To Sea and Sword
Every analogy is limited, recognizing the restrictions with comparison; the soul can resemble a ship built for sea. Both passage and docking are needed if a ship is to be a ship. The Christian soul entering God is similar to a boat’s voyage and entering new harbor that often is not what it seems. Once through this narrow port of Christ rests a greater body of water, continuing into an ever increasing expansion, just beyond His interior. What joy when first discovered! The soul sails effortlessly within this water of God, just off His pier, like a boy skimming the surface in a sailboat with his father. Soon this preparation is made use within in mysticism or/and the world of evangelization, but always putting out deeper into the sea, into the wind, to return time and again.
If one wishes only harmony in Christian life, they have navigated into a nightmare. The Christian professes a Savior that was crucified by His own creation. Some of our Lord’s last words on this earth were “Father, why have you forsaken me?” This is hardly a faith that does not experience distress where we thought harbor. Logic and theology give glimpses, but the mystical reality of Christian belief is fully revealed within suffering. Suffering exposes motive, ability, and the soul’s tolerance for Light. With this said, God has not given His children to a masochistic longing for adversity, but knowing hardship fully, has given His children the capacity to live life in the midst, not numbed by waves of incident and bitter cold. Sometimes He awakes to calm waves, sometimes His children as the ship threatens to breaks up to go down.
Our Father continues to urge the soul to continue the journey into the deep, and then return back to the harbor, for there are no shortcuts for a soul nor seaman. Jesus said, “I have come to give you life and have it abundantly,” yet He is also our model for crucifixion. The Christian mystery is that the disciple can not live his existence, to its abundance honestly, without negotiating its waves. Without waves one rarely awakes to the need and power of God that can move beyond storms. One can train near the pier, but it is another thing all together in the swells with no land in sight. Of course, God’s “quite still voice” is not limited to storm, being heard on the return home near the hearth. However, in the storm attention is alerted, reminding again what is at stake, building the disciple’s skill to sense a present God.
Author, J.R.R. Tolkien envisioned in his The Lord of the Rings a superb instance of a noble fellowship that learned why the journey had to occur; the Shire and Middle Earth were worth the fight. They came to appreciate the simple joys of beer, pipe and salted pork with friends and the trivialness that things can become for those that have not put to sea and sword. Christians must experience the sea to maintain sea worthy, to continue spiritual relevance, for once not used for sea become museums for shipping or firewood. With other vessels looking for True port, our sails need to be present, seen on the horizon, until Light can be made to the shoreline.
Every analogy is limited, recognizing the restrictions with comparison; the soul can resemble a ship built for sea. Both passage and docking are needed if a ship is to be a ship. The Christian soul entering God is similar to a boat’s voyage and entering new harbor that often is not what it seems. Once through this narrow port of Christ rests a greater body of water, continuing into an ever increasing expansion, just beyond His interior. What joy when first discovered! The soul sails effortlessly within this water of God, just off His pier, like a boy skimming the surface in a sailboat with his father. Soon this preparation is made use within in mysticism or/and the world of evangelization, but always putting out deeper into the sea, into the wind, to return time and again.
If one wishes only harmony in Christian life, they have navigated into a nightmare. The Christian professes a Savior that was crucified by His own creation. Some of our Lord’s last words on this earth were “Father, why have you forsaken me?” This is hardly a faith that does not experience distress where we thought harbor. Logic and theology give glimpses, but the mystical reality of Christian belief is fully revealed within suffering. Suffering exposes motive, ability, and the soul’s tolerance for Light. With this said, God has not given His children to a masochistic longing for adversity, but knowing hardship fully, has given His children the capacity to live life in the midst, not numbed by waves of incident and bitter cold. Sometimes He awakes to calm waves, sometimes His children as the ship threatens to breaks up to go down.
Our Father continues to urge the soul to continue the journey into the deep, and then return back to the harbor, for there are no shortcuts for a soul nor seaman. Jesus said, “I have come to give you life and have it abundantly,” yet He is also our model for crucifixion. The Christian mystery is that the disciple can not live his existence, to its abundance honestly, without negotiating its waves. Without waves one rarely awakes to the need and power of God that can move beyond storms. One can train near the pier, but it is another thing all together in the swells with no land in sight. Of course, God’s “quite still voice” is not limited to storm, being heard on the return home near the hearth. However, in the storm attention is alerted, reminding again what is at stake, building the disciple’s skill to sense a present God.
Author, J.R.R. Tolkien envisioned in his The Lord of the Rings a superb instance of a noble fellowship that learned why the journey had to occur; the Shire and Middle Earth were worth the fight. They came to appreciate the simple joys of beer, pipe and salted pork with friends and the trivialness that things can become for those that have not put to sea and sword. Christians must experience the sea to maintain sea worthy, to continue spiritual relevance, for once not used for sea become museums for shipping or firewood. With other vessels looking for True port, our sails need to be present, seen on the horizon, until Light can be made to the shoreline.
posted by Kenneth W. Michael | 9:35 AM
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