The Citizen, 2007-09-06, Page 9By Pastor Ernest Dow, LivingWater Christian Fellowship(EMC), Blyth
Some people have difficulty
accepting that the Biblical story of
Jonah being swallowed by a great
fish is literally true (although Jesus
apparently was not one of these - see
Matthew 12:40).
Similarly, while Paul Ciufo’s play
Reverend Jonah premiering at the
Blyth Festival is enthusiastically
received by some, for others there
are elements which are tough to
swallow.
To his credit, Ciufo has painted a
masterful picture of small-town
church life in rural Ontario. Having
been a United Church minister
myself for 14 years before 2001 and
a student minister three years prior
to that, I found his portrayal of the
perils of a rural pastoral charge
‘bang on’: time pressures causing
the minister to be late; having to deal
with power-brokers on church
boards, who simultaneously exercise
sway over parishioners’ lives in the
local work force; parishioners’
expectations of the new minister,
down to trivial details such as not
wearing one’s clergy collar
enough.
The music, choir, creative sets,
and subject matter made me feel
very much ‘at home’. Even the
sermons (though notably shorter
than most!) are well crafted and treat
the scriptural texts seriously.
The playwright introduces us to
some very earthy and charming local
characters, to whom we are endeared
by their frankness and Huron County
vocabulary.
One can truly sympathize with
Rev. Jonah’s situation as he finds
himself caught between his
convictions and the dogged
intransigence of the local powers-
that-be. His decision to proceed with
a course of action that may cost him
dearly strikes a noble chord.
There is much in this play the
church (universal) needs to hear and
of which it needs to repent: having
expectations of clergy that Jesus
Himself would find hard to meet;
usurping church government to
make it a tool by which to control
others for our own self-gratification;
being quick to judge and exclude
those who fall short, rather than
seeking to restore them and help
them.
Phyllis was indeed treated very
shabbily by the congregation at a
time when she most needed support,
understanding, and genuinely loving
female companionship in her
life.
Yet the play’s central thrust is
problematic in that it glosses over a
fundamental clash between two
world views. One we’ll call
‘humanist’ in that it starts from a
very optimistic view of human
desires: life’s purpose consists ofacting upon our inclinations andfulfilling our desires. The recurring
sentiment in the play, “You can’t
choose who you fall for,” assumes
we have little control over our
impulses.
Self-actualization and fulfillment
consist of acting upon our desires
without pausing to ask whether they
might be in some way deviant or
destructive.
Woe to anything or anyone that
would get in the way of our
‘freedom’ to give full expression to
our inmost desires!
As humanist Aldous Huxley put
it, “I want this world not to
have meaning, because it frees me to
my own erotic and political
desires.”
Another world view - call it
Protestant or Reformed or
evangelical – views our human
inclinations with rather more
suspicion instead of accepting them
automatically as good ‘givens’. This
view seeks to be guided by God’s
revelation in scripture (and Jesus, the
Living Word) rather than making our
human judgment sole authority and
arbiter of right and wrong.
The Bible teaches that all have
sinned and fallen short of God’sglory; no one is righteous, we areborn sinful (Romans 3:10ff,23;
Psalm 51:5).
Chuck Swindoll would say we are
born with the ‘bents’. Jesus’
estimation was that we are made
‘unclean’ by all sorts of evils that
come from within, out of our hearts
(Mark 7:20ff).
In New Testament terms, our
‘flesh’ or sinful human nature is
constantly resisting and hostile to
God’s direction and will for our lives
(Galatians 5:17; Romans 7:23,
8:5ff).
This clash of world views
threatens to empty the ritual of
baptism, with which the play
concludes, of its traditional meaning
as a voluntary commitment to
receive and own Jesus as one’s
Lord over our personal
inclinations/orientation. Jesus
ordered His followers to “go and
make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them...and teaching them
to obey everything I have
commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19f)
Christian discipleship involves
submitting my own will, in love, to
the Master’s instruction and Holy
Spirit-inspired Scripture. Jesus said,
“If you love Me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15, 21,23)
Baptism is an outward sign of the
inward reality that, by faith in Jesus
Christ, we have been crucified with
Him, belong to Him, and
consequently choose to live for Him,
with the members of our body as
God’s instruments and our fleshly
desires submitted to Him.
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus
have crucified the sinful nature with
its passions and desires.” (Romans
6:4,13; 7:4; Galatians 5:24).
At issue is whether we accept
God’s appraisal of our human
condition and its remedy, or theworld’s. The ancient Deceiverquestioned Eve in the Garden of
Eden, “Did God really say...?”Adam
and Eve subsequently decided they
were better judges of the truth of
their situation than God was; they
sought to be wise in their own eyes,
and rejected God’s limits (Genesis
3:1,5). Reverend Jonah concedes in
the play, “The Bible condemns
homosexuality,” then immediately
adds, “but that’s wrong.” When we
decide we know better than God,
only politics and power-struggles are
left. At least until the final curtain
falls.
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2007. PAGE 9. From the Minister’s StudyPastor says ‘Jonah’ hard to swallow
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