Little boats

Preached October 9th at the Academy for Formation and Mission

Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
Mark 6:45-56

God, give us courage to get into our little boats and head out into the windy wild waters, where we may meet your son our savior, Jesus.
Amen

Our dear friend in Christ and holy man for today is Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. An English doctor he became a medical missionary to north sea fishermen, and when he saw the poverty and horrid conditions in Labrador, devoted himself to the people there.

He was inspired by the notion of Muscular Christianity, in which sports and athleticism were supposed to have a masculine remedy for the protestant faith that had gotten to girly for the real men of the 1920’s.

While there is plenty to bristle at in these sorts of icky gender stereotypes, it is hard not to be impressed with the results of such a theological attitude on Wilfred. It led him into a harsh and challenging world where he spent the majority of his life doing as much as he could, to improve the lives of the hurting and neglected people he met.

We are not God’s Sunday best or Gods fine china, we are not being kept in God’s cupboard waiting to be taken out at holidays and fancy occasions. We are not God’s party dress, we are God’s grubbiest. We are the jeans she will wear to garden in. We will get torn up and worn out and beat up on this journey, but it will only make us softer. I pray to be something strong and useful for Jesus.

If the only effect of going to church is to love the church we have all failed. we need the courage to throw it all to the wind and go out in our boats fight against the high waves and strong waters that threaten to knock us off course. it will take everything we have. and then hopefully when we have gone too far, when we have sailed past our comfort zone, Jesus will walk across that rough sea, and meet us where our competencies fail us. But that also means the stronger we get the further out we can go.

Let our formation be forming us into something useful. let us be tools of God that over times have all the rough edges worn away and from years of hard use let us fit smoothly into the hand of our God. Let us take on the shape of his hand as we do his work in the world.

sometimes it is useful to imagine explaining your plans to Jesus to see how they sound.

“Jesus, I was thinking, I would like to stay here in my boat where it is safe and on shore. I am waiting for a better day, better weather, my boat isn’t quite good enough yet. I‘ve noticed that those guys over there have a much nicer boat, and I was thinking my boat should be a little more like theirs. I’m going to spend the next three years getting it really nice and then maybe you and me and some of our nice friends can all go sailing. I just need to be sure I’m ready.

What do you think of that Jesus?

Cant you just picture Jesus saying
“Oh, Honey. just GO-
get in the dang boat. Don’t you know it will never be good enough, you will never be good enough, there will never be better weather, there will never be a better time than right now. You will always be vulnerable, you will always be weak and you will always need me.
go now.
get in the boat you are in with these people already around you.
this is it
if it gets too bad if you go too far I will walk across the water to you, I will still the waves, but I can’t do that unless you strike out.
I can’t come to you until you leave.

I think most of us have made it beyond the question of how can the church serve me? but our examination of ministry should not end with how can I serve the church? but how can the church serve the world?
We should not worship the boat but simply see where it can take us.

There is no where we can go that Jesus can’t reach us.
We can head off in the darkest night in a boat miles from nowhere.
we can go off to Newfoundland
we can run into the cities or into the suburbs
and Jesus will find us, and calm us, and give us strength to do our work.
There is nothing we can devote our lives to that can’t be illuminated by the love of Jesus.
there is no water too rough for God.

because you see God and water go way back-
all the way to the beginning-
God has moved over it, rained it down, dried it up, parted it, brought it out of rocks, made it good to drink, and then walked right across it to people he loved, who were scared and confused whose hearts did not comprehend what bounty and love and plenty and safety looked like.

In the midst of their journey with Jesus they are still afraid. They don’t know what it is not be suspicious. they are straining at the oars. fighting the wind, sure of going their own way.

and Jesus walks across the water to them.
like its no big deal.

cheer comfort courage-
all the same thing.
to be brave is to be of good cheer. -

instead of constantly questioning our work, in stead of fighting the wind we should keep an eye out for Jesus.

let the church be a boat ramp where we can launch ourselves out into the world and see what’s out there.
Let’s be careful not to make idols of ourselves. We are never going to be good enough, or ready enough to serve Jesus, so waiting until we are to start is ridiculous
there is a wild hungry windy world out there and we have been invited to sail out into it.

Go.