Titanic Anniversary
Dear Friends,
I share my birthday today with one of the most tragic maritime incidents recorded. This may seem like a strange and sad story to recount on my birthday, but for me, it helps to recalibrate my heart towards the least, the last, and the lost who are on the outside of faith.
This is a captivating first-hand account recorded by the survivors of the sinking.
"On April 15th, 1912, the White Star line Titanic raised her stern high above the frigid waters of the Atlantic and began her slow, seemingly calibrated descent, as her lighted portholes and towering stern slid silently toward the ocean floor.
That famous night saw the extremes of human behavior, from abysmal cowardice to the terrible beauty of sacrificial love.
But with the Titanic gone and her lifeboats spread across the icy waters among the crying growing swimmers, the story was almost totally devoted to self-serving behavior. Of the 1,600 people not able to get into the lifeboats, only 13 were picked up by the 18 half-empty boats that hovered nearby.
In boat number 5 when 3rd Officer Pitman heard the anguished cries he turned the boat around and he shouted, ‘Now men we will pull toward the reck’, but the passengers protested, ‘Should we all lose our lives in a useless attempt to save others from the ship?’
Pitman gave in and for the next hour Number 5 with 45 people on board, and a capacity of 65, heaved gently on the calm Atlantic while the 40 listened to the fading cries of swimmers some 300 yards away.
The story was much the same on the other boats, on number 2 First Officer Boxall asked the ladies, ‘Shall we go back?', and they said no, so number 2 about 60% full likewise drifted while its people callously listened. On the boat, number 6 the situation was reversed as the women begged Quartermaster Hitchins to return, but he refused, painting a vivid picture of the drowning overturning the boat. The women pleaded as the cries grew fewer and fewer, and of the 18 boats only 1, number 14, returned to help and this was more than an hour after the Titanic’s sinking when the thrashing crowd had thinned out."
For me, this serves as a powerful picture of perhaps my own attitude toward those who tend to avoid God and the church. I am currently doing marriage preparation with a military couple who are far from God but open to a conversation about faith. My goal with them is to build a bridge of trust that bears the weight of truth. They are the reason I have been involved with Alpha over the past 36 years, which does a wonderful job of creating a safe place for people to ask the big questions of faith.
I learned recently that if every church in America was filled to capacity on any given weekend, there would still be 70% who would be in the water. I'm reminded of Bishop William Temple (Archbishop of Canterbury in 1942) who famously said, "The Church is the only institution that exists for the benefit of its non-members."
Are there people you know who are in the water, maybe struggling to stay afloat in their marriage, struggling in their finances, struggling in their workplace? Is there someone you could invite to a BBQ church, or an Alpha or Marriage Course, who may just need to belong before they believe?
My birthday prayer is that I would allow God to continue to soften my heart towards the last, the least, and the lost.
Have a great weekend,
Pastor Derek+
