Daily Devotion for Lent 2020 - Day 39 Good Friday

Scripture Reading: Acts 27:27-44 (NRSV)

Paul continues to drift with the ship full of crew and passengers as they seek some refuge in making it to shore.  It would have been frightening and not a little dangerous as they also began to go hungry.

The experienced sailors try to escape in a dinghy and Paul alerts the others that if they lose them, all are doomed.  This may have been a spiritual insight that Paul received or it may have been the common sense that you need people who know what they're doing on board if you are going to have a chance to survive.  When we see in verse 37 that there were 276 people on board, this is not a small ship or a small number of passengers.

Barely making it through the storms in life
may make you kiss the ground in thankfulness.

Luke writes Paul's advice for them to take bread as an allusion to Holy Communion.  While it would be doubtful that he would serve the sacrament to a ship full of people that didn't believe, we are reminded of the grace of God that provides us salvation through every meal.  It is when we are the hungriest that we are the most grateful for our food.

Once more, we see a centurion cast in a good light.  This pagan works on God's behalf as according to Paul, God's mission for him is to testify in Rome.  We are reminded in this that God works through whomever God chooses!

As I consider the sacrifices we are making on behalf of the coronavirus, I see correlation between Paul's being cast adrift and our society at large.  It seems as if we are floating, waiting for rescue.  We know that researchers are working diligently on a cure.  We hear that more tests are being made available which will give us a more accurate picture of local health.  But for the most part, we can only wash our hands and stay separated.

When we see the passengers going hungry, this reminds me that people continue to lose their jobs.  It seems like I'm hearing about more congregants every week whose employment has disappeared.  We need to make sure we don't abandon those who have lost their jobs. 

When the sailors hired to crew the ship want to leave the passengers to their fate, it reminds me of those who want to start up society again at the expense of the elderly or vulnerable.  The sailors have a duty to uphold even when it is difficult.  We all do even when it creates hardships.

It is a reminder that we will get through it together.  When Paul broke bread with his shipmates, it united them with one another.  As we stay connected, we are united in Christ in order to bring as many as possible through to safety on the other side.  Somehow that seems a fitting thought to me for Good Friday.

Prayer for the day:

O God, as on this solemn day we bow at the foot of the cross,
may the love that was manifested there stream into our hearts,
challenging and subduing them and winning from us that response
which is your will for us.  
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Prayer by Leslie D. Weatherhead, England, 20th Century

Photo by grixti via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2020 - Day 38

Scripture Reading: Acts 27:1-26 (NRSV)

The first part of this passage reminds me of a road trip journal.  We are seeing various ports in the Mediterranean Sea that give us an idea of Paul's journey to Rome.

The trouble with the storm reminds me of Jonah's flight to Tarshish.  While it is clear that Paul is sailing to Rome on behalf of God's call on his life, Jonah had done the opposite.  God was the one behind the storms in Jonah's day as we see in Jonah 1:4-6:

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. The captain came and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.”

Jonah seems to have a sense of calm about him even when running from God!  He's able to sleep through the storm and had to be awakened.  We find that Jonah's answer will be to save the ship and crew through sacrificing himself by jumping into the raging waters.

Paul doesn't make this same offer, likely because he doesn't see the storm as a stumbling block from God.  We do see them throw the cargo overboard as the mariners did in Jonah's day.  God's message to Paul is that everyone is going to live through this ordeal.

We also remember that Jesus slept through a storm on the waters.  We see it in Luke 8:22-25:

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out, and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. They went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm.  He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”

While Paul has worked miracles including exorcisms, healing and even raising one from the dead, he evidently doesn't have authority over the waves as Jesus did.  I'm sure it wasn't for lack of prayer!

I feel like I'm waiting for the rainbow
at the end of the storm.

This is a good reminder that we often sail into storms in life not of our making.  We get caught up in chaos that just happens.  This is what it feels like as we bunker down for COVID-19.  We were minding our own business when business as usual just came to a screeching halt.  Some people are feeling annoyed.  Others are frightened.  We might even have the idea of "just a little bit longer..." and the whole thing will go away and we'll be back to normal any day now.

We remember that when the storms rage, we turn to our faith.  We would like for Jesus to wake up and rebuke the pandemic.  Barring that, we would like to hear a word like Paul's that says, "I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you" and "God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you."

Ultimately, we will make it through this.  It will be difficult.  We will likely be touched by grief and loss.  But we remember that God sails with us.  And every age has its storms.

Prayer for the day:

Lord, our heavenly Father, who orders all things for our eternal good, mercifully enlighten our minds, and give us a firm and abiding trust in your love and care.  Silence our murmurings, quiet our fears, and dispel our doubts, that rising above our afflictions and our anxieties, we may rest on you, the rock of everlasting strength.  Amen.

Prayer from New Church Book of Worship, 1876

Photo by Rob Romard via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.