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If you have a prayer request, please send it to pastordelawareheadwatersparish@gmail.com. We will be happy to add it to our prayers during Sunday service. If you have a request/need for private counseling or a time of prayer with Pastor Dawn or Pastor Peg about a personal matter, please contact the office or either Pastor.

SERMONS:

Pastor Peg posts her two most recent sermons on this page. If you are interested in reading more of her sermons you can go to pastorpeg.wordpress.com. For the next four weeks we are looking at the book of Jonah. Enjoy.

Running From God

October 12, 2025 18^th Sunday of Pentecost

Jonah 1:1-15

Jonah is one of the humorous books of the Bible. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have some themes in it that you shouldn’t take seriously. Jonah belongs to a genre of scripture storytelling that uses humor to get theological points across. It’s like how Jesus uses parables that have their Whaaaat? That doesn’t make sense moments, which make you think about things. Jonah is an allegory, or an extended parable, (that might have been based on real events) told in an amusing way to help people think about how they relate to God in their lives and how God relates to us. In fact, Jonah is probably the surviving story that we have from antiquity of this genre.

Did you know that until the Reformation, this was one of the most popular and most preached books of the Old Testament? People loved it, and a lot of plays and songs were made about it, because it’s a fun story! Today we mostly learn this story in Sunday school, or there might be a section of the book that pops up in our lectionaries. So, it’s nice that we’re doing this sermon series on Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet, and we’ll get to look at the whole book!

The story starts off right away with God telling Jonah: Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They’re in a bad way and I can’t ignore it any longer.

Now unlike other books of prophets, which usually start out by introducing the prophet by saying, so-and-so was a prophet of Israel, or even giving us some background about when they were called by God, this book just starts out with God telling Jonah to go preach in the city of Nineveh. This tells us that Jonah isn’t a prophet already; he’s just an ordinary person. He could be a farmer, or shepherd, or a carpenter; it doesn’t matter. The point of the introduction is to clue us in that Jonah could be anyone, and that God can call anyone, at any time, into His service.

Now Jonah doesn’t say: Yes, Lord, right away I’ll go preach to all those people. He makes tracks in the opposite direction.

But before we judge Jonah too harshly, the readers or hearers of this story would know that Jonah has a right to be scared. Ninevah was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and the greatest power in the Middle East when it was in existence. The city started in 6,000 BCE as a settlement on the Tigris River, in what is now Iraq. And because it was located on a strategic area of the river, it became a central meeting point for people. Over many millennia, from the bronze into the iron age, it grew to be a center of agricultural, commerce, pottery and metal working development.

For 760 years, between 1365 until 605 BCE, it was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. At its height its footprint was about 1,900 acres and the inside of the city was surrounded by a 7.5-mile wall. Supposedly it took you three days to walk from one side of it to another. The population averaged at about 350,000 people – that’s three times the size of Albany. Ninevah was one of the Megapolises of the Ancient World.

But it was also known as a place of cruelty. You have probably heard of the Code of Hammurabi, from early Babylon, where we get the famous phrase an eye for an eye. This code influenced all of the cultures of the surrounding regions. There wasn’t a lot of mercy in the Assyrian Code of Law, so the culture wasn’t a kind one. They were considered to be a proud and ruthless people.

So of course, Jonah, an everyday man from the little country of Israel, is terrified to go and confront the mightiest city in the world. I can relate. Have you ever been given a job that was so immense or difficult that you just didn’t think you could do it? One that, if you failed at it, might ruin you and your life? We don’t want to do those kinds of jobs; we don’t want to accept those kinds of challenges.

How do we run away when we’re faced with challenges like that? Well, some people turn to drink or drugs. Some people hide in house or craft projects, or read, or start to binge watch TV. Some people travel or even move to another country. You might think that’s extreme, but I knew a number of ex-pats in Japan who were living there because things were too difficult at home. They’re modern day Jonahs.

But Jonah is not running away from personal projects or jobs that he doesn’t want to do in daily life. He’s running away from something that God wants him to do.

Now, Jonah is in a covenant relationship with God, by default. Every Jewish person knew that God made a covenant with Abraham and all his descendants, that he would be there for them if they would worship Him and obey Him. And that covenant was renewed when Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from the Mountain and then gave them the promise-land to live it. It is a two-way street. As long as Jonah obeys God, and does what He wants, Jonah is going to be protected and guided on the way. But Jonah doesn’t see that as a possibility. He runs down to the Mediterranean Sea and boards a boat headed to Tarshish, or ancient Spain. That is about as far away as you could get from Israel in the ancient world.

Now we are all here today in this church as followers of Jesus. We are all a part of the renewal of that ancient and sacred covenant with God through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, God’s covenant was opened up and made available to everyone in the world, not just the Jewish people. If God calls on us to do something, no matter how hard it is, He is going to be there with us during the project. We are going to have His help, we are going to have Jesus’ help, and we’re going to have the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Jonah apparently is so scared that he has forgotten about this covenant. He gets into that boat and snuggles down in the hold and takes a nap. Yep, I’m hiding in this boat, going the opposite way, and God can’t see me.

But God knows where Jonah is, and he causes a storm to push the boat about so badly that they ship is in danger of breaking up. The sailors are terrified and praying hard to their gods. The only person who isn’t praying is Jonah – because he’s asleep. So, the sailors wake him up and tell him to pray to his God, maybe that will tip the balance.

But Jonah recognizes that he’s the problem. And after they draw straws to find out who’s responsible he confesses that he’s in disobedience and running away from what God wants him to do. But Jonah also realizes that it’s not just about him anymore. All these sailors are now in peril because he hasn’t been doing what he’s supposed to be doing. So, he tells the sailors to throw him overboard in order to save themselves.

We can see that Jonah might be scared of doing what God wants him to do, but he’s not a bad person. He doesn’t want to see other people hurt because of his actions, or inaction. Sometimes that happens to us when were confronted with stuff that we don’t want to do. It might not be fun but if we don’t do it other people are affected. No person is an island, we are all in some way connected to each other, positively and negatively.

You know addicts often say: The only person I’m hurting with my drinking (or fill in the blank on that) is myself. But actually at least six people are going to be negatively affected by someone’s addiction. On the reverse, if you hunker down and do something good, even though it’s difficult, at least seven people are going to be affected for good. So, the next time you’re resisting doing that hard job remember that in the end you are going to be benefiting more than yourself.

The sailors are also good people. They row very hard and try not to throw Jonah overboard. Finally, they do with a prayer: O GOD! Don’t let us drown because of this man’s life, and don’t blame us for his death. You are GOD. Do what you think is best. Can you imagine how hard that must have been for them? That’s another warning for us – we need to consider what actions the people around us are going to have to do if we don’t do our difficult jobs, and the emotional toll that it might cost them.

Immediately the sea calms down, demonstrating to them that they made the right decision. That’s where we’re going to leave the story. Next week we’re going to talk about what happens when he gets swallowed by the whale.

In the meantime, think about those difficult jobs that you have to do. God doesn’t want you to run from them – He wants to help you get through them. You are all in covenant with God and you can ask for help. If you do, it will help to keep you out of life’s storms and put you on a right and positive path with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

I AM the Vine

October 5, 2025 17^th Sunday in Pentecost World Communion Sunday

Luke 22:14-20 John 15:1-15

I am the vine is one of my favorite metaphors of the Bible because it gives us an image of linking. A vine is a plant that continues and connects growth. Jesus starts by connecting himself to God, his Father. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. Jesus wants us to see that if we are connected to him then we are also connected to the Divine Force and Parent-Creator of the universe.

Look, God is huge, and awesome, and overwhelming. Do you ever have a moment when you’re looking at a sunset, and you feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the world and the intricacy of the universe that we’re placed in? It’s moments like these when we can feel immensely blessed to be here but also tiny and insignificant. What are we to all the billions of people, plants, animals, oceans, volcanoes, stars, supernovas, and galaxies? How on earth are we, tiny souls that we are, to connect with all of that?

Maybe we can’t know or understand all that divine power, but we can feel ourselves a part of it if we follow Jesus’ teachings. Jesus came here to teach us how to make our connections through our faith to God, the world, and the people around us.

Jesus’ disciples would understand his image of a grapevine because grapevines were cultivated everywhere. They would know that you just can’t plant a vine in the ground and expect it to grow and yield something good and tasty. Have you ever eaten wild grapes? I have, and boy-o-boy are they bitter! You can taste how they could be good if you spent some time cultivating them, but they’re hard to eat in their wild form.

Managing grapes is an intense job, just like managing our lives. You have to figure out a good place for grapes to grow, just like we evaluate the conditions of our lives. What’s the best place for us to flourish in our jobs, where we live, and who we hang out with? Most of us try to find a positive job that can let us use our creativity and gives us purpose. We try to find a place to live where we are safe and can raise a family. We try to find friends who will support us and who will help to build a better community that surrounds us. Sometimes we’re lucky and the perfect growing space for us presents itself, and sometimes we really have to look and test the soil before we commit.

Once we plant ourselves in a place, just like a grape-farmer, we have to fertilize our area with good stuff to make our vines grow. We need to work productively at that job, maintain our house and neighborhood, connect with and support good people around us, and work on maintaining and improving our community.

And during the vine’s growth, the farmer has to cut away small shoots, as well as dead or dying wood, so the main stalk will become thick and strong. Do you know that the word decide comes from a base word meaning “to cut?” When we make a decision, our intention is to cut away the bad stuff so that we can focus on the good. Sometimes we have to cut away a bad job and find one that’s more positive and productive. Sometimes we have to cut away bad habits or actions that keep us from connecting with God and others, or prevent us from maintaining or growing into our best selves. Sometimes we have to cut away people because they cause grief or distress for us or others.

All this positive maintenance will produce good, positive, and nourishing fruit that we can all enjoy and will sustain us. Now some people think that the fruits we should produce is a high paying job, or a nice house or car, or people who will scratch your back when you scratch theirs. But Paul once said that the fruits of our spirit are love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, forbearance, faithfulness, and self-control.

Paul didn’t invent that. The book of Proverbs is about how to work towards and learn how to live those virtues. Jesus wants us to love God, ourselves and each other. He wants us to have joy and peace in our lives. He wants us to be kind, to show goodness and gentleness to others. He wants us to be strong and persistent in our actions of faith. And he wants us to have self-control so that we can channel our energy and do all of the above. Would you rather be a negative person or a person who is positive? The way of Jesus gives us a positive attitude that sustains us and others by producing good fruit.

All this connects us to God. Jesus ends this speech saying: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Jesus is trying to get his disciples to see that his love doesn’t just connect him to the twelve central disciples, or the disciples who are in the Upper Room with them. It doesn’t just connect to Jesus’ disciples who are living in towns in Israel, or even the few Gentiles who have joined his movement. His love is meant for everyone in the world, and they are all connected through the love of God.

Have you ever heard the saying 6 degrees of separation? Actually, I don't like the word separation because it implies that we are separate from each other. I prefer the term 6 degree of connection. It’s the idea is that we are all somehow 6 degrees related to everyone else in the world.

I have a family story about this concept. My mother’s cousins are sisters who are 4 years apart from each other. Now sixty years ago, these two sisters didn't get along very well when they were teenagers, and their parents decided that if they took a vacation together to England that maybe, by needing to rely on each other while they were travelling, they might develop a good sisterly relationship. So, they were given a gift of a trip: The eldest for graduating from college and the youngest for graduating from high school.

They had a lot of adventures and did manage to come back as friends. One of their adventures was that they met a very dapper gentleman in their hotel’s restaurant (who they found out later was a Swedish film actor) who invited them to go to a famous nightclub in London. They had a good time and spent nearly all of the evening hanging out at a table and dancing with a young guitarist who was rising in fame called Keith Richards. Yes, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Think about that – the connection goes myself, my mother, my cousin, and Keith Richards. I am 4 degrees connected to Keith Richards. It just goes to show that we can be connected to so many people who we don't even know we’re connected to.

Today is World Communion Sunday, when we celebrate the fact that all the Christians around the world are coming to the table of Grace with us. Consider that at this moment there are millions of people celebrating the joy of Christ in their lives with us. Today we are reminded that we are connected to all of those people who have dedicated their lives to living as Christians.

We have dedicated ourselves to love God with all our being by loving our neighbors and ourselves as Jesus Christ loves us. We are renewing our connection with Jesus so that we may help each other live with love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, forbearance, faithfulness, and self-control. In this church and beyond, we are all connecting with the Holy Spirit which give us a direct line to the power of the universe. We are all living on that vine that God and Jesus have planted. We are all producing the fruit of God’s love. We are all his children who come to His table to be nourished.

Jesus said: I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. Everyone out there who is a friend of Jesus is also a friend of you. Yes, sometimes we may quarrel and sometimes we may stumble over each other. But every time we connect to God through each other, we also connect to that great power of love that can change the world.

So, as you take the bread and wine and remember what Jesus did for you, remember what he’s doing for all those billions out there who you don’t know, but who are your brothers and sisters who are also working for the kingdom. And celebrate that throughout the world we are blessed in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and that connection and blessing can strengthen you and lead you to a better life with God.