In order to obtain animals to put on our cardboard boat AKA Noah’s Ark we put out the call for people to contribute stuffed animals. One person brought a bag of stuffed animals and on top of it were several cute little sheep. My dog took a liking to them and curled up around the bag as if he were guarding them. I told our administrator that “All we needed was a bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin in the bag and we would have ‘dyslexic scripture.’” She looked at me the way she does when I say something crazy. “You ready?” I asked. She nodded and I said, “Behold the lamb of dog that taketh away the gin of the world.”
I want to thank everyone who helped build the boat, race the boat and come out & cheer – We had 200 person-hours of labor building the boat. We had forty people show up over the weekend to cheer us on. THANK YOU!
[Show trophies – 3rd place in two events.]
We learned a lot. We know much more how to build the boat, how to race it, and how to promote it. Next year we are going to clean house!
When was the last time Grace Church brought home trophies? 1960-70s.
When did we install these memorial windows? 1920-40s.
The old trophies came from the children of the people memorialized in the windows. Our new trophies are going to come from the people here now.
Churches go through natural cycles of birth, near death, and rebirth. I think we are in a period of rebirth right now. We are going to score a lot more trophies. As we sing in the hymn All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name: “Go spread your trophies at his feet and crown him Lord of all.” Here are the first two trophies, Jesus.
But as I watched the events of Friday and Saturday transpire, I realized how much about the life of an individual and the life of the church we were seeing played before us. It was almost like God poking me in the ribs saying, “Do you get it now?”
Lesson 1: Location, location, location. We arrived about 5:00 on Friday. That was way too late. All the prime positions had been taken. For the Friday night contest on the most attractive boat, people go up to buy beer and get voting tickets. The secret is to have your boat as close to the beer as possible. We were just too far away.
Lesson 2: Get out there and get others to believe in you. The Pink Pirates were a bunch of cute 7 year old girls with a killer boat closest to the beer. We were a bunch of demure Episcopalians far away from the action. We had our one manila envelope taped neatly to the boat with a note: “Vote here for Noah’s Ark” How does that compete against a squadron of 7 year old girls wearing matching pink pirate Tee shirts right after you purchase your beer?
Lesson 3: Have faith. Last week the vote here seemed to be roughly equal between faith and doubt. Faith would have us get in the boat the first time and paddle to victory. Doubt is the engineer in me that said we needed a brief field test. So Friday night we paddled the boat across the inlet to our display location. Unfortunately that exposure to water got the bottom hull a bit soggy. I needed to have more faith.
Lesson 4: Practice, practice, practice. A week earlier we did some rehearsals in my canoe. That helped the youth team a great deal. Glenn Bibelheimer and I decided to enter a two person event. We should have practiced more. A couple of times in the race I doubted Glenn’s directions and we suffered precious seconds of time as a result.
Lesson 5: Just relax and hold on tight. It’s a game. It’s a contest. It’s fun. It doesn’t have to be so serious. Yes, when you combine engineering and a competitive event, you hook me on several fronts – but it is just a game. Have fun. Enjoy life. Grace Church knows how to have fun!
All these lessons can be applied to our life as a church, as a community in Christ, and as individuals. Glenn and I hoped that the youth would go first but that’s not how the race turned out. Glenn and I went first, which meant the boat was much more waterlogged and damaged for the second event with the youth.
The youth did exceptionally well. They displayed great courage and faith that they would cross that finish line. The bottom of the boat was completely waterlogged. Even though the bottom was 1.5 inches thick, it was more like a wet blanket than a rigid bottom. As they made the turn, the internal keel was the only thing floating that supported them, along with their faith, as they paddled through this event and life itself. The boat was watertight, but the bottom was barely able to keep their knees from poking through into the water.
They finished the race. The bottom of the boat was no longer able to perform its functions. Soggy cardboard was torn off the bottom so that only the duct tape remained. When we loaded the boat into a pickup truck to bring it to church, we folded it in half lengthwise.
Isn’t that the way life is? We start out fully functional, with high hopes and excitement. Some people are like some of the boats we saw. They could not paddle in a straight line so they went in loops. A few sank within a few yards of the launching point. Many completed the race. Nearly everyone who finished the race did so with their boat diminished in some way.
Don’t we cross the finish line of life with less than we had at the beginning? Don’t we end up a bit soggy and worse for the wear? Are we not ready to go home after the race?
Earlier in the day I joked with someone about different ways we could have cheated and built a better boat. She smiled and said, “But there is just no glory in winning when you cheat.”
So what is our glory when we finish the race of life? [pause] When we reach out to help others and when we devote our life so that others may be better off, then we will receive the crown of victory. THAT is our glory.
What we experienced this weekend was absolutely glorious. The time, energy, and talents of everyone involved showed the strength and faith we have as a community. Even at times when our own faith may falter, this community is always present, full of faith and courage to cheer us on to that finish line – all to the Glory of God! Hallelujah!