The book of Jonah is for many a familiar. This book is hugely important for the Church today. The Church, including Bellevue, needs a fresh vision of God’s mercy and grace, a deepened understanding of God’s call on our life, and to be moved to renew our participation in God’s passion for reaching the ‘Ninevites’ of today.  The story has even more depth through the life of Jesus Christ who used Jonah’s time inside the fish as a sign of the period he would be in the ‘heart of the earth’ after His death and before His resurrection (Matthew 12:39-42; 16:4; Luke 11: 29-32). The mercy shown the city of Nineveh is the mercy show to us.  May we respond in true worship and obedience, delighting in the work God is calling us to participate in.