This week we are looking at how God displays his love to us. And clearly Jonah didn’t understand that love. Because God reveals to him that he had more love for his precious vine than he does for the people of Nineveh. And so this section displays how God’s love actually works.

This week we are concluding our series in the book of Jonah. And what we’re learning is that God’s love is far different from what we often think of it to be. Certainly that was Jonah’s problem. Because his definition of God’s love only had room for blessings on his people and judgement on his enemies. But God is working here to stretch Jonah’s understanding of his wide mercy.

This week we will conclude our series in the book of Jonah, looking at chapter 4. And what we will be asking is: do you REALLY want the love of God in your life? Because the way God expresses his love here for Jonah should give us pause in our assumptions of what that love looks like.

Adults have always tended to see the kids as being an extra “bother” that needs to be managed at church. Extensive programs are put in place to keep their noise and interruption to a minimum for the “real” worshippers. But at City Church, we understand the importance of Jesus’ words to the crowds around him… Let the little children come to me!

This week is Family Sunday. Our service will look much the same, minus the sermon. And our liturgy and music will be more “kid-friendly”. At City Church, we recognize that our kids are the next generation of leaders in our community. I have personally witnessed the growth and development of several of our current elders from their days as kids creating chaos in the church. And there’s nothing more amazing than seeing them take on the faith of their parents and pass it on to the next generation.

This week is our Family Service Sunday. We will have a condensed and more kid-friendly service, followed by a meal together. Make sure you sign up for what you’re going to be able to bring!

How can we forgive, when our hearts scream at us to protect our fragile hearts? Ultimately, the only way we can truly forgive is to be the recipient of forgiveness ourselves. The biblical key to forgiveness is the notion of overcoming evil with good. And this means we must first deal with our own hearts before we attempt to address the person who has wronged us.

So what do we do about our heart’s desire for vengeance? How do we deal with and overcome the violence of this world and of our own hearts? The two wrong strategies are to seek vengeance or to sweep it under the rug with resignation. So what DO we do? And the simple answer the Bible gives us is: forgiveness.

The second source of violence here comes from an equally shocking source: Jonah himself. The Bible is incredibly raw and honest here, telling us that one of the main sources of violence in the world is exactly what its critics have been claiming for years: it stems from religion. This was John Lennon’s cry in imagining a world with no religion. Because from his perspective - and from any casual observer, that’s exactly what religion has produced through its years: incredible violence.

This week we move into chapter 3 of Jonah, where we will be looking at the subject of violence. In particular, how does God call us to overcome violence - not only in the world, but in our own hearts?