This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news:
UK plebs not permitted to read Prince Charles’ letters to Government 
Acts 27:27-44
27 When the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the sea of Adria, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land.28So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on they took soundings again and found fifteen fathoms.29Fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.30But when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and had lowered the boat into the sea, on the pretext of putting out anchors from the bow,31Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, ‘Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.’32Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and set it adrift.
33 Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, ‘Today is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense and remaining without food, having eaten nothing.34Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will help you survive; for none of you will lose a hair from your heads.’35After he had said this, he took bread; and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat.36Then all of them were encouraged and took food for themselves.37(We were in all two hundred and seventy-six* persons in the ship.)38After they had satisfied their hunger, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.
The Shipwreck
39 In the morning they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned to run the ship ashore, if they could.40So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time they loosened the ropes that tied the steering-oars; then hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.41But striking a reef,* they ran the ship aground; the bow stuck and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the force of the waves.42The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none might swim away and escape;43but the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land,44and the rest to follow, some on planks and others on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.
a storm system: order and randomness
This is a very spirited piece of writing by the author, Luke. Of course, writing some thirty years after the event, his use of first person narrative is simply a device, which he also uses elsewhere. His aim is to show:
1. That Paul’s faith gives him courage and calm in danger
2. That Paul is able to show concern for others as well as himself
3. That he and the centurion make a good team
4 That God’s purpose, to get his messenger to Rome, is over all.
This last is perhaps the most important meaning of the story. Luke suggests that even in apparently random events, God’s purpose can be trusted. He does not say that God sent a storm, caused the ship to ground and saved the lives of those on board. The events happen as any other events in the world, but Paul trusts in the goodwill of God. Would he still have trusted if he’d been cast into the sea to drown? Luke would have answered , yes.
We live in a universe where many events happen predictably- certain climatic conditions generate high winds, high winds cause rough seas, rough seas may make a ship uncontrollable, human bodies will sink in water unless made to float by swimming or bouyancy aids-but precisely when and where such chains of events will take place is distressingly unpredictable. This mix of order and randomness may be fundamental to the existence of everything. Some Christians claim to discern a benign order underneath the surface of events: faith can see a shape of which unbelief is ignorant. I don’t claim that. Rather, I see in the operation of order and randomness, of necessity and freedom, of regularity and novelty, an expression of unchangeable albeit incomprehensible, love.
Luke 9:18-27
Peter’s Declaration about Jesus
18 Once when Jesus* was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’19They answered, ‘John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.’20He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah* of God.’
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
21 He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone,22saying, ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’
23 Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.24For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.25What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?26Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.27But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.’ 
Here Jesus tells his disciples that God will not intervene to protect the life of his Messiah from the randomness and evil of the world. This goes aganist all their religious instincts,but Jesus goes on to say that those who try to escape the ultimate randomness of death for the sake of the gospel will be lost, whereas those who who give themselves up to it, will be rescued.
This is not an invitation to suicidal recklessness. The risk is for the sake of Jesus and the rule of God’s goodness, and for the sake of one’s true “life”. Nor does it state that Jesus or his faithful followers will preserve their lives out some inherent capacity to survive, but rather out of the same “rule” of God’s goodness which they have trusted in life. It still seems a pretty risky business, but those who baulk at it are faced with Jesus’ question, “What does it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit themselves?”
It’s not accidental that the risk is described as taking up one’s cross. Of course this could just be a special way of speaking invented by Christians and put in the mouth of Jesus. But even if it is, it’s vital to see the “cross” not as symbol of generalised suffering but specifically as the Roman punishment for rebels and slaves. The risk of discipleship is that of challenging the supreme political ruler in the name of the rule of God. But Jesus didn’t challenge Roman rule! No, he did not, like the zealots, advocate its violent overthrow but it seems clear especially from John’s gospel, that he did challenge Rome in the name of a “rule which is not of this world”, just as he challenged his own religious establishment with the nature of that rule.
To take up the cross is not merely to accept the burden of human suffering, but to place oneself in dangerous opposition to the ruling religious, cultural and political establishments of one’s time and place. The nature of these establishments, especially the degree to which they permit opposition, will determine how dangerous such discipleship is. I can say with relief that it’s less dangerous in the UK than in Russia while recognising that it’s less dangerus in Russia than in Syria. Neverthless, it’s not a way to success and popularity anywhere in the world. Only a very distorted brand of Christianity could invite you to “improve your business chances by coming to Jesus.”
Emmock's Blog 