It’s always been a little disturbing to me how most churches decorate their children’s area: Noah and the ark and the animals, Daniel with his hand gently resting on the head of a lion, and of course, the Great Fish of Jonah. I’d love to know who first had the idea to use these stories as themes of nurseries and children’s ministry areas.

I’m thinking we ought to paint an ark in the kid’s room to remind them that the whole world drowned because of their sin except for one family. Whadda ya’ think?

Truth is, Jonah is a deep, problematic, and convicting book, particularly for our time. There are so many themes than run through the story – the depth of sin, the awesomeness of God’s grace, the hardness of a hurt heart, true repentance, entitlement of the chosen. It’s all there in unfiltered, raw detail.

It’s problematic because some of the same issues Jonah dealt with are ones we still deal with today. Nationalism, the scandal of God’s grace, racism, and being obedient in a predominantly disobedient world. Jonah leaves us with no easy answers. In fact, some have argued that it is the most frustrating story every told – one with no ending.

We have a lot to talk about during our upcoming series, The Book of Daniel! I’m amped to tell you that we’ll be going through this book with Antioch Missionary Baptist Church. We kick off the series with a roundtable at both churches this Sunday! We’ve got some combined Connect Groups happening as well. It’s going to be an AWESOME series.

So let me challenge you to have some PIE this summer when it comes to Jonah.

Pray
Pray for Antioch and Western Hills. Pray for our Connect Groups and speakers. Pray for God to not just open your eyes and mind to the book of Jonah, but your heart to actually live differently because of the book.

Invite
Invite someone to church, someone to your Connect Group. Someone to go through the study with you this summer.

Engage
If you’re not in a Connect Group, this is a great time to get involved in one. Go visit Antioch one Sunday morning during the series. Be a part of the discussion and journey in this book.

The Book of Jonah is going to be a challenging study this summer. So grab some PIE and join us.

See ya’ Sunday.