Dear Friends of Emmanuel,
The cooler weather has arrived. The smell of Autumn is in the air and children are getting ready for school. Who of us thought that we would still be struggling with the COVID pandemic at this time? And yet here we are. I’d like to relate our present situation in the pandemic with the lessons assigned from our lectionary this week.
In the Old Testament we read the story of Jonah [Jonah 3:10-4:11] who got angry with God when God changed his mind and did not destroy the city of Nineveh. Jonah is frustrated and angry. Then God demonstrates to Jonah by taunting him by providing the shelter of a fig tree that God then destroys leaving Jonah suffering in the searing heat of the day. Jonah is so discouraged that he said, “please take my life from me.” This anthropomorphic God, a God that has human characteristics responds, to Jonah’s complaint, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” A simple thing that is not significant? Certainly, the great city of Nineveh is more worthy of concern than a fickle bush.
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