Dear all,
These days, I have been praying the same prayer, over and over again:
Compassion and mercy, from me to you and you to me.
It’s been rolling around my head set to the catchy tune of a VeggieTales song about Jonah. (VeggieTales, in case you missed it in the ‘90s or early 2000s like I did, is a Christian education video series starring vegetables and fruit. I recommend this video and this video as delightfully silly places to start.) Each time I read news of violence or encounter conflict, the prayer surfaces:
Compassion and mercy, from me to you and you to me.
A few weeks ago, I told the story of Jonah, aided by the VeggieTales song and its refrain, to three different groups of children: First to a group of pre-schoolers, then to a group of elementary schoolers, both during Day School Chapel services; and then to members of RYG, ranging from 7th-12th grade, on our fall retreat. I can’t speak for the kids, but each time I told it, it felt important to me to share. We are never not at an age to need this story and its reminder.
Jonah, who, like all prophets, is supposed to point the way to what matters most, doesn’t really get it (Jonah was a prophet, ooh ooh; but he never really got it, sad but true.) God calls him to go to Ninevah, to call on its people to change their ways, but Jonah doesn’t want to. So he runs from God, ending up in a whale, contrite and thanking God for his life, promising that he’ll do whatever God wants. Summarily spat back on shore, Jonah drags his feet to Ninevah and walks the streets preaching repentance. When the people do repent, donning sackcloth and ashes, and God forgives them. And then (…he never really got it, sad but true…) Jonah fusses at God for God’s mercy.
Compassion and mercy, from me to you and you to me.
Jonah is angry at God’s compassion and mercy towards the Ninevites, and the book of Jonah ends ambiguously, without resolution between God and Noah. “Is it right for you to be angry?” God asks him. Yes, Jonah replies, “angry enough to die.” This dramatic exchange happens twice, the second time after God causes a bush to grow to shade Jonah while he pouts and then sends a worm to eat it up, aggravating Jonah even more. The last words are God’s, asking Jonah why he should care so much about the demise of a bush, which he, Jonah, did nothing to create or care for, but be upset with God for caring about a city full of people and animals, all of whom, it is implied, God very much created and cares for.
And that’s it. We never hear any more from Jonah. The story ends.
Compassion and mercy, from me to you and you to me.
I think that’s why Jonah and this VeggieTales prayer have been in my head so much. It feels like our world, like Jonah, needs the reminder and the reorientation to God’s compassion and mercy. Violence is all over the news – from conflicts around the world and throughout our country to incidents of road rage and school shootings here in our city. People are complicated, our lives and motivations shaped by so many things – but I do not believe that retribution and vengeance will bring about God’s dream of abundant love, life, or justice for the world. God has offered compassion and mercy to us abundantly, made incarnate in the person of Jesus, and calls us, no matter how reluctant we are, no matter how hard it is, to do the same. This is not to ignore the need for justice, but to imagine a different way to seek it: justice, after all, is love in action.
Our story does not have an ending. We, like Jonah, are left with God’s call for compassion and mercy ringing in our ears. It is up to us to live out the rest. And so my prayer for each of us, for our world, our country, and our city; for our policy makers and leaders and family and friends remains:
Compassion and mercy, from me to you and you to me.
Love,
Rebecca+