August 04, 2025
• Rev. Mindie Moore
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Faith In the Real World: Claiming our Prophetic Voice
Week 1: Confronting Hate
Jonah 4:2-11
Today we’re beginning a new series called “Faith in the Real World: Claiming our Prophetic Voice.” This month we are going to be doing a mix of the usual sermons, where we’re going to be exploring some of the minor prophets in the Old Testament, and also hearing from people in our own congregation and in the wider Indy community who are working for change.
It feels like a bit of understatement to say that it is a strange, challenging time to be a Christian, or connected to a church. There is a lot of baggage around what that means and looks like right now. Some of us see our faith represented in a public way, either through our government or in the media...and it doesn’t necessarily feel like it fits. In fact, we might even feel like the image of Christianity we’re seeing is offensive or impossible to connect with.
And so we’re doing this series because we want to take a more creative view of what it can mean to be The Church in this very moment that we find ourselves in. To look at how we respond to some of the most challenging pieces of our world—there are many, but we’ve narrowed it down to three: hate, fear, and greed...all VERY light topics—and how we remember that even in the moments we get overwhelmed, that our God IS working and that we, as this thing called the church, are capable of doing something that matters.
There is this classic, amazing book called The Practice of Prophetic Imagination by Walter Bruggemann. And in it, he talks a bit about how we read the Old Testament prophets and how we can understand these very ancient texts in our world. He says it all essentially comes back to God’s role in the whole of our existence, and that this was true in the prophets’ day and it’s true for us in our time. Here’s how he describes what we’re trying to navigate today:
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And now in our twenty-first century, we in the United States are, I believe, in a strange mix of denial and despair. In our denial, we keep imagining that it will all “work out” and that the failure of our society is not as deep or long term as we might suspect. In our despair, we have the sinking feeling that there will be no return to a previous well-being, and we are left in a bad place about long-term prospects. (The Practice of Prophetic Imagination, p. 38)
If we stay in this kind of place, we end up getting pretty stuck. There’s not a lot of hope in denial or despair. And so we have to imagine something different. And that’s hard work. It’s work that we’re not set up for in most any space in our world. You’re not going to find it on a cable news channel; you’re not going to see it on your social media feed.
But I do believe that there’s hope. Now, honestly, some days I believe that more than others, that’s true. But I believe it. And I still stubbornly believe that the Church, this institution that we’ve created, can do really good things. And when I think about what CAN make the Church something very distinct and world-shaping...it’s this idea that we can have a prophetic voice and we can imagine that God can do something with whatever reality presents to us. That we can imagine something different and be brave enough to work to create that difference.
And as we look at the first place where we can make a difference, when we encounter hate, we’re going to do that by exploring the story of Jonah. Now, I’m going to go ahead and guess that everyone here knows SOMETHING about Jonah. At least the part about him getting swallowed by a giant fish, whale, whatever you want to call it.
But there is actually so much more to Jonah’s story than that one moment. Jonah was a prophet in the Old Testament, but of all the Old Testament prophets, he stands out. Most of the time, when we read one of these prophet’s stories, we see them speaking out against their own people, their own leaders, who are not living like God would have wanted them to. Often,
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they are speaking truth to those in power, trying to keep them in check and do the right thing.
But Jonah has a unique focus and he’s actually a prophet who is on the move. He’s been sent by God specifically to go to a different location, to Nineveh, to try and reach people who are not the same as him. These are people who he frankly does not like or want to see anything good happen to. Whether it’s difference or reputation or actual things that Jonah has witnessed this group of people do, the bottom line is that there is no love in Jonah’s heart for the Ninevites.
And so at first he tries to avoid the whole situation altogether. This is where the ship and the whale, and that familiar part of his story come in. He buys himself a ticket in the opposite direction of where God has told him to go, his very presence on that boat causes a terrible storm and terrifies the sailors, and he ends up overboard, safe and sound in the belly of a fish, until he is spat out on dry land to have a bit of a do-over.
And things get a little awkward once Jonah DOES get back out there because as he finally goes to Nineveh, and he spreads the word that God has for the Ninevites, that if they don’t change their ways and turn to Jonah’s God, they will be destroyed...in a shocking twist, they actually listen! They do exactly what he says to do. Overnight, they repent, they completely change their ways of living, they start worshiping Jonah’s God, and they are totally fine because of it. God sees the change, God has mercy on them, and it’s this wonderful, happy ending for the Ninevites.
It is NOT a wonderful, happy ending for Jonah. Because Jonah is mad.
And when I say he’s mad, I mean, he is FURIOUS. In fact, the first verse of Chapter 4 says that when Jonah sees that the Ninevites have changed their ways and that God has spared them from all the predicted destruction, “Jonah thought that this was utterly wrong.” That he was angry enough to die!
And it sounds dramatic, but we have to remember that in Jonah’s mind, THESE PEOPLE ARE THE ENEMY! They weren’t supposed to repent, they were
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supposed to be destroyed. The fact that God could love a group of people who Jonah hates so much is just unacceptable in every single way.
Just a quick reminder that this is one of God’s prophets we’re talking about here. This is someone who not only has been steeped in religion, claims religion, but is PRACTICING religion in a very public and specific way. He has a lot to say about faith. He has a lot to say about God. And THIS is how he views other humans.
When I read Jonah’s story, there’s a bit of an undertone critiquing how faith can be practiced. Jonah is painted in a not very great light. The heroes of this story...they aren’t who you’d expect. It’s not the prophet, it’s actually people like sailors and even the very people that Jonah went to convert. The ones who are lifted up as doing what’s right are not the overtly religious types. They’re just people trying to listen and respond to God in really simple ways.
And it’s not that Jonah isn’t faithful or faith-filled. But the way his faith expresses itself and what he thinks is important, seem to be misguided. He’s become so consumed with who’s in and who’s out, who is worthy of God’s love and grace, that he’s missed the opportunity to show that love and grace himself.
I know there are moments like this from my own story. Especially when I was younger, growing up in more evangelical church spaces, there were times when I was just HORRIBLE to people...all in the name of bringing them to Jesus! I think about mission trips where I would walk up to people on the beach and tell them how much they needed Jesus...strangers! In a different country! What were we DOING?! But it was all just part of the culture we were living in, and because it all just seemed so normal, there was never an invitation to interrogate those things to see if we were actually harming people more than it was living our faith. To ask ourselves if we were missing the chance to actually LOVE people...or if they had just turned into transactions...of us and them and if they would come to our side then great...but if not, they probably deserved the punishment we were so sure was coming to them.
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The clue that something is off in Jonah’s heart, that this might be more driven by hate than love, is found in the fact that he’s not even happy when his conversion tactics work! He ends up CONSUMED with his anger and his hatred for these stupid, repentant Ninevites.
And Jonah can only heal from the state of what’s happening in his heart by letting himself face the truth and by letting God reveal to him what’s actually going on.
This revelation for Jonah happens in one of those weird but really important pieces of the story. It all seems to center around a shrub and some shade and a worm. Jonah sits down, watching the city of Nineveh from afar, hoping that maybe God will follow through with the destruction of the city, even though the people have done the right thing and fulfilled their end of the matter.
And at first, as Jonah sits and stews, God gives him this lovely, leafy shrub to sit under and be shaded by the sun. But just as Jonah is getting nice and comfy, the text says he is DELIGHTING in the shade, God attacks that shrub with a hungry worm. The shrub dies, Jonah is now exposed to the sun, he’s hot, and we see his anger return.
And as infuriating as the shrub-eating worm is...the worm is more than just a way to rub salt in Jonah’s wounds. It serves an important purpose. Because the worm is the thing that reveals what’s ACTUALLY going on for Jonah. Without the momentary relief from the shade, Jonah has no choice but to face the truth about himself and his world.
Because Jonah’s ACTUAL problem...isn’t the Ninevites at all. It’s not the actions of some other group of people who he has decided is the enemy. The problem isn’t even the now-withered shrub. Jonah’s REAL problem is the hate in his heart. His inability to understand that God’s mercy and kindness and love is for more than just him and his people. That it’s for EVERYONE. Even the people he can’t stand. Even the ones he believes will never be worthy of it. Jonah can preach all he wants about what he believes about God, but if he can’t get this...he’s going to miss the whole point.
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It’s in this moment that God asks Jonah a question two times. And it is a question that is so simple, but so powerful for the moment Jonah finds himself in. I like a couple of different ways this is translated so I’m going to share them both with you. In the NRSV it says:
Is it right for you to be angry? (Jonah 4:4 & 9, NRSV)
And in the CEB:
Is your anger a good thing? (Jonah 4: 4 & 9, CEB)
When we find ourselves really amped up, filled with fury, when we see a group that is being targeted or attacked...maybe we need to be open to asking this question of ourselves and our wider world.
And sometimes the answer to that question is yes. There is such a thing as righteous anger and when we encounter injustice, it IS right to let ourselves be propelled forward by the anger we feel when we encounter it. Anger that is fueled by the right things can propel us to resistance and action and deeply holy change. We see plenty of examples of God having that same kind of righteous anger, of Jesus causing a holy uproar. We can lean into that kind of anger and use it for good.
But sometimes...and in Jonah’s case...that anger is misplaced. That anger is falsely informed and it grows and eventually leads to hate. And hate can lead to some really ugly things and some very real harm. And the only way to change the hate that can grow within us and in our world is to confront it, and address it, and change it.
Several years ago, Zack was working in the yard, and he came upon this big nest of ground hornets. Which is terrifying. Even more terrifying was that he didn’t really realize what he’d found until they started swarming him and stinging him. THANKFULLY he only got about 3 stings before he was able to get inside and away from them. But it was an intense situation that came out of doing some normal, boring yard work.
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As we reflected on what happened later that night, of course my mind was going to all the worst, scariest places it could. But what we realized is that this could have been SO much worse. Zack is an adult with quick thinking and former boy scout level skills and no allergies to insect stings, and because of that, could get out of this situation relatively unscathed. But what if our KIDS had been the ones to find the nest? What if it had just been sitting there, growing, waiting for them to discover it? I can’t even imagine. But because Zack revealed the presence of the hornets, we were able to fix what needed fixing. We were able to name what was wrong and make it better, instead of letting it hide until someone stumbled into it and it created an even worse situation.
Sometimes we as individuals and we as a collective group of the Church can get really hesitant to talk about the hard things happening around us. We can get nervous to call things out, we think that if we just ignore what's broken and brewing in our world that it will somehow just fade away on its own. But I wonder if this moment of revealing in Jonah’s story gives us an example of a different way. Maybe despite how painful it can be, the only way to heal hate is to ask deeper questions, to be willing to tell the truth, and to open the door to love and the ability to care about people in a deeper way.
Jonah’s story makes me wonder how and (SLIDE) what we need God to reveal to us. And it reminds me that we don’t have to be afraid to have that level of honesty because our God is a god of grace and mercy. We CAN encounter discomfort, we CAN have hard conversations, we CAN work for justice...because we are part of God’s story and that story is always, always underlined in grace. Grace for us as people stumbling imperfectly towards a world that looks like God would hope. Grace for other people, even the ones that are really hard to love or even tolerate. Grace for the ones who are just like us or completely different. This grace is deep and wide and almost unimaginable in the places it can touch.
And it’s that grace that lets us care.
It’s that grace that lets us heal.
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It’s that grace that lets us love.
It’s that grace that lets us move beyond the hate in this world to create something better.
And it’s that grace that brings us to the communion table today.
Because whoever you are, whatever your story is, whatever could need tended to in your own heart or the world around you, this table is open to you. Jesus sets a place for each of us and there are always, always more seats that can be pulled up. It never runs out of room, it never gets full.
Transition to Communion Liturgy...
Benediction
Maybe you noticed that the book of Jonah ends in this really unresolved way. It’s actually kind of a weird ending! After all we’ve witnessed, we just have God inviting Jonah to look at things from God’s perspective. We don’t find out exactly what happens next, we don’t know what Jonah’s next adventure is. We simply have God inviting Jonah to consider something different.
And so I wonder what God could be inviting us to consider this week. I wonder what it could it mean for us to look at things from God’s perspective?