Shipwrecked on the Shoals

Trailing by one in the seventh inning, with just one out, the Red Sox had the bases loaded. Minutes later they’d ‘d made the third out and left all three men on base.

Normally I would’ve been rather worked up about that.

But Monday night I walked away from the tv set and forgot about

the game, because it seemed, well, just a game.

We’ve got bigger problems than baseball.

Everywhere I go I hear people expressing deep anxiety about the

nation’s future. Not since September 2001 have so many felt so much uneasiness.

Chief of course has been the threat of a complete meltdown in our financial system.

I will never understand derivatives and short selling, but I do understand financial experts saying we have managed to reach the brink of a financial collapse.

Instantly I think about my mom’s aunt, who sold the farm in her old age and then lost every bit of it when the banks failed,

about my father’s family, which got back 5 cents on the dollar from its investments during the depression and of my father himself, who’d saved $25 to buy a bicycle before the crash wiped out that childhood dream.

These people not only took those unpleasant experiences to the grave, they left them with their descendants for generations to come.

Add to that the news that the Taliban is restrengthening, that troops in Afghanistan need to be doubled and that we can expect to be stuck there for 20 years, plus problems with Iran and deeper problems with Pakistan, the country on whom our own security so deeply depends.

Where do we turn when shipwrecked on the shoals of life?

This week, as I tried to quiet my own anxiety, I found myself thinking about Paul’s story of being shipwrecked on his voyage to Rome.

Though Paul never heard of derivatives, he left us a story full of Inspiration and hope for our own shipwrecks.

The story, to summarize, goes like this:

From the start, as they headed for Rome, the winds were blowing against them. And so they sailed on the sheltered side, slowly and with great difficulty, til they reached a place with the comforting name of Safe Harbor.

Yet they could not stay there long, and so they set out again –

this time encountering a Northeaster so severe they could see

neither sun by day nor stars by night.

Fearful of sandbanks, unable to sail into the wind, they simply drifted until finally, says Paul, the others gave up all hope of being saved.

At this point Paul took charge of his own emotions and took charge of the others. He told the starving, frightened men, “I beg you, take courage. I’ve seen an angel, he adds, an angel who said “Do not be afraid because you’re going to be driven ashore to an island.”

Have you noticed how angels almost always say, “Do not be afraid”?

Well like a true leader Paul quiets them all some with those words.

And later he sits down and shares bread with them. As he gives thanks to God, he again assures them that all will be ok.

Well, eventually the story ends just as the angel predicted. They do make it to a shore. But not without further trials and tribulations.

First they have to contend with mutinous sailors. and then with murderous sailors.Then they hit the sandbar that breaks their ship into pieces. And finally they reach shore only by swimming for their lives or clinging to floating pieces of the destroyed ship.

It was a nightmare to make the past week pale. But Paul can speak to our shipwrecks too.

First of all, instead of taking his cues only from the storm around him, he listened to God’s messenger. And he heard these important words: “get ahold of your fear.”

Second Paul acted like a leader, encouraging others to overcome their fear. Courage, you will recall, is not an absence of fear. It’s the ability to function rationally even in the face of fear. And the willingness to take responsibility for doing the best we can with whatever circumstances we face.

Finally, Paul gave thanks. Did you notice that in the midst of all those problems Paul offeredthe men food and then led them in a prayer of thanksgiving? In so doing he shifted the focus from what they might lose to what God had already given them and God’s faithfulness in caring for them.

Gratitude helps us deal with fear because it broadens our perspective. It allows us to think less about what we wish we had and more about what we yet have, most especially the blessing of still being alive.

Courage and gratitude in the face of trouble are hard. They’re hard in the face of national calamities. They’re hard in the face of family tragedies like health problems and job loss and all the rest that so many of you are dealing with.

To all of us the angel says, “Do not be afraid.” When the storm clouds gather, we should not give in to afraid. When the wind blows our ship astray, we should not give in to afraid. Even when the ship breaks up and all we have left to cling to is a plank, we should not give in to fear.

With God’s help we will reach the shore. Maybe not with our ship fully intact; in fact maybe with nothing but a plank to cling to. But we will find a shore.

Amen.