Jonah

Jonah arrived today.

Not that I was expecting him or anything. HIs arrival was totally out of the blue.

A complete, and wonderful, surprise. Courtesy of a kind and generous friend. Signor Cento Tre.

This shining knight and his lovely damsel in distress (well, she sometimes is) had gone to all sorts of lengths to get me this belated birthday present.

Like Jonah himself when tossed overboard into the stormy sea, I was totally overwhelmed.

Except, unlike the Jonah we read about, I was well and truly chuffed. Thrilled to bits.

Jonah. I should explain.

Jonah's a fish.

The fish that Signor CT and his damsel kindly bought and gave me as a gift today to ease the distress that I've known since my other goldfish died.

And to afford some sort of solace to the one remaining fish I've had swimming round and round the tank each day in a wholly miserable solitude.

Jonah's the name I've given the fish.

Mainly because if the other fish opens its mouth too wide this poor wee 'new kid on the block' (or fish in the tank) is going to get swallowed alive. There's that sort of size differential between the two of them.

The new little feisty fish is coloured like a tiger. And looks as if he's got a personality to match!

I could have called him 'Tony', I suppose (as in the Frosties) adverts. But Jonah's the name I've given him. And Jonah he will be.

And it's really quite appropriate that he should arrive today.

First because, as the good book says, 'two are better than one'. 'Fish', like 'sheep', is a plural word, after all. They're not really meant to be on their own. And out in the oceans I don't suppose they often are.

Well, not the wee fish, anyway. They stick together. Shoals, and all that.

Leadership, too, is a plural word. And tonight our whole new leadership team will gather together for the very first time.

In some ways it's a smaller leadership body than we've had before. Reduced from 60 or so to 16.

But in truth, I see it as being a major enlargement. Too many churches end up with a one-man leadership team - at least so far as discerning the vision of God is concerned.

And for the first time here in all my years I have that sense that I'm no longer going to be swimming around on my own in the rather public 'goldfish bowl' which this sort of leadership often entails.

It feels like the leadership body that gets from the Lord the vision he has for us here - it feels like that crucial body has actually grown. From one (namely me) to sixteen.

The 'fish' in my tank is now a plural word. A kind of symbol of what will happen here tonight.

The vision-casting leadership body is now a plural word!

Jonah has arrived.

The future God had planned for him could only ever come to pass when he'd been 'through the mill' (aka the belly of the big fish) and seen and acknowledged the error of his ways and of his attitudes.

There have been issues like that that to be dealt with today. Not easy. And quite time-consuming.

The shores of God's future on which at last Jonah would be landed lay on the other side of repentance.

The belly of the fish was a merciful provision of God. Preferable to the bottom of the ocean. The possibility of a second chance.

These are real life issues that need addressing with folk.

Jonah.

And for Jonah himself that 'second chance' opened up for him a whole new sphere of ministry.

One he was far from comfortable with. One that was truly radical. One that for most of his 'churchy' friends was really, I guess, quite shocking.

The sort of direction in which the Lord continues to lead us here may well be rather like that!

So, yeah ... Jonah arrived today!