Choice is a topic that looms large in 2024. From a presidential election to reproductive choice to the United Methodist Church deciding in May how we will move forward as a denomination, there are major choices to be made this year that will have lasting effects. So our theme at Crawford for all of 2024 is “A Time for Choosing.”
Here at the outset of the year, we’re going to set the stage by exploring choices made by characters in the Bible. From now until Lent begins, we will look at characters who made choices that most would consider bad choices—if not sinful, then at least ones that caused more problems than other options. Then during Lent, we’ll compare those poor choices with choices that Jesus makes during his ministry.
To kick off our set of poor choices, we turn this coming Sunday to the story of Jonah. If you’ve never read Jonah, pick up a Bible and read the book bearing his name in the Old Testament. (Or read it online, here.) It’s only four chapters long and a good read. Jonah is an important figure for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, so you really should know his story. Then, come Sunday, we’ll look at why he made the choices he did and what we might learn from his mistakes as we make choices of our own.
— Pastor Anne
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