Trinity 11- Communion in a Storm
Bishop Ray Sutton

If you are like me, there have been times when you felt like you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can think of a number of instances in my own life when I thought at the time that I needed to be somewhere else. Once a few years ago I was at a meeting in the Atlanta area. At the time I jogged on a regular basis. At the end of the day, I decided to jog through the part of Atlanta where my hotel was. I set off through the streets near the hotel. Before long, I began to notice that the section where I was jogging was not the best. The way back was near some people gathering in the streets around sundown. I knew the way back, where I wanted to go. The path there suddenly was crowded with some shady looking characters. I really didn’t want to run by them.

Usually with my clericals, I don’t have any problem in situations like that. But I don’t usually jog in my clericals, so I was incognito. And I couldn’t figure out a safe way back to the hotel. Suddenly to my pleasant surprise, a police car pulled up. Apparently, he had been watching me and the situation undercover somewhere. He had to blow his cover to come to my rescue. He wasn’t happy when he pulled up next to me and asked, “Who are you,” as if he was saying, “Are you nuts being out here in this part of town toward evening?” I told him I was a priest. As I recall, “He looked at me in my jogging outfit and said, “Yea and I’m the pope.” I told him that I really was a priest, where I was staying and that I had kind of lost my way. He replied, “No kidding, get in the car father and I’ll take you back to the hotel.”

In that situation I was in the wrong place at the wrong time but I ended up with the right person, which may have saved my life. The next picture in our stained glass windows to be considered conveys a similar theme. It is the last one on the Gospel (north) side. It is the scene of a ship in a storm at sea, which comes to us in the 27th chapter of the Book of Acts. The person standing on the deck of the ship with his head blowing in the wind is St. Paul, the first great missionary of the Church. Before him is a table of food. I call it communion in a storm.

The Apostle Paul had been arrested in Jerusalem. The Jewish citizens thought he was out to destroy Judaism. A riot resulted. Paul was taken by the authorities to court. While on trial, he revealed that he was not only a Jew but a Roman citizen. That piece of information changed everything. He had to be tried before Roman not Jewish authorities. His case was appealed all the way to the city of Rome. Consequently he had to be transported from Jerusalem and local courts to  the head of the Roman Empire. He was taken there under guard by a centurion soldier.

The centurion and Paul travelled by sea. Significantly, the boat on which they sailed was a Roman grain ship carrying cargo for the bread of the Empire (Acts 27:28). In route, they were caught in a vicious storm. At one point, Paul encouraged the centurion to take the ship to shore out of the storm. The centurion didn’t listen to the apostle. They continued past a point of no return. All they could do was ride out the storm. The inclement weather worsened. In the midst of the storm, Paul told everyone that God had revealed to him that he would arrive safely in Rome to stand before Caesar. He encouraged them that he believed God and that it would turn out exactly as the Lord had told him (27:25).

That night, some of the men in the ship doubted Paul. They climbed into a safety boat to escape back toward land. Significantly, the centurion speaks up on behalf of Paul. This time, he tells the men to remain in the ship and follow the Apostle’s words. He even instructs that the safety boat should be cut loose and let go into the storm; there was then no way off of the ship.

To everyone’s surprise at that point, Paul gathers all around. He “took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all; and he broke and began to eat” (27:35). There was enough food for all 276 persons (27:37). Sound familiar? The language here is identical to the feeding of the multitudes; it’s the scene in the window right next to this one. The parallel is unmistakable. The denotative meaning is the feeding of the multitudes. The connotative meaning is a clear allusion to Holy Communion. St. Paul’s acts and words are also nearly identical to the language of institution at the Lord’s Last Supper. The Apostle concludes the meal with the words, “I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your preservation; for not a hair from the head of any of you shall perish” (27:34). His point was that if they followed him and communed with his Lord, Jesus Christ, they would be spared.

After their meal, the ship began to break up near shore. The guards with the centurion were about to begin killing all of the prisoners for fear that they would escape. Again the centurion follows the apostle. He trusted what Paul had told them at communion. He allowed everyone to jump overboard and swim for safety. In the end, the text states, “All were brought safely to land” (27:44).

The purpose of this story is powerful on two levels. In terms of the larger themes of the book, we find a Roman official listening to the Word of God rather than other Romans. All end up being saved. This is the message of the great book of Acts. The Roman Empire can only survive and be saved through the resurrected, ascended Jesus Christ. At a personal level, the story teaches that even though all those in the storm were in the wrong place at the wrong time, they were with the right person, not only Paul but more importantly, Jesus Christ. In spite of the storm swirling around their lives, they were saved. And so it is with us. I hope that as we look at this great stained glass window, we will be reminded of the triumph of Christ over an evil empire. In addition, I want us always to recall that with Christ in our lives and communion with Him, no matter the circumstance or storm there is always hope; there is a way forward. A famous missionary called to China was once asked, “Aren’t you worried about the danger to your life and your family going to a far away dangerous place?” His response was, “It’s better to be inside the will of God in China than outside the will of God outside of China.” It’s another way of saying, “You can be in the wrong place at the wrong time but with the right Person, Jesus Christ, you can find your way through the storm.” Amen!