Acts 27:9-26
“We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard, and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned” (Acts 27:18-20)
The story of Paul’s travails at sea provide a nice metaphor for life under a pandemic. The measures taken to try to stay afloat (only some of them quoted above) are extensive. These are seasoned sailors doing their best, using all their skills, leaning on all their experience, and yet at the end we still read “all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.” We’ll come back to that end, but let’s first consider how they got there.
To begin, they don’t take Paul’s early warning to heart (see verse 11: “But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said”). Often, in retrospect, we realize that today’s calamity was forecasted yesterday – and there’s a real temptation to kick ourselves for not listening. Alas, that doesn’t actually solve today’s problems and so this step isn’t terribly useful.
Next, the sailors take on what I can only (in my nautical ignorance) call evasive maneuvers. They try to steer through the storm, ducking, bobbing, weaving, basically just trying to maintain the ship’s integrity, even if it means giving up on their ideal destination. Yet still the storm blew on.
After this, they start unloading their cargo. This is a big deal. The whole reason they’re on a ship is to deliver cargo. So, this is their giving up not only on their destination, but their very purpose. This is the moment when their priority shifts from delivery to deliverance. But still, it isn’t enough.
So, they have to throw over their very tackle – their means of catching food and surviving. Now they are not only vulnerable to the storm, but to the growing hunger in their body – a hunger that is compounded by how much energy they’re using to fight the storm.
Can you see how this is so salient to COVID? Can you read the life of the church – and maybe your own life – through the metaphor of being blown about on the open sea? So much of what we had hoped for and planned for 2020 has been thrown overboard. At times it even feels like the very things that nurture us – in-person worship, Midweek, fellowship – have also been abandoned.
But here’s where God shows up. As Paul says in the midst of the storm, “I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.” Now, I don’t know – in this metaphor – what it will mean for us to lose “the ship,” but I take comfort in knowing that even in the midst of existential despair, Paul can proclaim the salvation of God for those in need. Let us face whatever challenges lie ahead of us as a community with these words from Paul in our ears, our hearts, our very souls: “keep up your courage, for I have faith in God.” Amen.
