Speaker 1: Jeremy here. I just wanted to jump in to say thanks for following along with us online. We really do hope that the podcast is a meaningful part of your day. But I also wanted to remind you that this Sunday, September 9 is the kickoff to our new fall season together. It's actually our fourth birthday as Commons Church and it's the beginning of our fifth year together.
And so we're super excited. We're going to celebrate. We've got a few special surprises planned and we'd love to have you join us either in Kensington or in Inglewood this Sunday. You can head to commons.church to get all the details and if you've been looking for your opportunity to jump in, maybe join a team and volunteer, you can head to commons.life and get all the information there. We would love to have you along for the ride this fall.
Have a great week. We'll see you Sunday. Welcome to the Commons cast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week.
Head to commons.church for more information.
Speaker 2: If we have not met, I'm Bobbie, and I serve the Commons community as one of the pastors on the team. If you had to walk a little further than usual to get to church because of some blocked parking, we're really sorry about that. That was a surprise to us as well this morning. So thank you for being good sports that I know that you are. I'm pretty excited though about this time of year.
I love the fall. Did I say that too excitedly? I see some people nodding. Well, please don't throw your journals at me. I stand beside it.
I love the fall. But I also know as a Calgarian that summer is a sweet time. Calgarians seize the summer, and then they post all about it on Instagram. Calgarians festival, and they mountain climb, and they road trip. Yes.
I realized I just turned some nouns into verbs, but I don't really care because it's still the summer. You can just do whatever you want in the summer. Right? But seriously, we need the summer, don't we? We need moments in the sun and days in the trees and evenings with a crowd taking in music and tapping into the joy of being alive.
The summer is a season of hope, and we do our best to get the most out of summer's final days so that all of those summertime feels can just kinda buoy us up as the winter creeps in. But speaking of seasons ending, we arrive at the finale of the book of acts. Well, almost. While we wrap up our summer series in acts with chapter 27, there is still one chapter to go. And we wanna leave that last chapter with you, chapter 28.
There's this weird way that the story in Acts doesn't really conclude, but it's left open ended. In fact, it was believed that open ended stories let you kinda linger longer. So if you need a reminder this week as the fall kinda sinks in that you are approaching maybe a new opening or a new beginning, then check out acts 28 on your own time and see how Paul's story is left kind of floating and unfinished. But that's for you tomorrow. What about us today?
Today, we are backing up a bit to the shorter, colder days for the apostle Paul. And Paul leaves prison, yes, prison, after two years. And still as a prisoner, Paul is put on a ship for Rome. Sure. He's appealing to Caesar, so Rome is his ultimate destination.
But for Paul, Rome actually means so much more. Paul gets a vision from Jesus one dark night in a cold jail cell. And this vision links to the phrase at the beginning of Acts. Rome is this gateway to the whole world. Rome is the ends of the earth.
So if Paul can get to Rome to spread the good news there, the whole world will hear about it. And it's easy to kind of flip through the chapters in Acts and assume that the story just flows with this fast pace, and it's kinda easy to get through, but it doesn't flow like that. There are snags and prison sentences and political opponents. There's heated conflict, serious delays, and even a shipwreck. Scratch that.
Three shipwrecks. If you wonder if your struggle is sacred, you'll see a whole pile of hard times in Acts, and that's what makes these stories so meaningful. We don't know life without snags. We don't know a journey without delays. We don't know summer without the long cold winter kinda nipping at its heels, at least as Calgarians.
Today, we're headed for Acts chapter 27. It is a bit of a wild ride. I am calling this sermon, how to have hope in a shipwreck. So let's pray and dive into these dark seas together. Let's pray.
Loving God, maker of gorgeous sunsets and quiet mornings and good friends. You are also God over forest fires and turbulent seas and heartbreaks. Jesus, you bring peace and disturbance. You bring calm and you work in conflict. You are savior of the living and the dead.
And as we step on board the ship with Paul today, we are here to find you in the struggle, in the hard times, in any crisis. So spirit of the living God, present with us now, enter the places of pain and frustration that we hold for ourselves and for those that we love even for the world. God, will you bring your renewal over the earth, of communities, of our own hearts. In all and through all, we give you thanks. Amen.
Thanks for joining me in that. So Acts chapter 27 begins with these words. When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius who belonged to the imperial regiment. Now at my house, Jonathan and I are constantly doing this thing with pronouns when the other person is telling a story. We ask each other, wait.
Wait. Who's the he and what's the it? And wait. Who's the they? Admittedly, Jonathan started it, and I have picked it up.
It's so easy to tell a story and to skip through pronouns, forgetting that the other person isn't in your head. Your listener doesn't always know who or what you're actually talking about unless you spell those nouns out. Well, here, the pronoun we is important. Scholars point out that it is a literary device. This first person plural pronoun makes us ask, okay.
Who's the we? And one of the ways that this pronoun functions is to draw you into the story. The we conveys a sense of urgency. It's like, get on board the ship everyone. We're setting sail on an adventure.
And the New Testament scholar Douglas Campbell says that this chapter is one of the most gripping and vivid narratives presented in all of antiquity. It's a story with hints of epic adventure. There are even traces of Homer's odyssey and Virgil's Enoid in acts 27. Meaning, yeah, this story is old, but it is full of action. Now I'm sure many of you love action movies.
Maybe show hands. Are action movies your thing? Yeah. Yes. Excellent.
Well, I don't really love them. I get kinda antsy and impatient. I tend to fall asleep. I don't really care about fight sequences and big explosions. Give me slow moving interpersonal dialogue any day.
But I will say, something I do like about action movies is the way that characters who wouldn't normally join forces are forced to work together just to survive. Like, Emily Blunt to Tom Cruise facing down all these aliens in Edge of Tomorrow. Paul finds himself on board a ship with a surprising ally as they face down storm after storm at sea. So every hero's story needs a good and surprising ally, a sidekick, a tough Emily Blunt. Am I right?
Yes. Well, in Acts, we are told that a Roman centurion named Julius is assigned to guard Paul. And rather than enforce Paul's captivity with cruelty, Julius is kind. In Greek, Julius' action is philanthropos, a compound adverb rooted in friendship and humanity. In this action story, we'll see how acts of kindness cross all kinds of boundaries.
Sometimes, it takes severe circumstances to lock in on each other's humanity to see the vulnerability of a person sitting right beside you. It could be through a political crisis, a natural disaster, just a hard conversation. Let's remember that at this point in Acts, Paul doesn't have enough power on his own to move his mission forward. Paul, the super apostle needs the help and the care of others. So Paul has to let go of some independence to get where God wants him to go.
Now that's where I'm actually on board with Paul. My independence is a core part of who I am. But the last few years have been really healthy challenge for my love of going it alone. When I first got together with Jonathan, I needed to figure out how to maintain my independence, but also how to let a little bit of it go. And the best way to trace my growth is with this goofy thing that I do when we're walking down the street together.
See the photo collage. Now I am not the queen of PDA, public displays of affection, but I find myself putting my hand on Jonathan's shoulder when we walk somewhere together. I know that this posture is pretty awkward, but I dig it. And Jonathan just kindly tolerates it, as you can see. What I am doing with this hand on the shoulder thing is saying, okay.
You're my key person, and we're walking through this life together even if we're just going to Chibo for a drink. Being partnered is a challenge to my independence, but it also opens me up. Without partnership in family, in friendship, in community, the truth is I won't live my best life. And the same is true for you. It's not always easy to be open to healthy dependence to say, yeah, I really need your help here.
I need your help to be better. I need your help to be more whole. I need your help to accomplish something really important. But we see in the shipwreck that life depends on this kind of interdependence. Interdependence though, it doesn't always make for smooth sailing.
Here in Acts, there is this setback of trust between Julius and Paul. And, of course, the elements are against them. In verse nine and ten, our hero hits conflict. We're given an indication that time is not on their side. The winter is creeping in.
It's around the day of atonement according to the Jewish liturgical calendar. So Paul steps up and gives a warning. Paul says, this is a total disaster. We are going to lose the ship and the precious cargo. Let's stop sailing while we're still alive because if we don't, our very lives are in danger.
And even though Paul has his hand on Julius's shoulder saying, I'm trusting you to listen to me because of our bond, bro. Julius chooses the power of prophet over the voice of Paul the prophet. But this setback doesn't end the story or dictate the final fate of everyone on board. Yes. Sometimes, the people that we trust, the people that we walk with, they let us down.
Maybe you're in a place where you don't have the support that you long for. You can't find the strength on your own to just deal, or you feel like the person you need to hear you just stopped listening. I'm sorry for that. It's really hard. Right when you need help, people can really challenge your sense of security.
And at this point in the story, Paul has been through the wringer, but his hope is not tied to the decisions of others or even the threat of the storm. Paul will sit tight until it's time to act. Not listening to Paul's warning, the crew sets sail. And at first, there's, of course, a gentle south wind, and then the wind turns into a hurricane force. The storm is so bad that they throw the cargo overboard, then they throw the tackle overboard, then the sun and the stars are lost to them.
It's dark, and one day runs into another, and the storm rages for three days. Then we read these affecting words. We finally gave up hope of being saved. And while I get a little impatient with Paul in all his words sometimes, When it comes to facing down hopelessness, Paul has always got me beat. Paul's faith.
They can't calm the seas, but this guy stays calm through a storm. So while I've been studying this story in acts, I've also been reading a new translation of the odyssey by Emily Wilson. It's the first English translation by a woman after 60 others by men. So it's kind of a big deal. Side note, kind of another side note, according to Leslie Feist's Instagram story, I love Feist, she's also reading Emily Wilson's translation while making really cool music in Berlin with really cool people.
So that means I rock like Feist. Right? At least when it comes to books, it's like same thing. Rock, book, not at all. I get it.
I get it. But back to the Odyssey. One of the things that stands out to me as I read about Odysseus and his struggle to get back home alongside Paul's struggle to get to Rome is that the gods in Odysseus' path, they're fickle. But Paul trusts his god to be faithful. After or for the characters in the Odyssey, it's hard to maintain hope in a world where divine energies are out to get you.
In Paul's Jewish tradition, the sea represents this dark force of chaos. So Paul's about to give a speech in the middle of a storm that speaks of the divine as this benevolent being who orders and calms the chaos. And in fact, Paul calls the creator, the God to whom I belong. I mean, it's so lovely. Right?
What if we just start a prayer this week like that? The God to whom I belong. And Paul talks about a vision from an angel sent to reassure him that no one will be lost. The ship will be destroyed but the people will be saved. So Paul says, keep up your courage men for I have faith in God that it will happen just as God told me.
But even after this good news Paul doesn't hide the hard truth. He says, nevertheless, we must run aground on some island. I need to work on those sound effects, don't I? I gotta work on that. Well, just because Paul has hope in God, it doesn't mean he gets a free pass in the struggle.
You can have hope in God and still struggle hard for your life. The two are not mutually exclusive. But here's the thing. Sometimes we act like we're in Zeus' world or Poseidon's sea. It's like we think our struggle is God initiated.
We may not use mythical names like Zeus or Poseidon, but we think our hard time is God's punishment. Or God loves us one day and is kind of out to get us the next. Or God has blocked our path to happiness. But the apostle Paul offers a faith that is so sturdy. Paul can stand up in the middle of a furious storm without his own agency, and he can speak hope.
Paul can see that this world can be so wild and the winter seas will do what the winter seas will do, but the creator keeps promises. There are catastrophes and disappointments, and we can still speak with hope and power to say, God has not let go of us yet. Tom Wright says, Paul's whole reason for being is that his Jewish hope is fulfilled in Jesus. Paul knew Judaism in and out. He was zealous for the law.
But after a blinding vision and a path of new learning, Paul saw God's unbounded work in the world. But remember, hope had boundaries in Paul's past. First, Torah links hope to obedience. Then the prophets come along and say, actually, hope is a covenant where you trust that you are God's and God is yours. And then you bless the whole world with that hope.
But the Israelites still struggle to live into this big and expansive way of being and sharing. So in the third act of this expansive hope, Jesus comes and completely blows the lid off of this ancient story. Jesus' hope for the world is patient and urgent. It's comforting and disturbing, but it's also exactly what we need exactly when we need it. This hope grips Paul's life, and Paul is all clear eyes and full hearts with hope.
Again and again in his letters, Paul assures his let listeners that their faith is secure in what God has already done for them in Christ. You are saved and creation is being renewed. And somehow Paul holds on to this boundless hope even in the middle of a deadly storm. So on the fourteenth night, the storm drives the ship across the Adriatic Sea. We read through details in verses 27 to 29 that the crew can control very little.
They take measurements and discover that they are careening towards an unknown land. They are afraid to die, to be dashed against the rocks, to drown, Desperate to slow their approach to a rocky watery grave, they drop an anchor, then another anchor, then another, then a fourth. It's like the nautical equivalent to pulling the e brake. And eventually, some sneaky guys lower a lifeboat to escape. But Paul throws down this warning.
He says, if these men don't stay on this ship, we are all going under. No one will be saved. And the word saved is actually a big deal in the story. Five times in the chapter and two more in the next, the noun salvation and the verb to save stick out like neon signs. Luke uses the word for save and salvation, sozo and soteria to account for basic survival and rescue.
Just the basic. But Luke also opens salvation to mean something more ultimate. According to Luke, to be saved includes forgiveness of sins and radical conversion stories. So when Luke uses the word over and over in the story, commentator Dennis Hamm says that we can't help but see and hear salvation overtones in the storm and the shipwreck. So on one level, there's this need to be rescued in the storm, obviously.
But on another level, there's so much more going on. And I mean, that's the spiritual life, isn't it? Reading past one level of reality to see a deeper reality. Crying out for what our bodies long for while also paying attention to the longings of our hearts. Identifying your needs and then looking past yourself to meet the needs of others.
So maybe you're in the middle of an illness, but you start to feel a growing inner strength. Or maybe you've hit this new roadblock, but now your creativity is fired up. Or you lost a connection that used to matter so much to you, but now you are finding new sources for your support. Starting with the most obvious or critical or even mundane needs can be the first step towards your rescue. And the good news is that you actually don't have to save yourself.
What if the shipwreck, the heartbreak, the long suffering sickness doesn't have to mean your end or your panic or your death? What if the shipwreck or the heartbreak or the long suffering sickness gives you moments where you feel more alive than you've ever felt? Yeah. Banged up a little, but alive. Maybe crashing your way to the shore, staring down everything that you fear can take you further into your own healing and your own wholeness.
Paul acts to prevent his death and the death of others, but he does not abandon the ship with the life raft. Paul's in it until the end. But we're not on the shore yet. We've got one more important movement before we're flung to safety. So we pick up in verse 33.
Just before dawn, Paul urged them all to eat. For the last fourteen days, he said, you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food. You haven't eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive.
Not one of you will lose a single hair on his head. Then Paul takes some bread, gives thanks to God in front of the crew, the prisoners, the slaves. He breaks the bread and he eats it. And it says, they were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. So in the middle of the storm, with their lives flashing before their eyes, Paul stops for a snack.
He's a hypoglycemic after my own heart. But really, two key things here. First, Paul invokes the words of Christ. Back in Luke 21, Jesus talks about the destruction of the temple and the brutal days that are ahead. And Jesus says that when life is chaotic, we should stand firm.
Not a hair on your head will perish. You will win life. Remember, these are the words of the one who is headed to the cross. So this is not a simple promise or an easy out. It's a profound struggle.
And second, this snack session at sea has Eucharist tones all over it. Some commentators though, they claim, but there's no wine, and these aren't believers so it can't actually be the Eucharist, but I disagree. At least in part, this is what Will Willman defines when he says the Eucharist is food of confidence in the middle of the storm. So how do you maintain hope in a shipwreck? Maybe it's actually pretty simple.
You ride out the storm. You have a snack. You stick with a friend, and a friend sticks with you. Hope in a shipwreck is the reminder that life is fierce and it is God's nature to be faithful. Hope in a shipwreck is the recovery of a personal vision.
For Paul, he knew God was sending him to Rome, so there was no way he was gonna die at sea. Hope in a shipwreck is the reality check that comes through gratitude. So when invited, you step up to the Eucharist table, a table of thanksgiving, and you eat with everyone else on board. You are not alone. We are on a ship together, and our story is far from over.
And it's only at this point in the story after paragraphs of details about the ship and the cities and the sea that the rest of the men on board finally come into view Like a movie, the darkness gives way to morning light and we see one figure emerge and then another. There's at least a 100. No. Wait. 200.
No. Wait. 276 men to be exact. And one by one, they finish up with their snack and they turn to throw the leftover grain into the sea to lighten the load. The men cut loose the anchors.
They hoist a sail. They strike a sandbar and the ship shatters in the pounding of the surf. Suddenly, someone makes a villainous plan. Let's kill all the prisoners so that they don't escape. And here we find our good friend Julius, the Roman centurion, not perfect, but once again faithful to Paul.
Then we are told that he is determined to save Paul's life. So Julius single handedly halts the death plot. The sidekick saves the day. Then Julius orders everyone to jump overboard. Those who can't swim are to grab hold of the broken pieces of the ship and the scene ends like this.
In this way, everyone reached land safely. Everyone on board the ship is saved. Now I know that there were other ships in that same dark sea and people who died struggling to find land. It's a mystery why one ship sinks and another runs aground to shore. Of course, Paul doesn't live on forever.
But for now, he's given a chance to live another day. Julius reminds us of this hand on the shoulder way in which we hold on to hope in a shipwreck. Paul has his hand on Julius' shoulder. 02/1976 men have their hand on Paul's shoulder. I keep my hand on Jonathan's shoulder.
He's a part of what is saving me, and so are you. We are bound up in each other's stories, in each other's odyssey, in each other's salvation. When we trust each other to rescue each other, that's when we feel the hand of God on us too. In God's world, you hold on to hope when it feels like all hope is lost in the ship is falling apart around you. Yeah.
You might be gulping water, but there's air there too. And someone just threw you a broken piece of that ship, and you are swimming to shore, and you are going to make it. You will be free. Let's pray together. Loving God, what an adventure it is to be human, to set out on our life's journey, to be open to how you are healing us and using us to heal each other.
In the story today, there is this invitation to reflect on what we struggle with or against, what scares us, Who is with us in our fear? And how are we being saved? We are invited to fight not only for ourselves, but for the health and the healing and the rescue of one another and the world that we live in that you love. So God, this week, this season, when we encounter a struggle, when we witness the struggle of another, will you bring your calm? Will you bring your clarity?
Will you bring your sustenance? God be our hope, be our safety, be our renewal, we pray. Amen.