Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.
(Proverbs 16:18 niv)
As we acknowledged the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic this past week, much has been discussed and published and exhibited and pondered about this cataclysmic incident. There are many things regarding this tragedy that draw the interest of many people. Certainly the Titanic and its sister ship, the Olympiad, were a marvel of man-made engineering, a culmination of thousands of years of ship-building design. Because of the advances incorporated into the final configuration, the owners of the ship confidently boasted that “not even God could sink her”. Yet, a large, dumb, inanimate iceberg did strike and sink her. And in the ensuing confusion, the mass of humanity that made up the crew and passengers of the ship exhibited the best and worst of our human nature: order and chaos, courage and cowardice, fear and faith, love and hatred, and finally, life and death.
Personally, I have often thought that the Titanic story could be interpreted as an allegory for our existence. If we view the Titanic ship as a compression of our world, the requisite characters are there: the poor, 3rd class passengers on the lower decks, the middle class on the middle decks with their middle rights, and the rich on the upper decks in their luxury suites with unlimited access to the privileges of this earth. The workers (engineers, stewards, crew members) are there, toiling in the background for our benefit. The leaders are there (the captain and his officers), representing our military leaders and corporate executives and government leaders. And then there are the owners: the kings, the presidents, the dictators, the controlling influences in our lives. The engineering of the ship illustrates that mankind has made technological advances throughout the centuries…and he is justifiably proud of these advances in that he has unlocked many of the secrets of nature and practically applied them to our benefit, as with the Titanic. In his pride, man has begun to diminish his reliance on God and maybe even, pompously, begun to equate himself with God (read Frankenstein for further discussion). We navigate our way through this life, doing the best we can to create a smooth sail, but eventually we know that circumstances beyond our control, tragedies beyond our control, can occur to knock us completely off course. When that happens, both the noble and the ugly side of human nature emerge but our predilection to sin becomes dominant. We may employ puny lifeboats to keep us afloat temporarily, but ultimately, we know that death engulfs every one of us.
This is why we need a Savior. We are not the vine, only the branches. We can design our lives as intricately as possible using all our conceptive knowledge, but without the lifeblood of Christ, we can sustain nothing permanently. We must live by the Spirit and “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).
Dear Heavenly Father,
Although sometimes we only feel like impassionate passengers on this floating tragedy that we call our world, let us know the hope of your salvation and inspire us to make an impact to improve this earth in whatever way we can. Guide us to avoid the icebergs of this faith-journey so that we may steam unabated into your heavenly port. And dear God, forgive my hackneyed metaphors. Amen.
Contributed by Donald
Monday May 28, 2012
Liturgical Year B: Week 22
Liturgical Color: White
Sunday Gospel reading:
Third Sunday of Easter