Messing About in Boats

Today the gray clouds blow over us here in Drayton Harbor, reminding us that Fall is close at hand. On our boat, we are also reminded that the academic year is about to start. While we may no longer be headed out for longer cruises, there are still things to be done aboard, and joys to be had in this end of the season - even as we are found just messing about in boats.

With all of that in mind, here is a familiar quote, celebrating the joys of this past summer, and the puttering of the fall and winter ahead. For while we may not do anything in particular, we may find we have revitalized ourselves, and given a chance for our souls to grow and flourish.

Peace and Blessings

Joel

"Believe me my young friend,” said the Water Rat solemnly, “there is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats – simply messing. Nothing seems really to matter – that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away or whether you don’t, whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else or whether you never get anywhere at all, you’re always busy and you never do anything in particular.”
~ Kenneth Grahame

GOLDEN RULE gets restoration for another Peace Tour

The July 2011 issue of Latitude 38Golden Rule Project. The had a letter from Fredy Champagne, Coordinator, the Veterans for Peace, Golden Rule was built in 1958 as a "peace boat" by four Quaker activists who sailed her to the Marshall Islands in an attempt to stop the nuclear weapons testing. The Northern California Veterans for Peace chapter is hoping to have her restored in time for the 2013 America's Cup in San Francisco. Afterward, depending on funding, the plan is to sail Golden Rule around to the East Coast and Midwest (via the Mississippi, Great Lakes and canals) to visit local chapters of Veterans for Peace and tour in general.
The restoration project is a tribute to the memory of Albert S. Bigelow, captain, Orion W. Sherwood, William R. Huntington, and George Willoughby the crew of Golden Rule. Of course the Northern California chapter of Veterans for Peace are interested in support, working volunteers and net-working for the completion of this project.

How are you using your boats? Our individual actions may not be as dramatic, but how we choose to live each of our days - especially on the water - does make an impact and a statement. Do we choose to use up resources from other parts of the planet, or ones that are more local? How are our energy requirements and uses?

These four Quakers' faith shaped how they engaged the world. And they didn't stop with just thoughts and ideas, but put their faith into action. And their actions inspired others, changing the course of history. How are you acting on your faith?

But their [the crew of the Golden Rule] example proved contagious. An American anthropologist, Earle Reynolds, his wife Barbara, and their two children attended the final trial in Honolulu, and concluded not only that the U.S. government was lying about the dangers of radioactive fallout, but lacked the constitutional authority to explode nuclear weapons in the Pacific. As a result, determined to complete the voyage of the Golden Rule, they set sail for Eniwetok aboard their own ship, the Phoenix. On July 1, Reynolds went on the radio to announce that they had entered the U.S. nuclear testing zone. Soon thereafter he was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to a two-year prison term.
These events, which received considerable publicity, triggered a surge of activism. Picket lines sprang up around federal buildings and AEC offices all across the United States. In San Francisco, 432 residents -- proclaiming that they were guilty of "conspiring" with crew members -- petitioned the U.S. attorney to take legal action against them. Reynolds, out on bail before a higher court ruled in his favor (and, implicitly, in favor of the crew of the Golden Rule), gave a large number of talks on radio and television, as well as to college, high school, and church audiences, on the dangers of nuclear testing. {from: http://www.vfpgoldenruleproject.org/preserving-the-golden-rule.htm; Dr. Wittner is Professor of History at the State University of New York/Albany. His latest book is Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement (Stanford University Press).}

Here is more history about the events surrounding Golden Rule.

Fair winds,

Joel

Anchor Lighting Prayer

Our first arrival at Echo Bay, Sucia Island was three or four years ago now. We were just putting the kids to bed, when I called for them to come up and see the LADY WASHINGTON lying at anchor. We ghosted by in the dusky evening. The kids in bed, Laura and I continued to ghost down wind into the anchorage, looking for a place to drop the hook. By the time we entered the end of the bay it was dark. We were thankful for the anchor lights. And then we noticed there was a boat without a light. After the third unlit boat, we beat a hasty retreat back out and ended up anchoring near the LADY.
After that experience, we became firm believers in using anchor lights - ours included.
The Book of Common Prayer has the following prayers to use when lighting the candle for the Vesper service. I thought it might be a ritual you want to include when lighting your anchor light.

Blessings,

Joel

Almighty God, we give you thanks for surrounding us, as daylight fades, with the brightness of the vesper [anchor] light; and we implore you of your great mercy that, as you enfold us with the radiance of this light, so you would shine into our hearts the brightness of your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

or

Grant us, Lord, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us, and that by its brightness we may have a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

or

O Lord God Almighty, as you have taught us to call the evening, the morning, and the noonday one day; and have made the sun to know its going down: Dispel the darkness of our hearts, that by your brightness we may know you to be the true God and eternal light, living and reigning for ever and ever. Amen.*

or

Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.*

or

O Gracious Light (Phos hilaron)
O gracious Light,
pure brightness of the everlasting Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.*

* all these prayers are taken from The Book of Common Prayer. Oxford University Press, New York, 1990.

A Prayer for Traveling

Ah to be at anchor
Hearing the waves wash the hull
Turn, turn, turning with wind and tide
For those of you out and about sailing, paddling or rowing, here is a Kwakiutl prayer for you:

Look at me, Old Man, that the weather made by you may spare me; and pray, protect me that no evil may befall me while I am traveling on this sea, Old Man, that I may arrive at the place to which I am going. Great Supernatural One, Old Man.

Nature Deficit Disorder

During the middle of summer, with many of us out on the water, in the woods, and otherwise enjoying nature, we may not give much thought to being deficient in nature "vitamins." The following is a quote from a men's devotional that a reader sent in after seeing last weeks Creation-Care 365 article. Hope you are enjoying the awe of nature and taking time for those free sunsets (if not sunrises)!

Day 292
Nature Deficit Disorder
My spiritual father, St. Francis, was one of the few later Christian saints who made a consistent and clear connection with nature. Yet much of Christian history has had to do with books, translations, and universities; internecine fights among academics and seminaries; and people arguing about words, salvation theories, and worship styles.
We are suffering from a major case of Christian NDD – Nature Deficit Disorder. At this point, I sincerely believe that the earth is the only thing shared enough, wise enough, suffering enough, and God-created enough to truly change most men [and women]. Get out, stay quiet, be alone, and listen long and happily. “Nature is the primary and most perfect revelation of the divine,” said St. Thomas Aquinas. It was the Bible before the Bible, and we stopped reading it.

How do I spend time with nature? How can I make that time more conducive to spiritual wonder?*

*Richard Rohr, On the Threshold of Transformation, (Chicago, Loyola Press, 2010), p 301