Awaken

"What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god!" 

Jonah 1:6  

 

This passage came up in my morning devotional.  Jonah, believing that he could avoid God's call to go to Nineveh, boards a ship heading to Tarshish.  A storm has come up, and the men on the ship are all crying to their deities to save them.  The captain wants Jonah to join in this mighty chorus.   At this moment, Jonah realizes the futility of trying to run from God.  Yet, even with this understanding, like most of us, Jonah never does live fully into his role as Prophet Par Excellence.  He does eventually go to Nineveh and tells them of God's distress with them. Surprisingly, they listen and  repent. Yet, Jonah, so wrapped up in his Jonahness, cannot be happy for the change in the people. There is no sense that he fell in love with those he walked among. Therefore the story feels incomplete, but perhaps that is the doorway for us to step through. We are called to live that love.   

 

Holy One, as families, friends, and communities gather for Thanksgiving, help us to fall in love. Help us to be gentle with one another and accept one another. May our different traditions deepen our appreciation for all your people. May we not be burdened by our preparations, but rather go about them with a sense of joyous anticipation. Let us see the beauty in each Thanksgiving gathering, and then enable us to go out and share that beauty and gratitude with your world.  Amen.  

  

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.