On the Sea in Ships

Script of Service

Opening Announcement

BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. Sunday Worship today from Bangor in County Down reflects on two sea voyages made by major Christian missionaries

I’m Father Martin Magill, Parish Priest in St John’s on the Falls, Belfast…

I’m Canon Simon Doogan, Church of Ireland rector of Ballyholme in Bangor by the sea

and it’s to Bangor that we welcome you for Sunday Worship today.

Martin We’re reflecting this morning on two epic sea voyages:

one by St Paul, the first great Christian missionary to Europe;

the other by St Columbanus, one of the Irishmen 500 years later

credited with rekindling the light of Christ

in what’s often thought of as the darkness of Europe in the late Middle Ages.

Music Kyrie Eleison (Plainsong)

By the Benedictine monks of Holy Cross Abbey, Rostrevor (BBC Recording)

Simon We’re greeting you from the site of Bangor Abbey.

This community of prayer founded by St Comgall around 555,

grew to be a centre of great learning attended by thousands of monks

and one of Europe’s most celebrated Christian missionary foundations

for around 400 years when it declined after Viking attacks.

Martin Born around 543, Columbanus had more than 20 years of formation in Bangor

and his wealth of sermons, letters, rules and poems

make him the most influential and pre-eminent Irishman of his age.

As we’ll hear, those writings still offer rich spiritual pearls.

Simon But it’s as a peregrinus, a wanderer for Christ, that we remember him this morning.

While Paul’s voyage ushered in the end of his ministry

and was undertaken most likely in his sixties,

Columbanus’s in many ways marked the beginning.

Martin That said, because in the Irish Celtic tradition, exile was permanent and considered an honour,

Columbanus’ abbot refused him permission to leave at least once.

By the time he got his wish to set sail in 591, Columbanus was nearly fifty

A young fellow then, Simon?

Simon Like ourselves entirely, Martin. Have you brought your sea legs with you?

Martin I hope so. The nearest stretch of water to my parish is the Falls Leisure Centre…

Simon Take heart Martin.

We’ve got lifejackets and we’ve got a prayer from Columbanus as we take to the waves.

Martin I’ll have both please.

Simon ‘Most loving Saviour, may affection for you pervade our hearts.

May attachment to you take possession of all.

May love of you fill all our senses.

May we know your love so great

that the many waters of these heavens and land and sea

will fail to quench it.’ Amen

Music High is the heaven, deep is the sea(Liam Lawton)

Liam Lawton, Ardhu, Dublin Chamber Singers from High is the heaven (GIA Publications)

Simon We’re in Smelt Mill Bay, just west of Brompton Bay and Jenny Watts Cove.

Smelt Mill bay is an important North Down coastal landmark on the Irish leg

of a newly established pilgrimage route, the Columban Way or TurasColumbanus.

Picture a rocky inlet which it’s easy to visualise as the place from which

the monks of Bangor departed Irish shores on their Gospel adventures.

Martin Now what you didn’t say there Simon, is that we’re already afloat.

And very stylishly afloat too, with our readers Catherine Largey and Karen Baker,

as the guests of Captain Paddy Brow

aboard what I understand is a 28 foot Hunter Impala.

Is it fair to say Paddy this handsome yacht is a far cry

from the sea-going Irish ‘currach’ of the sixth century?

Paddy Brow describes a sixth century currach

Martin Well for all their simplicity

Currachs were more than capable of sailing from Belfast Lough to Brittany in France.

And with one stopover on the way, possibly in Cornwall, that’s what Columbanus did,

travelling in the way of Celtic missionaries with twelve companions

after the pattern of Jesus himself.

Simon St Paul, by contrast, finds himself among a group of prisoners bound for Italy,

under the custody of a Centurion and detachment of soldiers.

Falsely accused of bringing a Gentile into the courtyard of the temple in Jerusalem,

Paul had appealed to have his case heard by Caesar.

In transit to Rome, he’s aboard a corn ship from Alexandria

carrying two hundred and seventy-six people.

Martin Columbanus’ biography written 30 years after his death in 615

reports ‘a smooth sea and a favourable wind’.

According to Acts 27, conditions for Paul were not so inviting:

Catherine Since much time had been lost and sailing was now dangerous,

because even the Day of Atonement had already gone by,

Paul advised them, saying,

‘Sirs, I can see that the voyage will be with danger and much heavy loss,

not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.’

But the centurion paid more attention

to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.

Since the harbour was not suitable for spending the winter,

the majority was in favour of putting to sea from there,

on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, where they could spend the winter.

It was a harbour of Crete, facing south-west and north-west. (Acts 27.9-12)

Martin As a seasoned Mediterranean traveller, Paul knew

that setting sail in those waters at that time of year was risky if not downright dangerous.

Bear in mind too, this is a maritime age before sextants and compasses.

In dark and cloudy weather, sailors were without any means of finding their way.

Simon Technically a prisoner, Paul seems to have been accompanied or escorted

rather than frogmarched in chains.

Perhaps that’s why in their discussion about what to do next, Paul gets to offer an opinion.

As a man of God and Apostle of Christ, Paul foresees grave danger,

and he will be proved right.

Martin However, because the Centurion has the final word,

on the advice of the captain and the owner of the vessel, off they set.

It’s a decision that nearly costs everyone their lives.

Simon A southerly wind makes for a smooth start, until a vicious north-easterly replaces it.

Robbed by the storm of both sun and stars, they don’t know where they are.

To lighten the vessel, they throw cargo and tackle over the side,

while hauling onboard the ship’s dinghy or lifeboat.

The outlook is pretty grim and morale collapses, to the point where Acts solemnly concludes

all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned…

Martin But they hadn’t reckoned on the faith of St Paul.

Although the Centurion had proved himself a fair-minded and even sympathetic man,

his courage is now punctured by sheer terror.

With peril writ large all around them, Paul is the only man with any confidence left…

Karen

‘Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete

and thereby avoided this damage and loss.

I urge you now to keep up your courage,

for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.

For last night

there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship,

and he said, “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor;

and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.”

So keep up your courage, men,

for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.

But we will have to run aground on some island.’ (Acts 27.21-26)

Simon “If then a man wishes to know the deepest ocean of divine understanding,” wrote Columbanus,

“let him first if he is able scan that visible sea”.

It’s hard to imagine that a group of monks used to praying the divine office day and night

would not find a way to worship as they sailed.

Conditions, horizon, weather –

surely everything about their journey would have fed their prayer.

Simon Likewise in Acts 27,

what moves Paul the prisoner centre-stage to rally the captain, centurion and crew,

is the inner strength of a living faith – a trust in God which has not deserted him.

An angelic visitation, complete with signature ‘Fear not’ greeting,

unfolds to Paul the greater force that’s still at work and that his destination remains assured.

Simon In the Old Testament, the reluctant prophet Jonah

needed to be thrown off the ship in order to save it.

What guarantees salvation for Paul’s shipmates, is the fact that he remains on board.

It’s God’s will that Paul should reach the capital of the first century world,

and so an assurance of his safe passage seems to emerge from the blackness engulfing them.

Martin Could it have been a similar experience of darkness at sea,

that moved Columbanus to pray these words?...

“Give my lamp such a share of your light, my Jesus, I pray,

that its brightness may reveal to me the Holy of Holies,

where You the eternal Priest of all eternity enter the portals of Your great temple,

so that I may always gaze at, behold and desire only You.

May I love and contemplate You alone,

and my lamp ever burn and shine before you.” Amen

Music

We Have an Anchor(WJ Kirkpatrick)

 Stuart Townend & Robin Mark) from Songs and Hymns (Integrity Music)

Catherine When the fourteenth night had come,

as we were drifting across the sea of Adria,

about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land.

So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms;

a little farther on they took soundings again and found fifteen fathoms.

Fearing that we might run on the rocks,

they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.

But when the sailors tried to escape from the ship

and had lowered the boat into the sea,

on the pretext of putting out anchors from the bow,

Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers,

‘Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.’

Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and set it adrift. (Acts 27.37-32)

Simon As we continue east across Ballyholme Bay,

it’s a markedly different coastline from the one Columbanus left behind in the sixth century.

I wonder what he would have made of Ballyholme Yacht Club

and all those multi-coloured houses and apartments along the seafront?

Martin Plus, we’re surrounded by small boats today.

Over recent years, the phrase ‘small boats’ has come to refer to one thing:

the refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants being trafficked around the world

with little or no regard for their safety or prospects.

This year’s good weather has made for record numbers risking everything to reach the UK.

What gets lost in every headline, though,

is how these people feel about their troubled homelands.

Simon Maybe Columbanus’s departure from Bangor,

seemed a small wrench after the trauma of leaving home back in the day.

When Columbanus originally told his mother he was going,

she pleaded with him, burst into tears, and threw herself across the threshold to block his exit.

Forced in the end to step over her,

Columbanus left for the north knowing they would never meet again.

Martin And yet at some level, surely all Christian missionaries have to overcome

the last possible barrier between themselves and God: attachment to their own country.

For St Paul, in the drama and alarm of Acts 27,

there are definitely more pressing matters to worry about.

Simon With their ship drifting out of control across the Adriatic,

in the middle of the night the crew think they can hear breakers crashing on some shore in the distance.

Dropping anchors to slow down their collision with whatever rocks or land they think they’re going to hit,

Paul takes charge again when some of the sailors make to escape in the salvaged dinghy.

Martin Paul impresses upon the Centurion how vital these shipmates are to everyone’s survival.

They sink or swim together.

Paul’s wisdom carries the moment and the soldiers surrender the dinghy to the waves.

As if to validate and bless that decision, Paul’s proposes that they eat.

Karen Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying,

‘Today is the fourteenth day

that you have been in suspense and remaining without food, having eaten nothing.

Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will help you survive;

for none of you will lose a hair from your heads.’

After he had said this, he took bread;

and giving thanks to God in the presence of all,

he broke it and began to eat.

Then all of them were encouraged and took food for themselves.

(We were in all two hundred and seventy-six persons in the ship.)

After they had satisfied their hunger,

they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea. (Acts 27.33-38)

Martin We’ve been passing round the sandwiches

as we look back ashore from the water.

Columbanus’ words seem fitting:

‘If you thirst,’ he wrote, ‘drink the Fountain of Life, if you hunger, eat the Bread of life.

Blessed are they who hunger for this Bread and thirst for this Fountain.”

Simon Onboard the grain ship carrying St Paul, they’ve been fasting for two full weeks,

presumably to save supplies for when they were better able to keep down a meal.

In cracking open the rations,

Paul is acting on his assurance that not a hair of anyone’s head will be lost

and something wonderful happens when he does so.

The Upper Room Eucharistic pattern of taking, thanking, breaking and eating in Acts 27

can’t be accidental.

It’s a meal which both gladdens their spirits

and fortifies their bodies for the ordeal that’s still to come.

Martin It also seems to usher in a new stillness to the tumult and the turmoil.

The ‘not a hair of his head’ phrase implies

that the physical value of the food, betokens a spiritual blessing.

It’s as though by drawing on his own trust in God,

Paul is now spreading that trust to his travelling companions –

with whom a bond seems to be forging.

Simon How could it not, in the plight they have come to share?

As Columbanus once wrote to a group of French bishops in 603:

“we are all fellow members of one body,

whether Franks or Britons or Irish or whatever our race.

Let all our races rejoice in knowledge of the faith and in recognising the Son of God…”

Music The White Dove (David Lennon)
David Lennon (Private Recording)

Intercessions:

Catherine God of all races, languages and nations,

as an island known so long for departure and emigration,

help us by your grace become an island of welcome and hospitality.

Help us return the kindnesses we have received

to the guests shortly arriving from around the world at Royal Portrush for the British Open,

and remind us, we pray,

of those whose journey across the seas is not in pleasure and freedom

but in fear and desperation…

Karen God of all truth, justice and peace,

only in you can north, south, east and west live together.

We recognise the pain and heartache born by many in this land,

remembering those whose lives remain in brokenness.

Yet we praise you for progress made and for communities being rebuilt.

We pray for those conflicts which seem as deadly and intractable as ours once did.

By the cross and empty tomb, show us and every people

that cycles of revenge and reprisal can be broken, that new futures can emerge…

Catherine God of all comfort, healing and sanctuary,

we lift before you those who have taken a wrong turning,

and who now feel threatened or even already engulfed

by circumstances beyond their control.

Hear our prayers today Lord for all who find themselves drowning in a spiral

of bad choices or rash judgments.

Give us opportunities to reach out to them with the compassion of Christ,

in love and, where necessary, in sacrifice…

Karen God of all leading, equipping and anointing,

we remember today those who have kept the light of the Gospel burning in this land

and who have so often borne it to others far away.

Be for us, Lord, not just the beginning and ending of every journey,

but our companion on the way – whatever storms and adversities we meet.

Grant us trust, to open our sails to the wind of your Spirit

bringing Christ’s word of hope and forgiveness to all who need it,

until, with them, we reach the harbour of your heavenly home...

Music The Lord’s Prayer (Traditional)
The Priests from Harmony (RCA)

Simon As we hear the end of the Acts 27 drama,

we’re doing something Columbanus never did, Martin.

Martin What’s that, Simon?

Simon Sailing back to Bangor.

Martin Of course, permanent exile.

Well can our captain manage us a smoother landing than St Paul’s?

Paddy I’ll see what I can do.

CatherineIn the morning they did not recognize the land,

but they noticed a bay with a beach,

on which they planned to run the ship ashore, if they could.

So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea.

At the same time they loosened the ropes that tied the steering-oars;

then hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.

But striking a reef they ran the ship aground;

the bow stuck and remained immovable,

but the stern was being broken up by the force of the waves.

Karen The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners,

so that none might swim away and escape;

but the centurion, wishing to save Paul,

kept them from carrying out their plan.

He ordered those who could swim

to jump overboard first and make for the land,

and the rest to follow, some on planks and others on pieces of the ship.

And so it was that all were brought safely to land. (Acts 27.39-44)

Simon Under Roman law, when prisoners absconded,

those supposed to be guarding them suffered their punishment –

hence the soldiers’ plan to kill Paul and his fellow detainees.

One last time, though, the Centurion comes through for the Apostle.

Martin Which, as he retakes authority

and gives the order that their stricken vessel finally be abandoned,

leaves us with the question:

has the Centurion come to see that Paul and his God

have been instrumental in their survival?

Simon On his arrival in Brittany, Columbanus’ journey for Christ was only beginning.

He would go on to establish monasteries in France, Austria, Switzerland and Italy,

and much other fruit would be born besides.

Yet there were lots of set-backs and plenty of uncertainty along the way.

Revealingly, the Hebrew rendering of the name Columbanus is actually ‘Jonah’ –

“whose shipwreck I have almost undergone”, Columbanus remarks in one of his letters.

Martin As for Paul, whose journey and ministry is nearing its end,

two hundred and seventy-six souls owe their lives to him

and to the Lord on whom he fixed his hope.

His fellow Christians will interpret their deliverance

as confirmation of Paul’s role in God’s wider plan,

and proof that he is innocent of the charge he’s travelling to Rome to appeal.

Simon But as we all navigate our passage

through the narrow escapes and near misses of life,

we face or ignore the same questions:

why are we here? who has put us here?

what should we be doing with our lives?

Our answers to those questions, determine what happens next.

Martin Well next for us Simon, with a warm thank you to Paddy, Catherine and Karen

is Bangor Marina.

We leave you as we go,

with a final Columbanus prayer of commitment and blessing: Lord

‘May we love you alone

desire you alone

contemplate You alone by day and night

and keep you always in our thoughts…’

Martin and Simon And the blessing of God almighty,

the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

be with you and remain with you always. Amen

Music Psalm 23 (BROTHER JAMES’ AIRJames Leith Macbeth Bain)

Celtic Worship from Morningtide (Integrity Music)

Closing Announcement
Sunday Worship came from Bangor in County Down and was led by Father Martin Magill and Canon Simon Doogan.

The producer was David Walker.

 Next week Sunday Worship will be at Christ Church, Oxford for a service marking the 500th Anniversary of the foundation of Cardinal College by Thomas Wolsey, later re-established as ‘Christ Church’ by King Henry VIII.