One More Thing with Pastor Tim Burchill 5.6.2024

The Good Ship Savior:  A Parable

    A long, long time ago there were frequent shipwrecks up and down the East coast of this country.  The coastline wasn’t entirely mapped and charted and there were uncertainties regarding the strange and unpredictable weather.  Even though there were established cities and commerce, there seemed to always be one tragedy or another happening somewhere not too far out to sea.

    Finally in one of the bigger cities, a group of concerned citizens decided that enough was enough.  Too many good and God-fearing people were being tragically lost at sea.  Something had to be done.  So at great personal sacrifice, the citizens of this port city raised funds to outfit a ship and crew that would travel up and down a piece of the Eastern seaboard, rescuing those trapped on floundering or storm-damaged ships as well as those survivors of ship wrecks.

    So it was that captain and crew were commissioned, installed, and prayed over and sent to sea on a sea-worthy merchant ship re-christened the ‘Savior of the Sea.’  On its crew were men who were paid passingly well, but more so a crew who came together, dedicated to saving the lost at sea.

    Within a few months the Savior came upon a storm ravaged ship and its passengers that would have surely been lost had it not been for the presence of this ship.  Their water-logged passengers were brought back into port with great fanfare and the crew were heralded as heroes.

    But as she went back out to sea, the crew of the savior included one of the ship’s biggest Investors.  He tended to monopolize the Captain’s attention with philosophical questions about ‘What kind of people are we to risk our lives to try and save?’ 

    ‘We cannot waste the crew’s time and energy on men and women who aren’t god-fearing, who aren’t upstanding individuals worthy of saving.  What about ships carrying slaves from Africa that break apart?  Do we put ourselves in danger to save slaves?  What about ships from foreign nations, or, shudder to think, from Catholic nations?’  Because this man was supplying a good portion of his salary, the captain felt obliged to let him go on.

    Of course, sailing ships are small communities, confined to tight quarters.  It wasn’t like the rest of the ship’s officers weren’t also being engaged by the investor.  They too were harangued with his strong opinion on which sinking ships should or should not be rescued.  The crew couldn’t help but overhear a great many of those conversations as well.  As you might imagine the life experiences, the social station of each crew member, as well as their perception of what they had signed up for gave rise to several different perspectives. From the pilot to the cabin boy everyone, it seemed had an opinion.  And as things so often do, it didn’t take long for the discussion to devolve into two opposing views—save the drowning no question asked vs. decide ahead of time whether those who were drowning were god-believing people like themselves, hence worthy of their intervention.

    In an effort to clarify things the Captain brought out the ship’s charter, showing everyone their mandate to save the perishing, period.  But others also poured over it, demanding a ship wide council before they went any further.  So they furled the sails and ended their look out so that they could finally put this matter to rest. 

    In the meantime, about 100 miles due south of their current position a large passenger ship caught fire, and the passengers and crew had to abandon their ship.  So far out to sea their plight would seem hopeless.  But as they watched their ship go down under the waves, the captain shouted out words of great comfort and encouragement.  “The Good Ship Savior, is out at sea even now,” he shouts.  “They will find us.  They will rescue us.  Nothing can keep that brave crew for their appointed task of saving the lost at sea.”

It’s never a good thing when dedicated, committed people lose sight of the Main Thing.  The consequences, in fact, can be quite dire.  The following, modified from a piece written by Robert Schuller.

The Main Thing For Jesus of Nazareth

When you come across the rejected, accept them. 
When someone has hurt you, forgive them.
If someone is being angry, difficult, or demanding, love them.
If someone is undeserving, serve them.
When someone torn by doubt, believe in them.
If someone is broken,
show them your broken places 
and how Jesus has made them whole.