Church

So on Sunday, we helped in the worship service at the Methodist Church we’ve been attending while “on island”.  Marney preached and assisted with communion; I played the guitar and put together the anthem for the day.

The sermon focused on the story of Nicodemus, the elder in the synagogue in Jerusalem who comes to Jesus at night (so as not to be noticed by the others) to ask if he, Jesus, is the One whom God is sending.  The dialogue recorded in the passage includes the confusion about born “again” and born “from above”.  Born again, meaning re-entering the womb; Born from above, meaning connecting to God with the heart and not just the head.

We fill ourselves up and there’s no room then for God’s wisdom to encounter us.  We live in a world that worships the false idols of “try harder” “be perfect” “stay strong” “hurry up” and “please people” — believing these will answer our yearning for life’s meaning.  And until we empty ourselves of these notions of a meaningful life, there’s no room to hear God’s wisdom and God’s gifts:  it is faith, not works, that saves because the promises of God rest on grace…God loved the world to send his only son, not to condemn but that the world might be rescued through him.  It’s not good ideas or good works, it is a faith that unfolds from encountering the living God in daily, little, ordinary and occasionally life-turning ways.  And the gifts coming to us are joy, peace, hope among them.  We end up being grateful for what we are given, not envious of others.

Good words.  Gospel words.

And then, I’m asking the choir to sing the songs of freedom, given to me from the world of folk music but birthed from that arduous journey from slavery to freedom, that was as true here in these sugar plantation islands as it was in the cotton plantation south…

Wade in the water, wade in the water children, wade in the water, God’s gonna trouble the water…

People get ready there’s a train a’comin’, don’t need no baggage you just get on board.  All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin’, don’t need no ticket you just thank the Lord…

I looked over Jordan and what did I see, coming for to carry me home; ‘twas a band of angels coming after me, coming for to carry me home… swing low…

And the congregation sang..

I’m gonna lay down my burdens, down by the riverside…

I’m gonna live so God can use me, anywhere Lord, any time…

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord

Afterward, we walked down the hill from the church back to the marina and boat.  Slowly, quietly, grateful for what God had just done and allowed us to be part of.  It was an hour of grace and peace… and hope that what we know about this world – or our lives – isn’t the last we shall know.  More’s coming, greater good is unfolding…gifts of more love, joy, peace are headed toward this world because…

the last Word belongs to God, not us.

Yesterday morning had absolutely nothing – and everything -  to offer to our sailing saga.

This morning, I’m humming a song we didn’t include:

Guide my feet while I run this race…’cause I don’t want to run this race in vain.

Fair winds and calm seas,

Dave