This sermon was delivered to the congregation in Holy Trinity, in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 9th July 2017: by Gordon McCulloch
(A Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
The readings for today are:
Jonah 1: 1-17, Psalm 107: 1-3 & 23-32, Acts 27.27-28.2 and Luke 10: 25-37.
Please join me in my prayer. Let the words on my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable to you O Lord. Amen.
Introduction:
Good morning … today is Sea Sunday … it is the one day of the year set aside by many churches all over the world to remember and say prayers for the 1.5 million brave men and women who work at Sea ... and being an ex-navy man myself … I have been honoured today to pay tribute to these daring seafarers. … But first, I must pay tribute to the Sailors’ Society, who for almost 200 years have strived to help these seafarers, by providing relief, education and of course, pastoral care.
Today’s sermon is based on Psalm 107, in particular, verse 30 which says, “he brings them unto their desired haven”. This is not a gospel sermon as you will soon realise, because I have been instructed by the society to discuss some of the problems these seafarers face … problems you probably may never have thought of … and the sacrifices they make … and by the end, with a bit of luck, you are ringing the sea water out from your clothes … and wanting to support that charity in one way or another.
1. Commerce
So we will start with that well know verse from Psalms 107 verse 23 which says, “They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters” … and ask ourselves, why do people go to sea in the first place? … Well I think there are two main reasons … the first is for commercial reasons and the second, well because it is there … people just want too, nothing else, it is in their blood.
From a commercial viewpoint, it has been estimated that over 90% of the world’s goods are transported by sea, and that includes our televisions, our mobile phones, the food that we eat, the clothes that we wear, in fact most products that we can think of … however do we ever think of the seafarers who helped to transport these goods? … Me myself, an ex-navy man, no I don’t, or I rarely do, because unless you are living in a busy port, why should we.
But the reality is, that these courageous men and woman are part of an invisible workforce, a workforce almost forgotten by society … and so are the lives that they lead … and which I would now like to highlight this morning, and along with some of the hardship they have to endure before being brought to “their desired haven”.
2. Life at Sea
And that brings me to the second reason why people go to Sea and that is because “it is there”, the challenge of the sea. … Verse 24 reads, for they “see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep”. … For these people, the Sea is in their blood … they want to go to Sea, they may even be fleeing something on land … or they want the freedom from something that only the Sea can give. … They may want a bit of adventure and excitement, possibly from serving in the armed forces, but let me tell you, that “so called freedom”, comes at a price that I wasn’t prepared to pay … but thankfully … many people do like the sea, and are happy and committed to serve on the various ships around the world.
You see, these seafarers are far away from their homes and their loved ones for long periods at a time, some are away for six months of the year, some longer and some shorter of course, but that to me was a big sacrifice, particularly if you have a young family … because many of them don’t get the chance to watch their young ones grow and develop, and my heart goes out to them … as they miss out on many of the family occasions, not just the celebrations, but the “normal” day-to-day living which we sometimes take for granted. The longest voyage I made was 7 months in the Far East, and even today, I still feel I missed out on certain things at home during that time.
You see for the mariner, it is either the Sea or a family life at home … I could not see how you could have both, they are two totally different worlds, and to those at Sea, their fellow sailors become their family, and it is just your luck as to who your fellow sailors are. Mind you, you can’t pick your own family either.
Anyway life at sea does affect you, it does things to you … it changes your life and thinking, and you see things differently, because you get used to being on your own, ok you are still part of that chain of command, but you learn to live by your wits as you do not have anyone really close to you watching your back; … e.g. you may get used to one particular crew, only to find yourself with another, having to start reintroducing and establishing yourself over and over again, so at Sea you are never really in that safe haven.
3. Customs and Watches
And while you are at Sea, there are some strange habits and customs that never really leave you, for example, I still have my coffee in the morning, my tea in the afternoon, but by the grace of God, I have managed to forgo the drinks in the evening. … I still wear black suits, in fact most of my suits are black; and I even have my uniform black tie on this morning as I still feel comfortable wearing black.
But there is one thing I still do that really bothers me, and that is that I still count my sleep, and because of that I am a very bad sleeper, and cannot take sleep for granted. You see, you have count up all the catnaps you have during the day and try and make up a full night’s sleep.
You see, at Sea, you normally work on 4 hours watches. Nobody on land does that I don’t think, so you work for 4 hours then you are off for 8 hours … … twice a day; now that may sound ok at first, but remember, you have a lot to do in your 8 hours off, unlike unwind, and eat and wash, then you have reports or study or write home, and with what little time is left, try and I say try, and get some sleep. …
Now if you are travelling what we called deep Sea, you could get into a routine which is fine, but remember, if you are travelling due East or West, you have a clock change to take into account as well, normally about ½ hour per night. …
Now I know that we complain of a clock change twice a year, but imaging a clock change every single night, then … when you do get into port you go onto a thing called port watches … and these are designed to give everyone maximum chance to get ashore, they are even more complex, but I hope you can see, that the rhythm of your body gets totally messed about as you are constantly on the move, and that is when you just wish you had that safe haven where one can get just one good night’s sleep … or a weekend at home.
4. Weather
But that is only one aspect of life at Sea; (I wonder if this is new to you)? … Anyway there is another more obvious problem at sea and that is the weather, verse 25, “For he commands, and raises the stormy wind which lifts up the waves … and they mount up to the heaven, and they go down again to the depths: … their soul is melted because of trouble. … They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. … Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distresses”. …
In all my travels, the worst weather I encountered was of the coast in Wales, in the Severn Estuary and in Bristol Channel to be more exact. You would have thought it might have been the Bay of Biscay or the Indian Ocean or South China Sea, but no, the worst weather I encountered was in Wales; massive waves at least 30 foot high, and it was not pleasant. I remember I was sharing a cabin with 2 midshipmen then, and traditionally, midshipmen and us engineers do not get on. …
This day this midshipman, (normally full of himself), returned to the cabin from the bridge with his face as white as sheet, and said, “you want to see what it is like on the bridge, it’s terrifying”. I said “Ok, let me see it”, and I went up with him onto the bridge, and sure enough it was as he said, … I mean you saw the waves break over the bow of the ship, … but then they would keep going and break over the bridge as well. They were big waves, the bridge was high up, and I remember watching the helmsman struggling to keep the nose of the ship into the waves, it was scary and so I conceded.
But … about an hour later, I was down the engine room, below water level, leaning against the main engine along with every else in the engine room, getting rocked all over the place. … And there was this wee dial with an arm on it telling us how much the ship was listing, and you could see it going 30 degrees, 31 degrees and creeping up and up as the weather got worse. …
We had no idea what the weather was doing above decks … all we had was this wee dial, and we all knew that when it reached 45 Degrees the ship would capsize, and the ship was gone. That was scarier than being on the bridge … and I remember saying, “if any waater comes doon tha stairs, I am oot of here”, which was a bit silly because where would I go. … But this was not just a bad wave, or a bad spell, this went on for hours and hours, days if I remember correctly, as we not allowed to enter port until it calmed down, and the pilot could join the ship to guide us in.
Those rough seas certainly take it out of you, and I honestly would have hated to be on the smaller convoy ships crossing the Atlantic during the war … who had submarines chasing them as well. … In fact, my heart also goes out to our brave fishermen, I mean working 18 to 20 hours days, in all sorts of freezing weather in the Atlantic … in very small boats, for what … their pay being dependent upon their catch, and we all know how the fishing industry is struggling today.
One of my friends told me that on the week before Christmas, he came home with £64.23 ... now that is bad. What I am trying to say is that sailors today, still experience bad weather … and think about it, how to you sleep through it? How do you stay in bed with a ship rocking so violently? …
That’s right, we didn’t have hammocks, we had beds and it was not uncommon for you do get thrown out of bed, in the middle of the night, (one minute you are undercover all nice and warm and the next, you are at the other side of the cabin … and it happens more than you think). … There was an engine room greaser that worked with me once, a nice wee bloke, and one of pals came up to me and said, he had been shipwrecked 5 times, and without compassion I thought, “I hope this isnae gonny be his 6th”. …
You see, no matter how big or safe a ship is meant to be, it is tiny and insignificant compare to the Sea … any Sea. … And I don’t need to remind you of the unsinkable Titanic, or the Spirit of Free Enterprise which capsized on leaving port … or the large luxurious cruise ship, the Costa Concordia which capsized and sank of one of the holiday islands in Italy. Those ships never reached there desired haven.
5. Drink and Drugs
To move on, Verse 29, “He maketh the storm calm, so that the waves thereof are still. … Then are they glad because they be quiet; … so he brings them unto their desired haven. … Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! … Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders”.
And this brings me to my final point this morning on living at Sea and that is the stress … or the relief of stress which results from living at Sea … and to me, this is the biggest killer of them all … and that is through the use, or misuse of drink or drugs. … Now we all know what the bible says about drink; it is not against it, but it is very much against it ruling our lives, and I know, that if I had still been at sea, I would have become an alcoholic early in my life.
Think about it, and this is not a feeble excuse … 4 long hours down a warm noisy engine room … in the Far East … what is the first thing you would want when you finish your watch; a drink. Now lager then was 5 times cheaper than a coke a cola, and it came in bigger cans. What would you have? And don’t say tea, or coffee, because we had no milk, well we had Long Life milk or carnation, evaporated milk, but in your tea, that is disgusting. … Well you do not have a cow aboard ship do you! …
So before I ever left my cabin, I always left with four things … my cabin key, my cigarettes and matches, (they were also ridiculously as cheap), and a can opener to open ... my beer. … It’s not funny! … Once I was wondering whether my engineering efforts were being appreciated aboard ship and one day I passed the Captain on the stairs, and he said, “Ah, Mr McCulloch”, (I was only a junior officer then, but that was a good start, he knew my name), he said, “Mr McCulloch, your hair is far too long (which it was), … and … you drink too much beer”. I went … (I had a can of lager in one hand and my cigarettes on the other), so I couldn’t say anything.
But later on I thought, (with my lightning fast mind), I saw him getting put to his bed the other night, he so drunk he couldn’t walk … and he was telling me I am drinking too much. I was annoyed at this, but on reflection it was a good thing that I didn’t retaliate because he probably saw me going in the same direction as himself, and it was then that I noticed just how much drink was consumed on a ship, both by officers and ratings, and honestly, it was frightening, they all drunk more than they would have on land.
… I can’t speak for drugs, I never took them, but drugs are now so prevalent on both land and Sea that it is a far bigger problem than is ever admitted. … And that is so worrying, that so many people today rely on drink and drugs to get them through, and for the seafarers the drink or the drugs can be their substitute haven at sea.
6. The Sailors Society
And it is ironic that people need that escape … from the freedom that the sea is meant to give. … The stress at Sea, and the boredom from this slower pace of life does need relieving … and it is sad … but this is one of the things I love about Sailors’ Society is that it takes companionship seriously, because these Seafarers are not people who are unimportant … yes they live a tough lives, and they do a responsible job, and they are normally very highly skilled, but they are also unacknowledged and forgotten … and they really need and appreciate people who can relate to them in a strong, practical kind of way. …
And there is nothing more comforting than when you find yourself in some obscure port … in the backside of the world … only to find somebody offering you hand of friendship in your own tongue. It is so welcoming, comforting, reassuring.
Isaiah 61:1 tells us that the Lord wants to “to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” … are the seafarers not bound in their captivity to the Sea? Are they not worthy that they do not deserve to be “brought into the company of the elders” … into a company of people who are able to minister strength unto them? …
That is where the chaplaincy of the mission comes in: for example, with prison chaplaincy we hope to see prisoners finding a sense of release within themselves … with hospital chaplaincy we hope to see people who are wracked with mental and physical illness … find that healing in the Lord … and with the Seafarer we would like to think they are catered for as well. …
And to some extent they are … the Sailors’ Society have over 118 chaplains who work in 22 different countries, being active in 91 ports around the world … reaching out to all seafarers. … Last year, an amazing 350,000 seafarers received practical and pastoral support from this wonderful charity, but this is not enough, and like every other charity they need all the support they can get.
7. The True Companion or haven of the Sea
To finish … we all know there is one true companion or haven for the seafarers … and that is our Lord Jesus Christ … he is the only one who can calm the storms both on the Sea, and on the Sea of Life, and bring us to that safe haven. …
The good news is that what Jesus achieved on the cross all of those years ago, dealt with the pain and the stress and the sin and the sickness of all humanity for ever, and everyone needs to know this, even the seafarers.
Verse 2 from our Psalms reads, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed them from the hand of the enemy” … the Lord is not just talking about seafarers … here he is speaking about every single one of us who has a story to tell of how they have been redeemed. …
And that is my real prayer for us this Sea Sunday that we all find that desired haven in our Lord Jesus Christ, both for now, and for when we die … that that we find that sense of security and love in him. ...
And let us remember too that Jesus did not just calm the storm on the lake and see His disciples swiftly to shore in troubled seas; He dealt with the storms of life on the cross, and secured for each of us a desired haven with him … forever. …
Amen and Thank you.
