Clean Up Your Own Mess

Good Saturday morning, church folk!

Did you know that Lattin Farms does a "Fall Festival" every Saturday in October?? Probably you knew that. I did not know that, til the other day. There's pumpkins and pie and kids' stuff and a corn maze...you can make your own scarecrow, you guys. And have you SEEN all of the cool stuff that the downtown theater is doing?! There are so many great opportunities to spend time with family and friends in this awesome town, I hope you are taking advantage of it. We will talk about the importance of taking time to play a little bit later in our sermon series about the life lessons we learned in kindergarten, but I hope you are doing it now! Time is fleeting, beloved...kids grow up so fast, all of us get older, life is short. Take time for happiness.

Of course, it's not ALWAYS time for play. And in order to really enjoy life, in order to feel good and strong and satisfied and fairly stress-free, we need to have our life reasonably well in order. King Solomon, in writing about where to find meaning and hope in life, writes a lot about wisdom. In Ecclesiastes 2:24 he says:

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his work. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God.

Our scripture passage for this week is a piece of the story of Jonah. For those of you who may not be familiar with Jonah's story, he was commanded by God to go to Ninevah as a prophet, to tell them about God and convince them to turn their lives around. That is chapter 1 verse 1. In verse 3, Jonah responds by taking off on a boat, going in the exact opposite direction from Ninevah. Evidently, he had no interest in doing the work God had given him to do. What Jonah's plan was, exactly, we have no idea other than fleeing from God and this work, but the result of Jonah's irresponsibility is a mess that affects everyone around him. 

Now, Jonah is a very imperfect person. But he does see the mess he has created, and he takes responsibility for it: he admits his fault, and takes charge of doing his part to make things right. It isn't easy or pleasant, but he does it...and God meets him there, giving him the strength and protection to get through it. It's a great story, short and pretty hilarious really, and full of wisdom. I hope you're able to take some time to read it today, or sometime this week. Here's a link to Bible Gateway, if you like to read on your computer or tablet; you can choose from among a whole lot of different translations in the search bar:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah+1&version=NRSV


Illuminating our scripture lesson this week is the story "Just a Mess" by Mercer Meyer. His books were some of my kids' favorites when they were little, sweet and funny and good. It will be a good day. Have a wonderful day today, and we will see you in the morning!

Love and blessings,
Pastor Dawn

Oh, and PS! If you are a worship leader (like, if you do the Young at Heart moment sometimes, or if you read scripture and lead the welcome, or if you serve communion or light the candles) or if you would LIKE to do some of those things, then please stay after worship this week for a quick refresher course! We will talk about the meaning of all of the things we do in worship, and the joy we get in doing it. We will practice reading and leading, play with the microphones, and answer any of your questions. It will be fun! Hope to see you there.