Passage for Reflection: Jonah 2:1-10
Jonah’s time in the belly of a whale – or, more likely, just a big fish – is one of the best-known stories from the minor prophets. The story is simple enough for even the youngest listener to picture yet nuanced enough to keep the serious scholar engaged.
How did Jonah find himself in such a predicament? What’s it like to live for such a long time in such a strange situation?
The top story of 2020 is the global pandemic of COVID-19. As this story unfolds, increasing numbers of people are heeding the call to stay at home.
How did we find ourselves in such a predicament? What’s it like to have our once familiar and comforting homes become places of stress, uncertainty, and limitation?
Jonah’s unimaginable stay-in-fish and our unexpected stay-at-home yield more confined quarters than is comfortable, introduce a variety of new challenges, and raise unanswerable questions.
What does it look like to make the most of staying put? Perhaps it includes caring for our neighbors in new ways. Perhaps it includes connecting or reconnecting with God by trying a new spiritual practice. Perhaps it includes a renewed emphasis on self-care.
Experts vary in their projections for when we will be released from staying at home, and what a new normal will be like. In part, the role of those who follow the Way of Jesus must be to contribute to shaping a new normal that looks more like God’s Kingdom – a world of love, justice, and peace.
This post was originally published in the Lectionary for Life series for the Center for Congregational Ethics on April 22, 2020.