Back in March, my wife and I were talking about where we
were thinking of cruising for the summer. All the family has passports now, so
why not head up north into Canadian waters? Then again, it was starting to look
like two close friends who were getting married were setting their wedding
dates (one for mid-July and the other for mid-August). Hmm. Did that mean
staying closer to home? What to do?
When out of the blue, my in-laws call and offered to take
the five of us on a Holland America cruise to SE Alaska. This wasn’t even on
our radar as a possibility. Such a cruise had always seemed for others as an
extravagance. We said, Yes.
We returned Saturday morning, so this is my reflections
(part 1 we might say) on the trip – but seeing the trip as a metaphor for the
church. Next week, I’ll reflect more on an environmental side of things.
In the early church, the ship was often a metaphor/image of
the church. In fact some of our churches architecturally look like upside down
ships. And on this week’s trip we had in the neighborhood of 2,100 passengers
with another 823 crew members. So, we transported almost 3,000 people from
Vancouver, BC to SE Alaska (stopping in Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay (where no
one got off other than the park rangers) and Ketchikan) and back. That is like
moving an entire city! And yet, the ship didn’t feel crowded.
Hmm … a city within a city. Augustine claimed that the Christian
church was like a city within a city, or our citizenship was in another country
while we participated (to an extent) within another one (in his case Roman
civilization). While we visited these places we didn’t really belong to them.
The number one goal of the cruise ship (and I think any
cruise line) in hospitality. We hadn’t been so “sir”-ed and “Ma’am”-ed in a
long time, if ever. In fact, it was fun to “sir” and “ma’am” the staff back. We
got to know our two room stewards (they work in pairs) as they took care of our
room and the kids’ room. Because I’m me (and I’ve lived too long in small
towns, and maybe because I’ve got a last name others sometimes struggle with) I
just introduced myself to them as “Joel” (and then introduced the family by
name). I didn’t realize how big of a deal this was until some of the staff disembarked
with us into Juneau and one of the stewards called me by name, and I engaged
him in conversation. It was then that I caught the glimpses of amazement from
some of the other staff. Hospitality goes both ways. And isn’t the church
called to be hospitable (which means getting to know our neighborhoods and
communities)? After all, do not we see Christ in each and every person?
Continuing with this theme of hospitality, each night we
gathered around a table (sound like church?). In this case it was the Seven of
us: 2 grandparents, 2 parents, 3 grandkids. We ate at the same table every
night which meant we got to enjoy our two waiters. I think they enjoyed us,
too. We probably reminded them of their own intergenerational families. By the
third night, they knew that five of us were going to want coffee with dessert.
That one of us (our son) was going to order the Baked Alaska, and were teasing
the kids about ordering a Sunday or chocolate cake in addition to whatever they
ordered for dessert. Again we were reminded that hospitality is built upon
relationships.
One of my colleagues referred to a fairly resent Pew and
Pulpit survey done that mentioned the enormous amount of deferred maintenance
that most church buildings needed in the United States. I can’t remember the
figure off the top of my head, but it was in the billions. Why this high
number, because churches support food banks, clothing drives, etc. etc. etc.
Churches support meeting the needs of the local communities in which they are
rather than taking care of their buildings.
On a cruise ship, one can’t do that. The vessel needs to
remain in top seaworthy condition. But I think this also fit into their mission
of hospitality. One day I ran across a man polishing all the brass in one of
the elevators (yes, there are elevators on the cruise ship). I asked him how
often he polished the brass in the elevator. “I polish them every day.” And we
noticed that while leaving Vancouver, and again when we had a bright sunny day
in SE Alaska, the crew varnished some of the cap rails. There was constant
maintenance going on. Maybe the church could learn something from the cruising
industry here?
Of the 823 crew members, we only interacted with a small
amount of them. There were an enormous amount of people we didn’t see. The work
behind the scenes was just as important, if not more so, than those we did see:
the folks on the bridge, the engine-room/maintenance staff, the cooks,
dishwashers, laundry staff, etc. etc. We folks cruising had to trust “un-seen”
folks for the safety and safe-running of the ship. Not unlike the church, where
we, too, trust the Unseen and well as our leadership teams.
“I’m excited because my wife just sent me a picture of our
daughter!” I overhead one of the cabin stewards share with the folks in the
room as I walked down the hall. Apparently, his daughter was born while he has
been away at sea. The contracts seem to be 8-10 months long (some of the
entertainment crew might have shorter ones more dependent upon the season).
This means that the crew is often away from home for long periods of time. One
waitress was mentioning that her parents took care of her six-year-old daughter
while she was away. Frankly, this is quite common in the merchant marine
services. I was glad to see that there was a spiritual presence (in the form of
a priest) onboard. In addition, there was a daily mass, a daily protestant
service, and a weekly Sabbath service. Some of these the priest led, some were
community led. But these were the realities of what the folks were giving up.
It left me wondering what sacrifices church members are willing to make for the
ministry and mission of the church.
There was an amazing illusionist (magician) as part of the
entertainment crew. He happened to make a comment that hit me right between the
eyes, right in the heart, and right in the gut. He was talking about his career
history, when and how he started, and mentioned that he supported himself
through college working for the Viking Cruise Line. “Anyone remember the Viking
Cruise Line? They’ve sense gone under. Pun intended. All of their patrons are
dead. Cruise Ships now realize that you could be in Las Vegas so they are
willing to pay money to have quality entertainment, but also something the kids
and families would enjoy. They now know that without the kids, the Cruise Line
is in danger of dying.” Ouch. That is what some of us have been talking about
with the church. And yet, the church continues to be one of the few places
where most Americans have contact with an inter-generational community. How do
we keep that alive?
While in Skagway, we took a “Shore Excursion” following the
old Yukon Gold Rush path up White Pass through Fraser to Carcross and just past
Caribou Crossing. We left by bus/coach all the way to just past Caribou
Crossing (had to take in a scenic sight for pictures!) then back to Fraser to
ride the train back down to Skagway. This meant we left Alaska and entered
British Columbia and the Yukon, Canada before returning to Alaska. On the way,
our bus driver/tour guide shared information about the surrounding area, and
when pushed about herself. This is now her fourth year as a bus driver/tour
guide. Her older sister got her to reluctantly come up. She fell in love with
the area, and now returns every year. In fact, she recently got married and
told her new husband, “You do know that I will be going up to Skagway for four
months, starting next month, don’t you? It’s up to you whether you come or not.”
Her husband (of four months) is also driving bus and his laughing response was,
“I’m a newlywed. Did she really think I wasn’t going to come? Now we’re seeing
about living here.” In my opinion, one of the things that made her a really
good tour guide wasn’t just her awareness that there was a better spot for
picture taking just around the corner (“The trees have grown up to much at that
pull over”); it wasn’t her learning and sharing the history of the area; it
wasn’t her willingness for questions that she didn’t know the answers to so she
could go find out and learn more about the area. What really made her a great
tour guide was her passion for the area. Something for the church to learn and
reflect upon, too, eh?
In the end, we found the cruise not to be extravagant, but
an elegant way to travel. And isn’t the church extravagant and elegant when she’s
at her best? I think so. And while I think we have a lot to teach the world
about how to live in a just and compassionate way, I also think we have much to
learn from others, too. After all, isn’t that what keeps us fresh, alive, and
passionate about what we are about?
Blessed be
Joel
