Colossians 1:15-20; 1 Peter 2:4-10
R.K. Schneider
NS-UMC
July 12, 2015
I. Call to the Ocean/Cape
Out of the blue, at 8:36 in the morning, on Tuesday, January 13, I received a call from someone who introduced himself as the District Superintendent of the RISM district of the New England
Conference. (I didn’t even know of the RISM district!) He called to tell me that Bishop
Devadhar had just appointed me to Northside UMC on Cape Cod. Imagine my surprise!! …He told me to pray about it; to talk it over with my wife; and then to call him back the next morning with our response. Man, they say, “If you don’t like the weather in NE, just wait a minute!!!”
We were down here that Friday, meeting with the SPRC … my first time on the Cape!
Now, Linda and I are originally from NH, but we spent 25 years in Maryland, just outside the
DC beltway. We absolutely love the mountains and lakes, but we’ve always enjoyed the ocean too. We spent a good amount of time on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and visit the Ogunquit
Maine area almost every summer. Actually, one of Linda’s great desires has always been: to be on the beach during a Nor’easter!
…Don’t ask me why…
(Don’t worry; she’s no longer praying for it!)
So, after the call from “Sa-quan,” I emailed Linda at work and said, “You know how you’ve always wanted to be on the beach during a Nor’easter? How would you like to live through a whole winter on the ocean?!” …That night at dinner, we talked and she was in 7 th
heaven!
Well, from January through June, we talked a lot about what we looked forward to on the Cape.
Of course, it was mostly about all the blessings and opportunities to serve God here at Northside.
But, we also thought about sitting on the beach and swimming & kayaking in the ocean. We thought that would be really wonderful! …Until, that is, we started to hear about sharks: shark attacks and the recent tagging of a great white off the coast of Chatham! …Linda now says she’s not sure she wants to go in the ocean anymore! …The ocean’s not such a safe place, she’s afraid…
II. Preparing to Come … Glover’s Metaphor
Well, in preparing to come here, I read a couple of books. The first was Mayflower , by
Nathaniel Philbrick. I read it to be reminded about the history of the Cape. But, the second one was: Deepening Your Effectiveness (as a church) , by Glover and Lavy. I read that one because
Glover uses a metaphor of the beach and the ocean. He uses the metaphor to outline an approach to how a church can deepen its effectiveness in getting people off the beach … his metaphor for the world … and into the ocean … his metaphor for the church .
I understand and appreciate his intent, but I was actually rather troubled by this metaphor. ?!The church is the ocean and the beach is the world?!
…But the ocean’s full of sharks!! It’s lined with treacherous rocks! And … something the Pilgrims almost disastrously learned about … it also has extremely dangerous rip currents and changing winds! …Now, some churches definitely are infested with sharks; and in some, you really do need to be able to negotiate some treacherous rocks and rip currents! So, Glover’s metaphor certainly does apply to some churches
… but hopefully not to all! … Certainly not to Northside. …Our ocean is pretty safe … isn’t it?!
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III. My Modified Metaphor
So, I began to think about the inverse of Glover’s metaphor. See if this works for you: I think the church is the beach and the ocean is life … the world. What do you think?! We, as the church, seek to call people from the ocean that they might experience the beach that we’ve experienced … that, there, they might learn with us how to go back and to safely navigate the ocean. …Does the metaphor at least begin to work for you?
The ocean, then, is a metaphor for life: The ocean can be treacherous, but it can also be beautiful. The ocean may have sharks and rip currents, but, as it evaporates, it also provides rain for our fields. Much of the oxygen we breathe comes from phytoplankton – tiny ocean plants that live near the water’s surface and drift with the currents. And, we can get the protein and other nutrients that our bodies need from the fish of the ocean. Plus, the ocean is where many make their living. Cape Cod saw its most prosperous days in the mid-19 th century, thanks largely to the whaling industry!
And so, life is like the ocean – treacherous, yet beautiful --- defiant, yet necessary for existence.
The challenge, of course, is to know how to navigate it and where to find the peace of mind and the confidence to go back out on it each day.
Do you get the metaphor then? And the church is the beach! The church should be the safe place to return to at the end of a long day on the open seas of life. It should be the place where we go to give thanks to God for another safe return to harbor and for all the blessings and bounty from a day upon the sea.
The church ought to be the place where we learn and pass on knowledge and wisdom about how to navigate the potentially treacherous ocean waters. …How does one tell the difference between a dolphin fin and a shark fin? How do you read the winds and recognize the ripping currents of life? How do you tell right from wrong, good from bad, what is just and right … in the eyes of Christ … versus the sharks of the ocean?... This is the function of the church ... that gathers as a sanctuary on the beach… Is the metaphor still working?!
On the beach is also where we build the lighthouses! The lighthouses mark the rocks … but they also light the way into the harbor … back to the beach … back home to safety. The church is to build the lighthouses – to shine the light of Christ on the rocks of life, the dangers, the places where boats are destroyed and go down. We do this both in small group studies and through sermons. …And, like Motel 6, the light of truth, the light of sacrificial love, the light of Christ
… we always leave it on!
The church is to be the very presence of Christ for the world. The church is to be people who imitate Jesus… Remembering how Jesus came into the world to shed light on the rocks. How he came to expose the sharks! …Of course, it got him killed! And that’s precisely what should turn us around … back to being the beach … back to the ways of God … back to loving all that the Father loves! …
“God so loved the world that he sent his son … that whoever would believe and navigate the oceans in the way that he taught and did … will not be separated from the joys of life on the seas, but have eternal life now and forever!”
And, the church also remembers that, though Jesus came to lead us to the beach, to safe harbor, he didn’t just sit on the beach. Jesus waded out to where the sharks were circling and devouring
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their prey. He did it that we might know the sharks from the dolphins … where to stay clear of.
He did it that we might also follow him in to drive the sharks away … that the kingdom of God
… versus the kingdom of the sharks … might come for all…
Yes, it killed him! And that’s precisely what we as the church must remember. We call it the mercy and grace of God! It’s this that we must always be about, if we are to be the beach where people really come to know how to navigate the ocean … if we are really to be the lighthouse of
God…
IV. Shall we explore the metaphor more?
And so, I feel called to lead us to build on this metaphor. What do you think?! Might we talk about it more and refine it … in our small groups, ministries, and meetings? I can see how the
Circles of Faith fit into the metaphor! I can see how the points of Kate’s sermon on fishing fit into the metaphor!
I think God will help us rediscover the Gospel message in this metaphor. My prayer is that it will guide us, as the church, in our continued spiritual growth and ministries here at Northside.
Actually, I know that we’re actually already using it and that it’s already guiding us! Our youth are about to leave the beach and go into very rocky, shark-infested waters… They are going to a place where they’ll witness what the rocks can do to people. They’re going to see what the sharks can do to lives. It should open their eyes and hearts! It should transform their lives!
When my son went to Appalachia on a similar mission trip, he saw real poverty. He lived for a week in the reality and amidst the stories of how tough life can be for some people. At 15 years old, he heard about men who went into the coalmines and never returned. He saw the fear in the eyes of wives and mothers. He saw how people lived who worked hard but didn’t get paid much
… while the owners of the mines got rich and the people in the cities sat snug and warm in their plush houses… His heart and mind were changed. He started to see and to love people that most of us don’t see or really care about. He became angry over the injustice. He was transformed and became one on the beach – seeking to be the lighthouse, one who really cared, one of those seeking to teach others how to navigate the seas … and, like Jesus, trying to expose the sharks and to drive them away.
The metaphor is real!!
V. Summary & Call
As Paul said, Jesus must now be the head of the body, the church … the beach. The ocean, life, is not safe! Only in him then, can all things hold together! Life is like the ocean: It can be beautiful and can provide everything we need. But, it’s also filled with sharks and rocks and changing winds and currents. Jesus came to shine light on the sharks and rocks. He came to teach us how to navigate the winds and currents. He sought to be the beach where all could find rest. He came to make the waters safer for all … to assist those at peril upon the seas … and to drive the sharks away. God sent his Son that we might be filled with confidence and joy to go back out on the seas … and then to gather together on the beach in thanks and praise…
Peter called the people to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. He called them to be the beach, to teach safe navigation, to expose the sharks and rocks, to build the lighthouses and keep them lit. Northside, we are those people … we are the church! We’re called to be the beach …
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and yet to also wade out to where the sharks are. We are to be God’s hearts and arms to rescue those upon life’s rough oceans … and to hold one another close around a warm fire on the beach after returning to safe harbor at the end of each challenging day. We are those touched by Christ
– by God’s mercy and grace. Let us continue to be the beach … that others might be touched by
Jesus too!
Amen? Any thoughts? [Wait and listen.] …Amen!
[Prayer]
I love the image of people gathered around a fire on the beach! Everyone is warm, giving thanks, and sharing experience and wisdom from the day. …And the fire becomes a beacon to those still upon the sea! When I think of this, I just want to sing hymn # 572, Pass It On ! Shall we sing as we go forth?
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