Unlikely Heroes

The story of Jonah is a great one, though it's often seen as a children's story. it’s about a man who somehow ended up in a whale. Because it's such a bizarre story and it happened 3000 years ago, it can sometimes feel irrelevant to us today. We talk about it with our kids, but feel a certain disconnect, because it’s certainly not our story! But It’s a deep and very relevant story about God challenging us in the way we live our lives. We will talk about how God challenges both the overly religious as well as those who pay no attention to spiritual matters. Everyone is invited to pay attention... 

Here in the Netherlands, there is a great tradition when a man turns 50 years old. He is said to “have seen Abraham” (“Abraham gezien hebben”), and this often involves friends and family placing a life-sized doll of an old man in the man’s garden so that the whole neighbourhood knows that he has reached this major milestone in his life.

While the Bible tells us about some significant events in Abraham’s personal life journey (he lived to be 175!) and his extensive physical journeys (having lived and travelled through modern day Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, and Israel), the Bible’s primary focus is on Abraham’s faith journey: from his initial steps out of Ur to those long painful steps up Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son, Isaac.

Join us this Sunday, as we explore “seeing Abraham” together (regardless of our age) and what the Bible has to say about this unlikely hero and his journey of faith.

Mary was a young woman from a small village in the middle of nowhere, who was demon-possessed, not just by one but by seven demons. And yet after a life-changing encounter with Jesus in which she was set free from the powers of darkness, God chose Mary to be the first person to see the risen Christ and to proclaim this good news to the rest of the disciples. 

When you go from persecutor of God's people to encourager you have probably learned a thing or two about what matters most. Unlikely Hero, Paul, gets to the heart of life in Christ in this week's text.

Jesus always seemed to surround himself with the least likely and least deserving people, like the disciples...and like us.

It is hard to find a less likely convert than Paul. Paul was full of religion in many of its worst forms and ruthlessly persecuted the early Church. Yet his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus left him a transformed man. His experience teaches us that no one is beyond reach of the incomparable love and grace of God. 

The book of Joshua is full of places to look for a hero- stirring speeches, daring spy missions and exciting battles. But this week's hero reminds us that God requires different things from His heroes than we might think, and challenges us to be the type of community which is open to His surprising choices.