Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday August 14, 2022
Scripture: Romans 8:28-39
This week I’ve been thinking about anchors. I’m sure that there are people here who have much more experiences with anchors than I do. For me, my strongest anchor memory is going fishing with my father at the cottage when I was little. We would get up early in the morning, which probably meant 5:30, and go out in the small boat with its 8-horsepower motor. We would usually end up in one of the weedy areas, usually near the shore or near a swamp or near one of the rockpiles in the lake; and when we got there, Dad would drop a small anchor overboard to keep us from drifting away from where he hoped the fish were hanging out.
Those early mornings at the cottage, it was usually pretty calm on the lake. If it was windy or stormy, there’s no way Dad would have taken us out – we would have stayed in our cozy beds instead.
And so the images from our hymn this week, “Will your Anchor Hold,” don’t really resonate with me and my experiences of anchors. I’ve never been out in a boat in a storm where I’ve had to trust in an anchor to keep us from being set adrift. I’ve never heard the cables straining as the breakers and billows try to tear us away from the rock that we are tied to.
Generally speaking, the larger the boat, the heavier the anchor needs to be to hold it in place, but anchors aren’t failproof. Even the heaviest anchor can let go if a single link in the chain breaks. And even the newest and best anchor can drag across the ocean floor if the storm is strong enough, and the boat can be blown either out to sea or onto the rocks.
And so the question that this song asks us – will your anchor hold? – is a valid one; though it isn’t talking about literal storms but rather metaphorical ones. The storm of grief. The storm of fear. The storm of anger. The storm of injustice. The storm of oppression. Will your anchor hold through these storms, or will you be blown out to sea or onto the rocks?
And the refrain promises us that we do have an anchor that keeps our souls steadfast and sure while the billows roll. We are fastened to the rock which cannot move because we are grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love.
God’s love is the thing that anchors us through these storms. This is a hymn about faith, about trust, about knowing that this love will keep us safe and secure no matter what storms come our way.
As the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation – not a single storm of life – will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is the faith that anchors us.
It is a very powerful metaphor, this anchor. We are tethered to God and to God’s love, and there is no storm that can ever break that connection.
But as I thought about anchors this week, I started to have some questions. After all, it was only last Sunday with the hymn, “My Love Colours Outside the Lines” that we talked about stepping out of the safety of the boatand in to the storm, to take the risk of walking on water despite the very real risk of drowning.
I had these two beloved hymns, with their seemingly-contradictory messages dancing in my brain this week. How can I reconcile the call that God gives us to dare to risk for the sake of love, to dare to step out of the boat and in to the storm; with our need to be anchored to a place of safety and security during the storm?
The anchor in this hymn is a metaphor, and all metaphors eventually break down. If you remember back to your English classes, a metaphor is both “like” and “not like.” Think, for example, of the song, “You are My Sunshine” – that whole song is an extended metaphor. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey.” The beloved being sung to is the singer’s sunshine, bringing light, bringing warmth, bringing joy. But the metaphor breaks down because the beloved isn’t literally a flaming ball of gas. Like and not like.
My faith is an anchor – it keeps me secure in the storm, it keeps me from being tossed this way and that. It keeps me tethered to God. But the metaphor breaks down because my faith isn’t literally made of iron, but also because my faith isn’t static. I don’t stay in one place in my faith.
Our faith is a journey. I’m not in the same place now as I was 10 years ago, or 20 years ago. The Holy Spirit has blown me into all sorts of new places, has nudged me to step out from the safety of the boat to walk on water, and has given me opportunities to let my love colour outside the line.
And yet at every point along the journey of faith, God is with us. There is power in that image of an anchor, as long as we don’t let it limit our growth.
I wonder if there is a different metaphor that we might use here. Something that conveys the security of an anchor, but that leaves room for growth? I love that idea of a dynamic tethering to God – our connection to God and to God’s love can never be broken – neither death nor life nor powers nor rulers nor things present nor things to come can ever separate us from God and from God’s love. That connection can never be broken; and yet it is a dynamic connection – one that allows for movement and for growth, one that we know is still there when we step out into the storm and walk on water.
I wonder what metaphor might convey the steadfast security of an anchor with the dynamic faith to walk on water? I would love to hear your ideas or suggestions! Maybe something like a mountain climbers carabiner – keeping the climber safe and secure and tethered to their supports, even as they scale a rocky face. “Will your carabiner hold on the mountain face?”
But sometimes a single metaphor isn’t enough – often holding many images together can paint a better picture of what we are trying to describe. God is the anchor; God is the rock; God is the wind; God is the boat; God is the rudder; God is the sail; God is the compass; God is our companion in the boat. God is.
And our faith is an anchor, tethering us to God, even as God is blowing us to new places. And nothing can ever break that connection. Thanks be to God! Amen.
“Will your anchor hold?”
CC BY 2.0
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