It’s hard to “stay with the ship” when everything seems lost. Like lemmings who follow each other over the cliff, we tend to abandon tough situations if we see other people cut and run. Sometimes, it takes great courage just to stick it out.
Acts 27:31
Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”
My son is on a swim team in high school and one of the best swimmers was arrested today. Of course, the situation for the boy is grave, but already the team has been rocked as well. What are they saying to each other: We’ll never win another swim meet. What’s the point of staying on the team? It will be embarrassing now. And so on. The kids feel “exposed” since their best swimmer is out of the game. They want a rewind, but life doesn’t work that way.
Oftentimes the loss of a key player in any organization will make the whole group feel unstable and insecure. New leaders must emerge. New strategies must be developed. New challenges must be faced. The loss of one person sets up an environment for “change” which most people resist, at best, or just downright hate.
This same situation can happen in a church. A beloved pastor may depart or a key family, that has been in the church for years, will leave and people start looking around wondering if they should leave too. It’s not always a change in people or personnel that starts the exodus, sometimes it’s a change of venue (a new or refurbished building/sanctuary) or a change in the ubiquitous “order of worship” or different music or different carpeting. Any “change” can be like a glass of cold water thrown on a fainting person. It feels unpleasant.
I have struggled with staying in the same church year after year. Certainly, our church has seen lots of changes already, some good and some not so good. Many of my dear friends have left, there’s a new building which I dislike immensely, there’s a different worship team and style, the sermons are still bible-based but not terribly challenging anymore or speaking to where I am, and there are so many new people I don’t even recognize 4/5 of the congregation. Why am I still here?
And yet, there is a sense that God is not finished yet. Where there have been changes, there will be more changes. Where there has been loss, there will be gains. Where there has been disappointment, there will be encouragement. That’s the message in my heart. Stay… just a little while longer.
And like the men on Paul’s ship who wanted to jump into the lifeboat, he warned them and said it was important that “everyone” remain with the ship so that all could be saved. Then they ate together and were strengthened for the time ahead. The next day, the ship was destroyed, and yet all 276 were saved… prisoners, sailors, and soldiers. Who would imagine that staying with the ship included the ship’s destruction? But, that which was most important was saved: the people.
A church is not the building, it’s the people. In fact, all organizations are really just the people. Staying with the ship requires a simple commitment to one another, a type of trust, a type of support, a love.
When Jesus left the disciples, they must have been devastated. Some teachers give the impression that the survivors were all huddled in the “upper room” being all holy and everything. Personally, I think they were scared to death and at a loss for what to do next. Some of the disciples baled and scattered for sure. How could they go on? What did it all mean? What would tomorrow hold? But enough of them stayed. And in the end, it turned out to be part of a plan, it was the way it had to be in that moment.
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Meditations from Zion 