The Sign of Jonah: Do Not Play It Safe!

With the end of my ministry at Casco rapidly approaching, all parties (me, Kathy, you, the community) have occasion to ponder the impact of my time in Casco. What was accomplished? Was it worthwhile, or as Isaiah 49:4 says, did I labor for no purpose, did I spend my strength in vain and for nothing?


● Certainly the facility is in better shape; we have the chairs, the video projector, the metal roof, a better sound system, a bigger parking lot, asphalt in the upper parking lot, new furnaces (!), and a new sign.


● More importantly, is the community is better off? One could point to the larger food pantry, the soup kitchen, the expelled high school students that were mentored and reinstated at school, the ministries at Casco Inn, and the number of people that visited the church and the youth group as evidence that something happened.


● But what of the people at church? For what purpose did I labor?


Read Acts 20:17-38


The mastermind proposes an incredulous plan and shocks this subordinates. The plan, which involves them all, has the potential to change world; it also has the potential to fizzle, even backfire, and amount to nothing. Why take such a bold chance? Why gamble everything on such a radical undertaking? Why not try something simpler? Wouldn’t a more conservative plan with a smaller scope and a humbler goal—and a reduced risk—be safer? Wouldn’t it be the smarter way to go?


I’m talking about The Great Escape, of course. Based on the autobiographical account of an Allied P.O.W. jailbreak from Stalag Luft III during World War II, the movie details the mass escape attempt by the prisoners. Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett (RAF), known as “Big X”, proposes digging multiple tunnels and breaking out 250 prisoners, thereby forcing the Nazis to commit thousands of troops that would otherwise be deployed on the front lines searching for the escapees instead. Despite numerous setbacks, 76 prisoners make a desperate escape one night. For a while, it appears that the plans of Big X might work, as Nazis are forced to comb the countryside, railroad stations, and checkpoints for the missing P.O.W.s. However, eventually all but three are captured, and 50 are executed.


The Great Escape gives us the hero’s journey upside down. The typical hero’s journey begins in the ordinary world when the hero receives a call to go on the quest, to take on the challenge, to brave the perils of the pit, the jail, the dungeon. Eventually, the transformed hero returns to the ordinary world, although nothing will ever be the same again. However, the movie begins and ends in the P.O.W. prison; the story begins and ends in the pit, as it were. Big X calls the heroes to leave their world and break out into the ordinary world, to their great peril. The temptation is to play it safe and stay in the prison; the German commandant says as much, telling the Senior British Officer that they should “sit out the war together.”


Likewise, for Paul, for missionaries, the hero’s journey is upside down. Paul’s “pit” oddly is the church: the Jewish “church” in Jerusalem, from where he sallied forth to kill Christians: after his conversion, his church in Antioch, where he and Barnabas ministered for years; and later, the churches in Corinth, Ephesus, or a score of other places where the temptation is to stay in the one place. Stay in one church, “sit out the war together,” or go out into the “ordinary world.” For Paul, as for the P.O.W.s, the stakes are higher in the ordinary world than in the church. If the world is going to be changed, Paul must go to the ordinary world; however, the dangers are higher as well.


Consider temptation for Paul to stay in one place. How much easier would it have been to straighten out, say, the church in Corinth if he had stayed in place in Corinth? On the face of it, the churches’ troubles came because Paul spread himself too thin. Fix the church in Corinth, Paul. Take your time. Then go to the next place—Ephesus, for example. However, that doesn’t seem to be God’s way. What gives?


v22-23 suggest that uncertainty and hardships are part of the plan. Frequently Paul is “invited” to leave town. In Lystra, Paul is stoned, dragged out of town, and left on the garbage dump outside of town, presumed dead (Acts 14:19). Perhaps the hardships that come our way are exactly the goads we need to keep from becoming stagnant.


In the movie, Steve McQueen plays a fictional character, American Captain Virgil Hilts, the “Cooler King,” so named because of the time he spends in the cooler (the jail within the prison) after each of his failed escape attempts. On one hand, the fictional Hilts provides comic relief in an otherwise serious, sometimes deadly, story. However, the irrepressible Hilts is a model of perseverance, refusing to let his failures dampen his spirits. After the 50 escapees are executed, Hilts is one of the few returned to prison; the movie closes as he is returned to the cooler, and one is left to conclude that he is already plotting his next escape attempt.


For Paul as well, hardships are neither the evidence of failure nor the warning signs of the wrong direction. Rather, Paul considers hardships and trials to be an expected part of the journey. He accepts hardships in his future and predicts trials for his churches.


As a pastor, the temptation is to try to fix all problems, but I am convinced that we learn more from our apparent failures than our apparent success, more from our hardships than from our blessings. Early on in my pastorate, I made the decision to be “hands off” in many areas, allowing you to learn from your mistakes, trusting that the lessons we learn best are the ones that we teach ourselves. The decision was to give you the responsibility for you own spiritual growth, knowing that some would rise to the challenge even as others did not. I prayed that many would grow, realizing that some would choose not to grow. To those who wished to play it safe, it was a horrible decision, but I pray that those who know that our way to glory is through such light and momentary troubles as come our way when we chose to go on the journey will agree that it was the right decision to make.


Point to Ponder


Where and how have you taken responsibility for your spiritual growth? By taking responsibility for yourself, how are you better able to help others now?


Benediction


I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:3-6)