Jonah pt 2 - Home Church Guide
Summary
Text: Jonah 1
The book of Jonah is more than a story about a reluctant prophet and a big fish—it’s a literary masterpiece rich with irony, symbolism, personification, and foreshadowing. In this week’s message, Abby invited us to read Jonah not just for its literal details, but for the deeper truths it conveys about the heart of God.
Through the storm narrative in Jonah 1, we meet a prophet who runs from God, a group of pagan sailors who respond with surprising faith, and a God who responds not with punishment but with compassion. Jonah descends—literally and symbolically—as far from God as one can go, yet God meets him there. Abby reminds us that God’s love is not performance-based. It’s present in the mess. It pursues us in our failure. And yes, it's scandalously extended even to our enemies.
Reflection Questions
What stood out to you from Abby’s message or the Jonah story this week?
Was there a particular insight, literary device, or moment in the story that surprised or moved you?
How does irony in the Jonah story reframe your expectations about who God uses and how God works?
What do you make of the fact that the pagan sailors model faith while the prophet resists?
Have you ever felt like Jonah—running away, sinking down, or overwhelmed by inadequacy?
What does it mean to you that God met Jonah not with shame but with saving grace?
**Abby shared this quote from Richard Rohr:
“Love flows unstoppably downward, around every obstacle, like water. Love and water seek not the highest place but always the lower.”
—What does this image of love mean to you? Where have you seen that kind of love in your own life?**Abby also shared this quote from Dallas Willard:
“We don't believe something by merely saying we believe it… We believe something when we act as if it were true.”
—How might you begin to act as if God’s love for you was unshakeable, even in your imperfections?
Spiritual Practice: Resting in Love
This week, carve out 5–10 minutes of quiet each day to sit with this simple truth:
“There is nothing I could do to make God love me less.”
Breathe deeply. Say the words slowly.
Notice how they land.
If resistance, doubt, or shame comes up, gently bring them before God and ask:
“Can you show me what your love looks like, even here?”
Optional journaling prompt:
Where in my life am I striving for love I already have?
Closing Prayer Prompt
Invite someone to read this prayer aloud over your group, or read it together:
God of love that flows deeper than the sea,
You meet us not at our best, but in our brokenness.
Not because we’ve earned it, but because You are good.When we run, You pursue.
When we fall, You lift.
When we doubt, You remain.Teach us to trust Your love—
to rest in it, to live from it,
and to extend it to others, even those we struggle to love.May Your mercy be our anchor.
May Your compassion shape our lives.
And may we be people who, like the sailors in Jonah’s story,
are transformed by encountering You.Amen.
