Seafarers Service 2014

Portsmouth Cathedral is known as "The Cathedral of the Sea" and so Seafarers Sunday is a big deal! I had th eprivilege of preaching at my first on on Sunday which was followed by a procession to Nelson's statue and the saluting platfrom - a great event. Here is the write up in The Portsmouth News:

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/portsmouth-service-pays-tribute-to-all-seafarers-1-6366692

Here is the sermon I delivered:

Sermon for Seafarers Service 2014

A sailor and a priest were playing golf. The sailor took his first shot missed and said, "Damn! I missed." Surprised, the priest replied, "Don’t use that kind of language or God will punish you." The sailor took aim and hit his second shot. Again he missed and under his breath the said, "Damn, missed again." The priest overheard and replied, "My son, please don’t use that language or God will punish you." The sailor took his third shot and once again he couldn’t help mutter, "Oh damn!…" The priest said, "That’s it God will certainly punish you." Suddenly a bolt of lightning came down and killed the priest. In the distance a deep voice said, "Damn! I Missed".

How to begin a sermon in the Cathedral of the sea at the Seafarers service? I spent a good deal of time considering this but that joke appealed to me because there is something real and tangible about the link between the church and they that go down to the sea in ships. Something real and elemental.

I have only lived in Portsmouth since April but one of my favourite places to be is on the walls at the entrance to the harbour. My family think I am particularly sad or a bit of a ship geek as I will suggest standing there and just watching for hours if I could. Is it the fact that there is so much to see? No, there is something much more primeval, more elemental about it. There is some elemental link between us and the sea, some link forged through both being created by God and in particular God’s charge to us to subdue the Earth and Sea, to be good stewards of God’s creation.

Last week when we had the particularly high tide and winds I simply went and stood and watched the sea being whipped up and smashing across the pavement behind the beach. It was exciting and amazing and exhilarating. But then we have a Cathedral full of people here associated with the sea so I don’t really need to tell you that. And we shouldn’t be surprised really, after listening to that first reading read by Sir Ben. “God said, ‘Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

God saw that it was good. And it is, not just in terms of its beauty and spectacular nature. We depend on the sea for so many things.  Much of our daily food is brought to us across the seas, our breakfast tea, coffee, orange juice, marmalade, possibly butter, cereal, wheat for bread, and of course being in Portsmouth let’s not forget bananas are brought to us across the seas, through sometimes dangerous and often difficult waters.

Of course it isn’t just about imports and exports or being captivated by the beauty of the seas. We’ve used the power of the sea to defend our nation over many, many years. To carry ships around the world to protect the innocent, rescue those in distress and help those in need. Brave men and women have risked their lives not only to provide us with the standard of life we enjoy but defend our right to enjoy those lives. Indeed in the year we remember both the 70^th anniversary of D-Day and the centenary of the start of the First World War it is important that for many, far too many, it wasn’t simply risking their lives but sacrificing them as well.

Because although it is great to reflect upon the elemental link we may feel with the sea, and it is right to enjoy it in both its spectacular stormy form as well as all the opportunities it affords us. The second reading this morning which Commander Tim read reminds us that it can be dangerous too.

Remember that some of the disciples were fisherman who were used to handling boats, they knew the sea of Galilee intimately and they could handle the everyday rough sea. But the storm in this story is no every-day rough sea. The disciples who were experienced boatmen were afraid for their lives. They were more than afraid, they were in a panic.

We also know that it was no every-day rough sea because it was a storm at night. Night-time storms are highly unusual on the Sea of Galilee. Because it is the wind conditions that are caused by the heating of the atmosphere during the day time that are the usual causes of a storm on Galilee.

So, this unnatural storm whips up out of no-where, in the middle of the night when a storm should not be happening and professional sailors are terrified for their very lives

To the writer of Mark’s Gospel and his readers, the storm represents the forces of evil and darkness. This is a story about people being overwhelmed by those bad things which can happen to all of us. Those seamen who have been killed on battle over many years, the merchant seamen lost due to enemy action, accident or natural disaster, their families waiting for news or receiving the worst news that their loved one would not be coming home. But these storms of life are of course not restricted to seafarers. Channel 4 on Friday night had an evening of charity fundraising called “Stand up To Cancer” and any of you who saw it will be aware of the many stories that night of people and their friends and families battling the storm of cancer.

In our own city there are people who have no idea where they will be sleeping tonight, there are people who have no work, people in debt they have little hope of repaying.

In this Cathedral this morning there will be people facing their own storms that we may know nothing about.

So the disciples turned to Jesus, still asleep in the boat and wake him and he brings calm with one word. In our translation he says “Peace, Be Still!” but in the original Greek it is just one word. And we read that not only did the wind cease but that there was a dead calm.

I wonder who Jesus was talking to. We commonly assume it is to the wind and waves and they cease but maybe it is to the frantic, panicking disciples that Jesus says “Peace. Be calm.”

Unlike this Gospel story we know that the storms do not always just vanish. But we believe that God can bring some peace and that this peace comes in many and varied forms.

Whilst living in Bristol in the 1990s I used to regularly pass a homeless guy in a subway. Although I did not always have cash or food to give him I did always make the time to stop and say hello. This for him was significant, he used to say that he did no tmind if people wouldn’t give him anything but he found it very painful to just be ignored. For people to walk by and not even acknowledge his existence. A small thing but in saying hello and making conversation there was a moment of calm in that man’s storm.

On Friday evening’s ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ telethon there was the story of Lloyd a boy with cancer undergoing intensive therapy with grim side effects. His parents were going through something which many of us can only imagine and yet Lloyd’s love of football was something which made him smile and when he met David Bechkam as part of the programme it must have been one of the widest and most special smiles I think I shall ever see. Moments of calm in this families storm.

Today we remember and celebrate the work of the Royal Navy and Marines Charities. Supporting those in these services experiencing storms of an infinite variety and providing grants or other practical support but in reality providing moments of calm in their storms.

Early Jewish people believed that the sea represented unrestrained chaos. In that reading from Genesis we see that the water represents chaos – “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” Or perhaps more poetically put in that wonderful hymn which we shall sing at the sea wall shortly “O sacred Spirit, who didst brood upon the waters dark and rude, who bad’st its angry tumult cease and gavest light and life and peace”

In the beginning out of the chaos God brought order and peace. On the Sea of Galilee all those years ago Jesus brought peace and calm amidst the storms which so frightened the disciples. In our lives Jesus can bring that peace and that calm even if only momentarily. Maybe that is through quiet reflection, perhaps through the help and support of a loved one or maybe through the actions of groups such as the Royal Naval and Marines charities plus the many others who work to support all seafarers.

 

In a short while we will go to the sea wall and remember those who have given their lives on the sea. We will throw wreaths in the sea as a symbol of this. Beauty and peace amidst the waves. Because wherever the storms are there God is also, bringing peace, bringing support and bringing calm.