. His Holy Spirit is calling us now. He welcomes us into His house to spend time together in fellowship with him and with one another.
*Call to Worship: Psalm 62:5 – 8 #787
L: For God alone my soul waits in silence,
P: For my hope is from God, who alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
L: On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
P: Trust in God at all times, O people; pour out your heart before God who is a refuge for us.
Opening Prayer:
Holy One, God of all Creation, you call us to be your people, to carry your vision in this time and place, to go where you send us to help welcome your amazing good news. As we gather in the presence of the risen Christ to spread the news that your realm is near, fill us with your Holy Spirit, O God of all Creation. Fill us with your glorious Spirit, that we may share your good news with a world in need. Amen.
*Hymn: God of Grace, God of Glory #185, v. 1, 2, 4
1 God of grace and God of glory, on the people pour thy power; crown thine ancient church’s story, bring her bud to glorious flower. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour, for the facing of this hour.
2 Lo! the hosts of evil round us scorn thy Christ, assail his ways! Fears and doubts too long have bound us; free our hearts to work and praise. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the living of these days, for the living of these days.
4 Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore; let the search for thy salvation be our glory evermore. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, serving thee whom we adore, serving thee whom we adore.
First Scripture: Mark 1:14 – 20
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen.
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
The Lord’s Prayer
Gloria Patri: UMH 70
*Prayer:
Before we turn to the Word of the Lord, let us turn to the Lord of the Word in prayer. Heavenly Father we ask that you send your Holy Spirit to come dwell with us at this time in order that he might open our ears to a new meaning of your Word, open our minds to a new understanding of your works, and open our hearts to greater love for you. Be with us Spirit, be our guide and our companion on this spiritual journey to a greater understanding of the God of this Word. Amen
Message Lesson: 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.
The Words of God for the People of God!
The Message
Get Up and Go
Jonah 3:1 – 5, 10
There is the story about a policeman that watched a little boy on a tricycle that just kept going around and around his block. The officer spotted a woman standing in a window watching boy go around. Finally the officer decided to ask the little boy what he was doing and the boy said that he was running away from home. The officer asked but why are you just going around the block and the boy said “I’m not allowed to cross the street”! All the while he was being watched, and loved and protected from afar!
Have you ever tried to run away from home? Maybe when you were a kid? Maybe in the last six or so months? Just to get away from something that made you mad or upset you. I suspect most of us have a story to tell.
My story is that when I was 12 or 13, I got mad about how I was being treated and decided that since I was game fully employed with a paper route, I could make it on my own. So, I grabbed the zippered bag that I used to collect the subscription money every Saturday morning, that was my treasure chest, and I grabbed my rain parka because it was raining and out into the dark I went. I made it as far as the side yard, underneath the cherry trees, sat down in the wet grass and waited for the family to miss me. I must have made it a good, solid 30 minutes before I decided that I was soaked and that they must have learned their lesson, so I went back inside. If they missed me, they must have hidden it well because no one ever said word.
Our lesson today is about someone that got upset about something that they were being asked to do and rather than doing it, they decided to run away so that they wouldn’t have to do it. And like my story while he was running he got soaked by a rainstorm and he decided that it was time to reconsider his decision.
Of course, you know that this story is, the story of Jonah, written by Jonah, in the Book of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet to the most powerful king of Israel, Jeroboam II. Most of us know the story of Jonah and the Whale from Sunday School and VBS but that story, for our purposes is incomplete. So, we need to go back to the beginning to understand what started this tale.
The story begins with chapter one, verse one; the word of the Lord comes to Jonah and tells him “Get Up and Go” to Nineveh and cry out against them because of their wickedness. Now we need to understand this place Nineveh is not just any regular place.
Nineveh was the greatest city in the world at that time. It was the capital of Assyria, a nation that will eventually conquer Babylon and as we have seen in the scriptures of Jeremiah and Isaiah, the Assyrians are the ones that eventually overtake Israel, destroy Jerusalem, and disperse its people far and wide. These were aggressive and hostile Gentiles and Jonah had no use for them.
Pastor Jo Anne Taylor tells us that Jonah refuses to go. He wasn’t confused what God was asking him to do, he was offended and upset. As far as Jonah was concerned, the Ninevites didn’t deserve fair warning before they were destroyed. They were wicked, they did wicked things, and the sooner God destroyed them, the better.
But probably what really bothered Jonah the most, was he knew what God would do. He’d seen it before! God would send a prophet to cry out destruction, the people would repent, and God would relent. Instead of judgment, God would show mercy.
That is not what Jonah wanted, and he definitely did not want to be part of this mission of mercy and so he goes in the opposite direction, running away from what God wanted him to do.
Jonah was in Joppa which is in Israel on the eastern side of Israel, in order to run, he seeks passage on a boat that is going Tarshish, which off of the coast of Spain bordering the Atlantic Ocean, that is 2200 miles away, by boat, that would be a long journey.
We have no sense of why he was going to Tarshish other than it was far away Nineveh. In fact, Nineveh is 700 miles east of Joppa, so when Jonah tries to run away from his calling, his plan was to run almost 3000 miles away. But God see what is happening and He will turn him around, bring him back to his mission.
To make the story short, soon after they leave, the ship runs into turbulent waters, a mighty storm comes up. The people on the ship are frantic and they are scared. Jonah is starting to regret his decision and he comes to believe that there is some connection between the upheaval of the seas and his direct disobedience to God.
Ultimately, he agrees to be thrown overboard to save the good ship and crew and God sends a large fish, a whale if you want, that swallows Jonah whole. For three days and nights, Jonah prayed prayer of repentance and a song of deliverance to the Lord his from the belly of the fish.
Jonah had turned away from God’s and his calling and now as things got tough, he turns once again back to God in repentance. The Lord hears Jonah and the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land. As Jonah lays there, exhausted, gasping for breath, wiping schmutz, off of his face, out of his eyes and ears.
Schmutz do you know what that means it? It is an unpleasant substance. Jewish mothers use it to identify that you’ve got some kind of crap on your face. So, God saves Jonah from the great fish, Jonah is laying there trying to recover from the ordeal and immediately God comes to him a second time, saying essentially let’s try this again, “Get up and Go to Nineveh, and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
So, Jonah set out and went to Nineveh. Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah goes into the city, and he goes a day’s walk until he finds an appropriate setting for his announcement. And he cries out to the people that are there, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
Finally, Jonah through the help of the Spirit of God delivered an eight-word proclamation to the people of Nineveh about their destruction. He probably believed that it was going to fall on deaf ears because he believed that these people were too far gone to be saved.
But in that next moment, we see the Truth that is found for those that are called believers and co-missionaries with God for the transformation of the world. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, sat in ashes and proclaimed “By the decree of the king and his nobles, all human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Maybe God will relent and change his mind so that we do not perish.”
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
Whether he liked it or not, Jonah had been sent by God to speak words of repentance to people that needed to turn away from their disastrous path. Dear ones when God says, “Get up and go,” God means it and he is asking us to join him in transforming the world just like Jonah.
There is power in words, even in eight simple words. Certainly, there is power in God’s words and in the words that he gives us to say to others. We as disciples have the responsibility to use those words, in those situations in which God puts us, to turn lives around.
We have an obligation and a joy; we have been given a gift that we must not hide, a truth that we must not keep secret. It is a part of the gift that we to share it. In this case “regifting” is good.
It is woven into the fabric of God’s love that it is shared with others, multiplied infinitely until all know what we know, all know who we know. Even those we don’t think are worthy of it.
This story is about repentance, and the grace God shows to anyone who turns to him. Everything and everyone in this story experience a change of direction – and that is the definition of repentance, “to turn, to change direction”. God used Jonah to bring Nineveh to repent for what they had done with eight simple words infused with the power of the Spirit of God. Imagine what we could also do if we were to use simple words provided by God to a person or people in need!
God used a mighty storm, turbulent waves and a great fish to get Jonah to literally physically and spiritually turn back to God and mission that was given to him. It was quite the fish story!
Speaking of fish stories, it is not coincidence that the story of Jonah and the great fish comes to us in the lectionary on the same Sunday. In our Gospel lesson of Mark 1, we see that Jesus is inviting his first disciples to follow him “I’ll make you fish for people,” says Jesus. But before they could fish, they had to be caught, their lives changed. As Christians we are both fish which have been captured and fishers at the same time.
Jesus says to Simon and Andrew, to James and John “Follow me” Get Up and Go. Preach the word of repentance, redemption, salvation, and eternal life to the whole world, and I will give you the words to say. That is a call to live into God’s plan for us as well, to live into an invitation. Follow with me. Get Up and Go and we might even find ourselves in downtown Nineveh witnessing to those that need to hear the Truth of the Kingdom of God.
Hear the Good News my friends…….
Bishop Palmer tells us “There is blessing in doing what God asks us. We will have a greater sense of peace in our lives and a greater sense of calm. God is persistent in His call to us, it’s not only that God never gives up on the Nineveh’s of this world but that God never gives up on us.” We stumble and we fail sometimes and maybe what seems like disobedience is a fear of failing. But God still says go where I send you, speak to the people that I direct you to speak to, help me save everyone.
As Christians we are partners in God’s ministry to the world. God asks us to see the opportunity, to see the mission and to see the privilege that we have when God asks us to Follow Him wherever he goes and to Get Up and Go wherever and to whomever He sends us. All are worth the effort and the calling. Amen.
Hymn: I Surrender All #354, v. 1, 3, 5
- All to Jesus I surrender; all to him I freely give; I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live.
Refrain: I surrender all, I surrender all, all to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.
- All to Jesus I surrender; make me, Savior, wholly thine; let me feel the Holy Spirit, truly know that thou art mine. [Refrain]
- All to Jesus I surrender; now I feel the sacred flame. O the joy of full salvation! Glory, glory to his name! [Refrain
Prayers of the People
Pastoral Prayer:
“Lord, you have come to the lakeshore, looking neither for wealthy nor wise ones. You only ask me to follow humbly. The words paint pictures of hard-working people, going about their daily tasks when they are confronted by Jesus. This same Jesus, who long ago called to those first disciples, calls to us each today. Our “lakeshores” are different. They are the places where we work and where we live. Yet in this song, Jesus is coming for each one of us, just as we are and inviting us to follow him humbly. We have lifted the names of loved ones today in prayerful petition for God’s healing love. We have uttered in our hearts names and situations that it would break our hearts to speak. And God hears all our cries and responds in love. This is one of the faithful works of the church; the work of prayer, asking for God’s healing mercy and blessings. As we have offered our prayers, let us also offer our lives, trusting in God’s love and call to us, responding with confidence. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray. AMEN.
Hymn: Close to Thee #407, v. 1 – 3
- Thou my everlasting portion, more than friend or life to me, all along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with thee.
Refrain: Close to thee, close to thee, close to thee, close to thee, all along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with thee.
- Not for ease or worldly pleasure, nor for fame my prayer shall be; gladly will I toil nd suffer, only let me walk with thee. (Refrain)
- Lead me through the vale of shadows, bear me o’er life’s fitful sea; then the gate of life eternal may I enter, Lord, with thee. (Refrain)
Benediction
As we go out to meet a changing world, remember this: God alone is our rock and our salvation; the risen Christ is calling each of us to share the good news of the realm of God. The realm of God is near, and we are on the way. Amen.