Jonah 2:1-10   OT p. 815 or 1126

[1] Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,

[2] saying,
"I called to the Lord out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.

[3] You cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.

[4] Then I said, 'I am driven away
from your sight;
how shall I look again
upon your holy temple?'

[5] The waters closed in over me;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped around my head

[6] at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the Pit,
O Lord my God.

[7] As my life was ebbing away,
I remembered the Lord;
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.

[8] Those who worship vain idols
forsake their true loyalty.

[9] But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Deliverance belongs to the Lord!"

[10] Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.

[NRSV]

INTRODUCTION:

A man and his wife were on a long trip and stopped at a full-service gas station. After the station attendant had washed their windshield, the man in the car said, "It's still dirty. Wash it again." So the station attendant washed it again.

After washing it again, the man in the car angrily said, "It's still dirty. Don't you know how to wash a windshield?"

Just then the man's wife reached over, removed her husband's glasses from his face, and cleaned them with a tissue. She put them back on and behold, the windshield was clean! [1]

Our mental attitude determines how we look at things in the world. Right now, in the wake of the Terrorist Attack, the world looks pretty bleak. We don't see much hope. While we've all rallied around the inspiring words of President Bush, we're still feeling pretty depressed. We're depressed. The shock and the horror of the events has subsided some and now a sense of helplessness has started to infiltrate our spirits. We are beginning to actually feel the grief we are going through.

And for some that grief has turned to anger. But since there is a nameless, faceless group of people that anger turns inward and in many cases has turned to depression.

The Christian Group FFH has a popular song, that you still hear played occasionally, titled "Big Fish." The first few words of the chorus are:

"Are you in the big fish? Are you sitting in the belly of a world gone mad." [2]

That's how we feel isn't it. We feel like Jonah. We're "sitting in the belly of a world gone mad." It feels like we've been swallowed whole. And in a sense we have. We've been swallowed whole by the big fish of despair and shock, the big fish of outrage and grief, the big fish of anger and depression.

It feels like the Twilight Zone. It's like our lives have been slipped into slow motion and there is absolutely no way to fast forward into less trying times. Like Jonah we feel our lives "ebbing away."

But one of the bright spots in this horrible tragedy is that like Jonah in verse seven "As [our lives were] ebbing away, [we] remembered the Lord." People everywhere are turning to God. People everywhere are bowing together in prayer. God CAN and DOES make good come out of any and every tragedy.

While prayer is very much needed, right now it's not enough. Don't give up praying. Pray. Now, more than ever. Ask for wisdom and understanding. Ask for help and courage. Pray. But don't let that be the only thing you do as we deal nationally and individually with our grief and our depression.

On Tuesday night I watched Jay Leno's return to the Tonight Show. If you saw it, you saw how shook Leno was by these events. Both he and Conan O'Brian were having a hard time trying to figure out what to do. How does a funny man stay funny in the midst of tragedy? How does a funny man go on when nothing seems funny at all?

We all have the same questions. How do WE go on? Is it wrong to try and lead a normal life in the face of so much loss? What can we do?

What I want us to look at this morning is just that, what can we do? What can we do to deal with our anger, grief and depression? What can we do to help the effort?

I. DEALING WITH ANGER:

First , HOW DO WE DEAL WITH ANGER?

One of the things I've discovered over the years and through reading is that often times, depression is a result of unresolved anger. It could be at a parent, a child, a spouse, an employee, a boss, or a situation over which you have not control.

For some reason we don't think that we're supposed to be angry. Maybe our folks told us to wipe that look off our faces. Or maybe we got punished for expressing our anger in destructive ways. And what happens is that we turn that anger inward. And in some cases it becomes depression.

What we need to realize is that anger is a natural human reaction. It is one of the emotions God gave us during creation. We have to own it and recognized it. And vent it. But there are healthy ways to acknowledge and vent your anger and not let it turn into depression.

The apostle Paul even recognizes this. In Ephesians 4:26 Paul writes: "Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger!"

The healthy thing to do is to deal with our anger. To acknowledge that we are angry and to deal with it. We can constructively manage our anger instead of it managing us. How?

One of the ways I've found that is helpful is letter writing. Sit at your computer with your word processor open or at your desk with pen and paper in hand. Then write the most scathing, vitriolic, anger filled letter you can think of. Tell the person exactly how you're feeling. Tell the person or situation what you would like to do in retaliation. Don't leave a single thought or phrase unsaid or unwritten. Let it all out. Write until you can't write any more.

When you've written everything that you are feeling, then read it to yourself. Read it and add any other thoughts you might have. When you've finished reading it through and have added any changes then read Matthew 5:43-48. Read it out loud. It's the passage about loving your enemies and doing good to those who persecute you.

Read it out loud. Then write a prayer of confession. In this prayer, express to God how angry and hurt you are. Confess that you don't know how to love your enemies. Ask forgiveness for the acts you wanted perpetrated on them. Ask for a spirit of peace to help you through this.

Whatever you do, don't mail that letter. Either delete that letter from your computer or tear that puppy up into the smallest pieces possible. It might even make you feel better if you print it off first, then tear it up and delete it.

That's just one constructive way to acknowledge and manage anger.

II. DEALING WITH DEPRESSION AND HELPING THE EFFORT:

A. Second, HOW DO WE DEAL WITH DEPRESSION? AND HOW DO WE HELP THE EFFORT

Depression is a very complex issue. Some of it is brought on by unresolved anger. Some of it is brought on by unresolved grief. Some of it is a medical condition caused by a chemical imbalance. The first thing I would tell you if you think you or a member of your family is going through depression is to seek professional help. See your doctor. See a psychiatrist. They can help. Just like in all medical aspects of our lives, the medicine does help.

B. Then there are some other things that we can do. And believe it or not, while we are doing these things to help ourselves through this period of depression, things will also help the effort to fight terrorism and its effects on us and the people around us. Most of these are real simple but they work. Get more rest. As simple as that, go to bed earlier. Get more sleep. You need the rest.

1. Pray. Spend time connecting with God. Spend the time soaking up the presence of the one who is bigger than all of our problems combined. Spend time listening to God.

2. Pray.

3. Worship regularly. Worship every chance you get. Remind yourself and those around you that God is still in control.

4. Do something for someone else. There are "Ten rules for getting rid of the blues: Go out and do something for someone else. And repeat it nine times."

[3] Let me give you a couple of examples of what you can do.

A. Buy a Teddy Bear, hug the stuffing out of it. Let your kids hug it. Let friends and neighbors hug it. Then attach a note to it explaining who you are and what you have done. Then give it to the Police for there program. Those hugs will go to a child in need of comfort and love.

B. Write letters to the children who have lost one or more of their parents in this tragedy and the children effected by the terrible disaster. These letters are to let the children know that many people are loving them and praying for them and that God loves them. Please place each letter in individual envelopes. They don't need stamps on them. I'll package all the letters from our church members and get them to the Covington UMC, who is working with Gloria Reeves (our Conference Missions Coordinator) and the New York United Methodist Conference to make sure the children receive these letters. [*]

Those are just a couple of things you can do for someone else. Here's some more things to do for yourself.

5. Put up a flag.

6. Give blood.

7. Call a friend. Remember: "Friends are angels who lift us to our feet, when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly." [4]

8. Spend time with your family. Let them know how much you love them.

9. Watch a Sunset or Sunrise. God somewhere beautiful. Soak up the beauty and orderliness of God's creation. Remind yourself who is really in control.

10. Write your Congressman or Senator a letter of support.

11. Write the President.

12. Treat strangers with honor and respect. We are all in this together. We are all brothers and sisters in God's eyes. So, let's treat one another that way. America has suddenly gotten a lot smaller. Let's treat each other as family.

13. Be kind and helpful to your neighbors. Reach out and make new friends.

14. Drive friendly. Do the speed limit. Save fuel. We may need it.

15. Buy cushioned insoles to send to the rescue workers in New York. According to Diane Collins, it's one of the things the workers said they could really use.

Those are just some of the things we can do to deal with our depression. These are constructive things. That acknowledge our dependence on God and each other. Plus, they help the effort.

III. REMEMBER THE LORD:

And finally, REMEMBER THE LORD. It was when Jonah remembered God that God rescued him from the Big Fish. Remember that "Deliverance belongs to the Lord!" (vs 9:b)

In all of this, the one thing that has amazed me the most is how unselfish we have all become. how caring and compassionate the American people truly are. Oh, I'm sure there are still some who only think of themselves and how much they can make, otherwise we wouldn't have had the outlandish gas prices that we saw. And we wouldn't have people stealing flags. What a great way to show your patriotism, steal someone else's flag.

But the point is, that America has responded tremendously. We have flooded our churches to pray. We have gathered in record numbers around the flag poles of our schools. We have sent millions in relief funds. People are traveling hundreds of miles and waiting in line for hours in order to help the clean up and rescue effort in New York.

Brenda Weir's husband Richard, is heading up one of the Texas Urban Search and Rescue Teams in New York, right now. There are 70 Texans on that team.

Why all this outpouring of compassion and help? Because of God. It is God who has touched our hearts. It is God in Christ that shows us what sacrifice is all about. And it is Christ who inspires us to reach out with the same sort of compassion and sacrificial spirit.

We're called with Jonah, to REMEMBER THE LORD. After all, God IS in control.

CONCLUSION:

One day Charlie Brown was seated at Lucy's Psychiatric Help booth, where he has been pouring out his story. He says to Lucy, "And I remember what you told me. You said that when I become depressed, I should always remember that 'Every cloud has a silver lining.'"

Then he turns and picks up this small cloud by his side that is half dark and half white. He hands it to her and says, "I want you to look at this."

In the last frame Lucy turns the cloud over and examines it, saying, "Hmm... very interesting. I think I see the problem. What we have here is a defective cloud." [5]

Right now that's how a lot of people feel, like we have defective clouds. We can't see the silver lining. We're all still struggling with the emotions of the past two weeks. Some of us are afraid to express our anger for fear that it could be explosive. Some of us are still in shock. For some the depression and grief have already set it.

It's times like this that along with Jonah we need to REMEMBER THE LORD, DEAL WITH OUR ANGER AND DEPRESSION AND SEEK TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP THE EFFORT.

This week I challenge you to live so that you make a difference. Live a life of faith. And let God get you out of that Big Fish.

1. Autoillustrator

2. Copyright ©1997 shawn d music (ASCAP) ©1998 FFH and Essential Records

3. Parables, Etc. (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), October 1984

4. Parables, Etc. (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), February 1999

5. Parables, Etc. (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), July 1991

* Rev. Laraine Waughtal 254-582-8998
Covington United Methodist Church
PO Box 93
Covington, TX 76636