Wrote this last fall. Sent it to a friend for review, critique, evaluation. He and my wife both thought it was publishable. Publishers did not see, to share that evaluation. Thought share it more broadly here. 

October 24, 2019

Titanic Rescue

We all know about the Titanic. The best ever.  Faster, more luxurious, more audacious than any before her.  Just great really, the best. All her passengers benefited. The wealthy travelled in luxury and the poor, in greater numbers than ever before possible were ushered unto the threshold of the American dream in what was becoming the American century. 

We know what happened. Both as a historical fact and as the dramatic plot for a well told tale. Rich man poor man beggar-man thief; they  all went into the icy deep. 

Allow me to use this well known incident to create an analogy for our times. Imagine that cold April night somewhat differently. The staggeringly awesome ship careening at full speed into that iceberg engenders a different reaction from her crew. Instead of lowering the lifeboats the crew works feverishly to save the titan of the seas. “This ship is the biggest most blessed ever. None has ever graced our wold like it. We must save it.” 

And so they begin. The shore up the battered hull. The ships carpenter brings out equipment and resources to patch the gaping holes. The crew reassures the passengers relentlessly that they cannot allow the greatest passenger ship ever built to sink lest it doom all sea travel ever. While the experts work to save the dieing ship other crew members work as well. A series of rallies is held on deck to not merely reassure the passengers but to “rally the base.” They loudly proclaim the unlikely possibility that such a ship could ever sink and what a tragedy it would be for all of them if it did. The ships social director had the print shop whip up some “Make the Titanic Great Again” hats and everyone cheered. Right until the moment the ship slipped beneath the waves taking all of them to a watery grave.

The job of the crew is to save the passengers. They needed saving. Making them believe that saving the ship meant saving them would be rightly construed as an abdication of duty. 

Let us bring this analogy on point. Is the church piddling while the ship sinks? When we are tasked with saving the perishing from a sinking ship have we abandoned our true calling to patch the doomed ship? The early church understood itself as a lifeboat.   Its task was to rescue those who would surely perish. To offer hope upon the high seas of despair when the vessel carrying them was damaged, leaking, even dieing. 

Some will take me to task for this retelling. “There were not enough life boats to begin with!” Or “the boats that were launched were not full!” Both might be true and not relevant for our consideration. The job of the Church is to save the lost. Some will not want to get in the life boat. Some will insist on the unsinkability of the fatally damaged culture...uhh ship-that is beyond our control. 

The fallacy of turning a rescue mission into a pointless culture war over the survivability of sinking ships has got to come to a close. 

I used to like being a culture warrior. Nothing is more satisfying than debating the currents of our cold unforgiving environment or the suitability of this ship or that for getting us over the sea of despair. As I have matured in ministry I have come to realize that manning a lifeboat in the midst of cultural disaster is where God called me to be and being that lifeboat is what He has called His church to do.

At the end of the age I do not expect the creator redeemer of the universe to ask how I did in the culture war. I do expect some uncomfortable questions about how I did filling the lifeboat. I will fall, relieved though worn, into His arms who saves me by grace.