Pray and Persevere

12- Pray and Act

Romans 12:1-8 Acts 27:1-4, 9-12 - 37

August 21, 2016 Rally Day - 14th Sunday after Pentecost Dr. Edwin Gray Hurley

This is a great and momentous day for William Jacob Hightower. Today he has been claimed by God’s grace through baptism. Today he has been washed, and he has been welcomed, by God and by us, as Jill and Daniel have renewed their promises of personal faith in the Triune God and Jesus Christ our Lord, and as we have made our promise to support Jacob through the ministries of the church as he grows in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Today Jacob has been launched on a life-long journey. Today his journey of faith has begun: the pilgrimage that will take him through this passing earthly life and on to his eternal destination that is ours in Christ. All this began today in Jacob’s baptism.

A few years ago another family stood at this font. Jeramy and Jerri Stephens were presenting their children for baptism. Their oldest son, Riley, was about three years old. As soon as the water splashed over his head, he declared loudly, “I’m wet!” Then as I took him in my arms and we were about to march out through the congregation, I know, I know, your favorite part of the sacrament, little Riley Stephens looked out at you, raised his arm, pointed his forefinger and commanded, “Let’s go!”

“I’m wet! Let’s Go.” It is a good summary of what we are about today as a congregation. For today is a great and momentous day for us all, as we renew our life of faith this Rally Day, following the slower wandering pace of summer. Our text today from Acts emphasizes what we have been noticing throughout this book of the Church’s beginnings and spreading, and what we are undertaking with renewed intensity and confidence at SHPC, and that is prayer. This summer we have been seeing how central prayer plays in enabling the spreading of the Good News about Jesus, and how God through prayer uses diverse people and situations to work his will.

Today’s story is no exception. It is an action-packed, danger- filled adventure story of deliverance from the sea. In 2009 Capt. Chesley Sullenberger heroically landed the U.S. Air jet flight 1549 near LaGuardia into the Hudson River in the middle of , safely guiding it down 2000 feet from the skies after the jet engines failed when a flock of geese got sucked into them, saving all 155 souls.

In mid first century A.D. a Jew from Tarsus named Paul, himself a prisoner bound for trial before Caesar, guided his ship through prayer and encouragement amid a devastating storm, calling upon and receiving Divine assistance, and saving all 276 persons.

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The Bible is filled with stories of disaster and deliverance at sea. Throughout history the sea has been a symbol both of danger and deliverance. Just ask the people of Baton Rouge about the destructive power of water when it gets beyond its bounds.

The church itself has been likened, through these 2000 years to a boat of safety, like Noah’s ark, that secures and protects and guides, carrying us through the dangerous waters of this life. Look at the ceiling of this sanctuary. Can you see that it forms the hull of a boat? We in this church are a boat, an ark of God’s making and God’s keeping, sailing through the dark and dangerous waters that surround us. The sea symbolizes chaos, evil, destruction, devastation. “All is lost.” At the end of the Revelation with the coming of the new heaven and new earth, this verse – “And the sea was no more.” No more chaos, danger, evil. “All is found.”

Paul is the dominant figure in this story. Paul is no pilot, not particularly known as a sailor but rather as a tent maker. Paul is a prisoner in chains. Yet, Paul points those on board to the key, the lynch-pin of deliverance, prayer.

Paul receives God’s message through an angel in the context of prayer,

Prayer: “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.”

Prayer: as they are fearful in the storm of running on rocks; “they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.”

Prayer, after 14 days suspended in the dark stormy sea with no food; “‘Take some food’ … After he had said this, he took bread; and giving thanks to God (prayer in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat. Then all of them were encouraged and took food for themselves.”i

What is going to guide you and sustain you, renew you in your life, at school, at work, in your neighborhood, and keep you strong and vital in your faith? Prayer. Through prayer Paul is guided, protected, and led to the vital life-changing, world-transforming task God entrusts to his cure. Through prayer God will use Paul to take this message about a Jew who is unjustly brutally put to death, for challenging the status quo of the religious and political and military power brokers, and through that death brings life to the world. Through prayer God will use Paul to spread this Good News of being “fully alive with the passion of Christ,” not only to Jews but worldwide, to Gentiles, the whole vast Greek and Roman and African cultures, and all these little islands throughout the Aegean. God is at work building a new transnational Empire which transcends particular nations and races and rulers - the Kingdom of God. Jesus is on the move and Paul is His chief agent.

I Paul is a man with a mission. He is on the GO. He is motivated; he is impelled to take this message that hit him like a ton of bricks along the road to Damascus, blinded him and gave him back his sight. God reached him with the good news and totally turned him around, from being the chief attack dog to the chief advocate for “Jesus Christ our Lord.” Now he is on the 3

go, taking this message everywhere because this message and this Messiah burns within the heart of Paul. His core identity is not found in being a Roman or a Jew or a tent maker, or bow- legged, or a single unmarried man but “a man in Christ,” in Christ he is a new creation. He braves untold dangers and assaults and attacks and abuse, and continues his journey to Rome, the heart of world power. Rome is Washington and London and Paris. To Rome he must go, all for the sake of this Jesus.

With Rally Day, we too are called to get going, to engage with Jesus Christ and one another. To gather here week by week and at other times in this boat of God’s grace, to pray, to be taught and encouraged and lifted so we can live as God’s new people, to sing anthems and hymns, and study scriptures and build a house for the homeless, feed the hungry, teach children and grow continually in the Spirit. As Frederick Buechner puts it, “To live with charity, honor, grace, the power to keep going even when we are tempted to go no place that matters, to go no farther.” Paul is on the go. He has passion for Christ.

II But then, as they GO it seems they are GONE. The winds are against them, they lose a lot of time, so that the Jewish Day of – the only Fast called for in the Old Testament - that comes in September or October - has already passed. It looks like they will have to spend the winter at some port along the way. So they seek a place of safety along and then past Crete. Suddenly a moderate wind turns to hurricane force; a violent wind called the northeaster catches the boat, and they lose control.

For 14 days they are tossed and turned, hanging precariously between life and death. Darkness and heavy clouds eliminate their only means of navigation by the stars. “When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.”ii Amid the storms they feel they are goners, all hope is lost, they see nothing ahead but a watery grave. “Abandon hope all ye who enter in.” Passengers and crew are terrified. If it were not for Paul’s intervention, the sailors would have jumped into the lifeboat and abandoned passengers to their fate. Paul though takes command. “Men you should have listened to me instead.” That would be about like me telling you, “People, you should have listened to me not Jerry Tracy about the heat wave and heavy rains we are about to experience.” I mean, who would you listen to?

Gayle and I recently returned from a wonderful few weeks along the coast of Maine and Nova Scotia all the way up to Cape Briton. There we saw hundreds of light houses that dot that rocky shore, shining out their lights and ringing out their bells of warnings to ships that ply the North Atlantic coming over from Europe; Beware the rocky shoals. Did you know that before 9- 11 the chief responsibility of the U.S. Coastguard was to maintain the nation’s light houses?

On tiny lovely Monhegan Island, an hour’s boat ride out off the coast of Maine, we walked along the rocky shore most all the way around this 1 mile by quarter mile artist’s paradise. We saw and stood in the massive rusted hull of a ship about 100 feet long, turned on its side in the sand, that had been caught up in a storm and wrecked along those shores in 1947. Visiting the lighthouse museum we saw photos of that ship shortly after it crashed. Not that ship 4

only but photos of four others that had likewise crashed along that same rocky dangerous shore over the last 100 years.

The sea is full of danger, and these on the boat with Paul feel all is lost. “All hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.” John Trapp, a 16th century writer once said, “Seest thou another man shipwrecked? Look well to thy moorings.” Jesus memorably contrasted the house built on ephemeral sand that collapsed in the storm with the house built on the solid rock of his teachings that endured.

III The angel of the Lord has spoken God’s word to Paul. God’s sovereign will shall prevail. They are not GONE because God and GOD’s GRACE are still at work. God is still working his purpose out today with us! So much seems askew, out of joint, at risk. The storms are raging. (I’m not mentioning the Presidential election! Or Alabama politics! Or Brexit!) Familiar landmarks, people and institutions we have looked to seem lost to us. Where are we going as a culture, a nation, a church? Languages of hate, fear, division fill the airwaves, “If only we had a lottery, then our problem would be solved?!” There seems to be darkness everywhere, and the stars cannot be seen.

The key is for you and me to trust God. Keep up our courage. Hold to our faith. Do not give in to despair. What do you do when you reach the end of your rope? Tie a knot and hold on. What do you do when the storms rage and darkness prevents you from finding your way? Trust God and hold on. Remember Jesus spoke peace to the storming wind and water – and there was a great calm. Immediately.

Such trust, such faith requires giving up the illusion that you are in charge and giving over your loyalty and love to Jesus. Once a battleship carrying the Admiral was traveling through dark waters in the middle of the night, and a lookout saw off in the distance the lights of what appeared to be another vessel. With Morse code the lookout blinked out the order of the Admiral who was beside him on the bridge, “Turn your course 90 degrees.” The other light blinked back, “No, turn your course 90 degrees.” The battle ship blinked back, “Turn your course. This is Admiral Nimitz and I’m on a battle ship.” The response came, “No sir, turn your course. This is Seaman Jones, and I’m on a light house.”

God is still at work in and through us, if we will but turn to him in prayer. Put down anchors and trust him. Will you do that? Then, receive the food he offers. Paul encourages the passengers after 14 days with nothing, to take some food. This is not only ordinary food but spiritual food also, the bread, the cup of thanksgiving, signs that God is with us, nourishing us, providing a way through for us.

Paul writes to the Church in Rome in his Letter, that the secret for making it through this life comes not in conforming to the world around us but in being transformed by the power of the Spirit to the world above us, then holding together on the ship that is Christ’s body. This ship is filled with many and different individuals who are yet one in Christ, held together by exercising our gifts together. That is what we are to be about as the Church. Many made one, using our gifts to build up one another. If you can see a clear word from the Lord as a prophet then get on 5

and share it. If you can minister with service to others, then do so with gusto. If you can teach, then really use your gift to impart new knowledge. If you can encourage, then encourage like you have never done before. If you can give, then give generously. If you can offer compassion, then do so cheerfully. Bottom line – engage! Engage! Engage!

The upshot of our story is that though the ship is lost in the storm, Paul will continue his journey. Every single person on board will make it ashore safely onto the island of Malta. Those who can swim take out through the water. Those who cannot will float in on a piece of the broken ship. All 276 make it to safety. “Safe and secure from alarm, leaning on the everlasting arm. Leaning on Jesus! Leaning on Jesus!”

John R. Mott was a great leader of college student ministries around the world in the early part of the twentieth century. He started SCM, - Student Christian Movement a forerunner of groups like Young Life and UKirk. As he was beginning he sat down with George Williams, who earlier had founded the YMCA, Young Men’s Christian Association. Mott asked him what was in his mind and the minds of his colleagues that led them to form that now well-known, well-established ministry. George Williams replied,

“We had only one thing in mind and that was to bind our little company together in order that we might better lead our comrades to Christ, in order that we might share with one another our personal experiences of Christ.”iii

“Fully alive with the passion of Christ!” That is our calling that is our mission on this voyage. Begun, sustained, completed through the waters of baptism, “We’re wet! Let’s go!”

i Svyd 27:24,29, 35 ii Acts 27:20 iii John R. Mott, quoted by Stanley Ott in Transform Your Church With Ministry Teams, p.47