{"id":1497,"date":"2024-08-11T15:37:31","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T19:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/?p=1497"},"modified":"2024-08-11T15:38:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-11T19:38:16","slug":"the-deep-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/2024\/08\/11\/the-deep-end\/","title":{"rendered":"The Deep End"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/The-Deep-End-2024.08.11-81124-1.59\u202fPM.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Exploring With Jonah &#8211; Part 2<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Sermon for the Locust Grove United Church of Christ of York, PA<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">by The Rev. James E. Eaton, Pastor \u00a92024<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">12<sup>th<\/sup> Sunday After Pentecost\/B \u2022 August 11, 2024<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=590404360\">Jonah 2:1-10<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I was seven or eight, our family belonged to the Hopewell Country Club, and we spent summer days at the pool. Everyone had a little rubbery circle worn on your wrist or, if you were cool, around your ankle. The band\u2019s color defined what part of the pool you could use. But like all kids, we saw boundaries more as a challenge than a limit. So sometimes, we\u2019d slip under the ropes and floats that marked our zone. There would be a few moments of stolen fun but inevitably your mother would yell, \u201cGet out of the deep end! Get out of the deep end!\u201d What my mother knew was that I needed to be near a wall. The deep end of the pool was a mysterious zone where danger lurked. Even later when I had passed the swimming tests and taken a diving class, the deep end always gave me a little shiver.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Jonah in the Deep End<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Life has deep ends. Sometimes there are boundaries and markers that warn of our approach to the deep end; sometimes we find ourselves in the deep end with no warning at all. Have you been to the deep end? Today\u2019s reading is about Jonah in the depths, in the deep end. , but it is as much about what to do when you are in the deep end. Last week, we read how God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, a great and evil city and how Jonah ran away from God. He took a boat for a foreign shore, but God hurled a wind that threatened the boat and the sailors hurled Jonah into the water. There, drowning, he was swallowed by a big fish. That\u2019s where we left him last week, in the belly of the fish.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He says,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You cast me into the deep,<br \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;into the heart of the seas,<br \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;and the flood surrounded me;<br \/>all your waves and your billows<br \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;passed over me.<br \/>Then I said, \u201cI am driven away<br \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;from your sight;<br \/>how shall I look again<br \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;upon your holy temple?\u201d<br \/>The waters closed in over me;<br \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the deep surrounded me;<br \/>weeds were wrapped around my&nbsp;head<br \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;at the roots of the mountains.<br \/>I went down to the land<br \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;whose bars closed upon me for ever;\u201d<br \/>[Jonah 2:3-6a]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The deep end of life is the place where you feel yourself far from God\u2019s care, distant from God\u2019s presence, distant from God\u2019s call.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Deep End<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We arrive at the deep end in various ways. Sometimes an event overwhelms us and we feel God has deserted us. We go to the doctor and suddenly hear awful words that change the afternoon; a friend or a family member dies or is killed, and we cannot see the sense or find comfort, and we rage at God and feel deserted.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other times, the deep end is a place we have gone on our own. Our society has a pervasive amount of information about dangers. We know how dangerous heroin and cocaine are. We know how dangerous smoking is. We could list hundreds of other things we know are bad for us. We see glittering commercials about casinos; we hear next to nothing about the toll of those addicted to gambling whose desperation becomes a deep end that destroys. Every year, every day, people voluntarily take the first steps into the deep end. Once there, they discover it is a one way journey that not only destroys them physically but often spiritually as well. The deep end is the place where we cannot feel God\u2019s presence, where we feel alone and desperate.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Have you been to this place? The fish gets all the attention when we remember this story: we like happy endings and the fish is the happy ending. But before that there is real terror here. There is real fear. People in recovery from alcoholism or other addictions often speak of hitting bottom. Jonah speaks of \u201cthe pit\u201d: it\u2019s the same place. Many experiences have a pit. A woman said, \u201cI think I hit rock bottom about 3 weeks after my husband left, and now I&#8217;m slowly swimming back up. But I&#8217;m a wounded swimmer.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jonah is a wounded swimmer when the fish swallows him. Most of us are wounded as well at one time or another. So Jonah\u2019s experience is ours. We have been to the pit: we have been to the deep end. But there is hope in the deep end. Joseph Hart, writing about the impact of trauma and crisis, notes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When an accident or disaster strikes, to say nothing of a deliberate act like torture, the old ways in which we saw the world no longer make sense. We ask, \u201cHow could this happen?\u201d and \u201cWhere was God?\u201d And by slowly struggling to answer such questions, we develop a new and deeper understanding. We grow.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hart goes on to describe a doctor who had built a successful practice and earned many honors. At 62, he suffered a heart attack followed by a stroke. He lost the ability to drive or practice and he lost his purpose. Eventually he had to be hospitalized under a suicide watch. But with his purpose gone, he found a spiritual core and rediscovered his religious faith. Eventually he found a new purpose and new meaning in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Jonah Finds a Purpose<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is what happens to Jonah. Jonah finds purpose when he responds to God\u2019s call. He starts up when he starts back, back to God, back to God\u2019s hope for him.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>7<\/sup> As my life was ebbing away,<br \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I remembered the Lord;<br \/>and my prayer came to you,<br \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;into your holy temple.<br \/><sup>8<\/sup> Those who worship vain idols<br \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;forsake their true loyalty. [Jonah 2:7f]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is the key to purpose and to a way back from the deep end: to rediscover God\u2019s hope for your life, to hear God\u2019s call to you, to put God\u2019s purpose at the center of your own life and make that purpose the guide to every day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We often try to fight the deep on our own. We avoid admitting we\u2019re in the deep end. \u201cI can handle it,\u201d we say. We try to cope, moving faster and faster until we can\u2019t see where we are from the frantic spin. Surely in the midst of the storm Jonah swam like crazy, but the answer wasn\u2019t to swim harder, it was to go where God wanted him to go. Swimming harder won\u2019t help if you\u2019re going in the wrong direction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every Sunday we pray, \u201cLead us not into temptation.\u201d Temptation is an experience when we are seduced into believing we are enough, we can set our own course, live from our own purpose. That path leads to the deep end. One of the reasons for a church is to help us avoid the deep end if we can. But the good news, the truly great news, is that even in the deep end, even when we think we are lost forever to the love of God, we are not. God is waiting, even in the deep end to hear us, to lead us, to rescue us. What Jonah learns in the deep end is that God has heard him. And knowing that God has heard him, he finally is ready to live from God\u2019s call.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Are You In the Deep End?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Have you been to the deep end? Are you there now? There are many who are. I said last week and I say again, this is a church in transition. Saying that brings to mind the pastoral search, but it\u2019s not just about a new pastor. It\u2019s also about sharpening and sharing our understanding of God\u2019s call and purpose for this church. Surely part of that call is to help people come back from the deep end. After all, the church is meant to be a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for the saved.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We left Jonah last week in the deep end, in the belly of the great fish. Today we heard him say, \u201cDeliverance belongs to the Lord!\u201d&nbsp; [Jonah 2:9b] The fish leaves him on the shore, but he\u2019s not the same Jonah that left. When we have been to the deep end and learned that indeed, \u201cDeliverance belongs to the Lord\u201d, neither are we, neither is anyone. What do you imagine Jonah thought there, wet, sea weed tangled around him, maybe bruised from his landing? I wonder if he remembered God\u2019s call? I wonder if he was just happy to be alive? He\u2019s back where he started; no progress made at all. But perhaps God has made some progress, for Jonah is not tv he same person he was when he ran away. We\u2019ll leave him there on the beach today, and come back next week.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>God\u2019s Call<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We need a week to think about our call as well. Sometimes when we imagine a calling, we think it\u2019s big and important, and we know that we are neither. But God\u2019s call comes into our lives in many ways. Mother Teresa said, \u201cNot all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.\u201d May what you do this week indeed be full of great love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The sermon centers on Jonah&#8217;s journey, drawing parallels between life&#8217;s challenges and the deep end of a pool, where boundaries are tested and fear arises. It emphasizes that, like Jonah, people often face moments of despair but can find hope and purpose by reconnecting with God. This reunion brings deliverance and a renewed sense of direction, even in the darkest times. The church serves as a guide to help individuals navigate and recover from life&#8217;s deep ends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[101,39,352,219,13,2],"tags":[329,98,351,172,5,353],"class_list":["post-1497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-after-pentecost","category-exegesis","category-jonah","category-lent-3","category-theology","category-worship","tag-call","tag-hope","tag-jonah","tag-love","tag-sermon","tag-trouble"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1497"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1500,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497\/revisions\/1500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}