Pages

▼

Sunday, 20 September 2026

Sunday 20th September - There's a wideness in God's mercy

The two readings in our zoom church this morning were firstly from the book of Jonah, not the whale bit but afterwards, when the people of Ninevah listened to Jonah and repented, and secondly from the New Testament, the parable of the vineyard where the owner paid the same daily rate to all the workers whether they had worked the whole day or just an hour or so.

Jonah was displeased with God, because he thought the people of Ninevah were so wicked that they should have got what was coming to them, and the workers in the vineyard who had put in a whole day's work were displeased because they thought they should have been given more money than the Johnny-come-lately lot.

But, as this hymn says,

'There's a wideness in God's mercy, like the wideness of the sea...'

Interestingly the leader of the service commented that she particularly liked the words of the second verse, just as I was thinking over how good the words of the last four lines are...


Which lines, I wonder, mean the most to you? 


10 comments:

  1. A beautiful hymn that is totally new to me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "The love of God is broader than the measure of our mind."
    That line challenges my narrowmindedness, encourages me when I am anxious, fills me with hope...

    ReplyDelete
  3. We had the same readings yesterday! And a sermon based on it. I agree with Ang about the line about the measure of our mind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our zoom church follows the lectionary and Church Year which I love; I don't think my local church has done that for over 20 years.

      Delete
  4. We sang that last Sunday (13th) when I was leading the service. A similar theme... Not judging, but forgiving

    ReplyDelete
  5. My son spent 2003 stationed in Mosul, Iraq. While he was there he visited Jonah's tomb which is in Nineveh. I was shocked to learn that Jonah stayed there. And apparently he changed his attitude toward them because they built him a tower in commemoration of his life and what he did for them.

    ReplyDelete