I walked into Pastor Marc’s office one morning a couple of months ago and painted a word picture for him.

“Marc, I see a raging river and there are people being swept along in the current.  They are perishing.  The river is the culture of our day pervasive in its ungodly values and focus.  For years I have heard preaching that implies that the church needs to run counter culture.  We swim or walk upstream.  But how can we possibly rescue the perishing if we are headed upstream and they are headed downstream.  It’s wrong somehow.  Over the years some have seen the folly here and they have stopped moving.  They remain stationary and ineffective at the water’s edge repeating previously unsuccessful strategies to get people out of the water.  We have fallen in love with our methods and deified a few.  While staying still may be better than heading in the opposite direction, it is still marginally effective.  It would seem to me that if we really are serious about rescuing people, we should be headed in the same direction as the current.  This does not reduce our spirituality or compromise us in any way.  The greatest compromise is to choose proven ineffectiveness over openness to new ways to reach the lost.”

This service arises from this conversation.  We are trying to open the way for a movement of God to empower His church like never before.  I’m hoping that you can give this your prayerful consideration today and allow the Spirit of God to rock your boat a little bit.

There are certain incidents in life that a person never forgets.  They stay with you and often they carry life perspectives and lessons that shape the way that you live and relate to people.  I had one of those occur in my own life a couple of Falls ago now.

It was a frigid Saturday morning late in October.  The frost had freshly invaded the boards beneath our feet and they snapped at us in protest as 3 of the 6AM runners crossed the river on the old train bridge.  There was the usual nonsensical banter, a verbal sparring that middle aged men specialize in.  We were missing at least one expected runner, Brian Scott.  Normally we miss him because he is far in the front.

We were approaching the north side of the river.  The vapor was heavy and thick on the river that morning, like an ethereal convention of displaced, otherworldly spirits.  I listened to their faint cries.  I could almost make out their hopeless cries for help.  But like the rich man in torment who saw Lazarus the beggar in the bosom of Abraham, these were beyond help.  The same is true for any soul that leaves this life without Christ, the Living Hope.

From a distance we could see a crumpled from lying on the deck of the bridge.  As it grew closer we discovered a discarded jacket.  Donnie LeBlanc in the spirit of the run offered, “Gee, I hope he didn’t jump.”

That statement hung in my consciousness just long enough for me to realize that I had not been hearing voices of the vapor ghosts.  What if someone did jump?  I had to look over the edge.  We all know of people who have stepped off that train bridge into eternity.  As I looked down into the mist, I saw a nearly lifeless form of a man clinging to a buoy.  His arms were draped over the float and he could barely keep his head out of the chilling water.

I shouted and he lifted his head to see Donnie, his son Jason and myself peering down.  We strained to hear his weakened voice and wondered how much longer he could cling to the buoy.

My first reaction was to jump.  This quickly passed as I saw the result below me.  I wondered how we might get him out of the water without getting wet.  We ask ourselves the same question in the church today.  How do we get people out and remain dry? 

Scene 1:  “Come ye out and be dry.”

Throughout the service, a fairly steady stream of people move down the left aisle, across the front of the sanctuary, and up the right aisle. Some completely ignore what’s happening on the platform. Some gently revolve, like they’re caught in a current. A few look at the lifesaving stations, even reach toward them, try to fight their way back upstream a bit, etc., before being washed along with the flow.

Scene 1 opens with a cluster of people wearing “Lifeguard” T-Shirts pulled over dresses, or with neckties, jackets, etc. sitting toward the back of the platform. Behind them on the wall is a banner that says, “Better Safe Than Soggy”. The choir platform in front of them; (“The hill”) is scattered with dozens of small pamphlets.  Each Lifeguard has a small booklet with a large red cross on the cover. A meeting is in progress, and is being addressed by the leader. Except for the T-shirt, he looks and sounds like a TV Evangelist. A southern accent would be a real bonus!

Leader: Turn with me, fellow lifeguards, to the Red Cross book of water safety, chapter 7; entitled: “Open Water Swimming”.

(They all flip through the pages)

Leader: (cont.) I want to draw your attention to the following passage:

“There are many inherent dangers in swimming in lakes and           rivers . . .”

(Several lifeguards murmur “That’s right! Amen!, mmm-hmmm, etc . . . . He nods, gratified by their response, then continues reading)

“Rivers in particular . . . ” the book goes on to say, (with great

 emphasis) “Rivers . . . in par-tic-u-lar!!!!!  . . . . due to the

 existence of unpredictable currents, hidden rocks and undertows are treacherous to the swimmer!”

Lifeguards:  Treacherous! Uh Huh! (etc).

Leader: And I don’t have to tell you, brother and sister lifeguards, that we have here in our midst; flowing like a stream of evil through the very center of our town, a river! I say a river!!!!

And down that river there is a constant flow of humanity;            bobbing and splashing and playing, oblivious to fact . . . BLIND . . . to the fact, that they are being inexorably washed along the valley into the very sea itself!!!!

But we . . . WE!!!!! . . . . have had our eyes opened to the dangers of the river. We have seen its wetness!!!  We have felt the cold chill of its icy current!!! (really getting into it now, as the crowd spurs him on with “Amens”)

(In a rapid fire breathless flow of words) We have stumbled on those sharp little rocks that get up into the bottom of your bare feet and make you limp and dance like a noodle headed ninny!!!!!

BUT NO MORE!!!!!!! (more subdued) No more.

I say unto you, come away from the river, and be ye dry!!!!

(loud burst of “Amens” and applause. At the back of the crowd, one young lifeguard raises a hand to ask a question)

Young Lifeguard: Excuse me . . . ? Um . . . I’m sort of new at this.  I haven’t been out of the river for very long. But I’m just wondering . . . aren’t we supposed to be lifeguards?

Leader: (With a patient, patronizing smile) Supposed to be? My dear young friend . . . . we are lifeguards! We wear no other shirts but lifeguard shirts. Our every waking moment is governed by (he says it all in one word)

TheRedCrossBookOfWaterSafety! 

And every car in our parking lot has a “Honk if you love CPR” bumper sticker!

Young Lifeguard: Yeah, but it’s just that you seem to be telling us that we shouldn’t go anywhere near the river. 

Leader: That’s right.

Young Lifeguard: (confused) But . . . then how are we going to rescue anybody? I mean,  aren’t the drowning people all in the river?

Leader: Yes they are, my naïve young friend! But let me ask you something. (slipping back into preacher mode, and addressing  the whole crowd) What good is a soggy lifeguard? What kind of example to a drowning world is a shivering lifeguard with the polluted water of the river running into his face from his dripping, wet (and I might add) shockingly ungroomed hair?

Young Lifeguard: Well, it’s just that I have a lot of friends who are still in the river. My whole family is in the river,             and I kind of worry about them, so I . . .

Leader: (interrupting quietly, gently, as if speaking to a small child) Friends in the River. You have friends in the river. (deep sigh) Let me tell you about friends in the river. They will pull you in.  They will drag you into the current and hold your head under until the bubbles stop. No!!! I say NO!!!!! Your friends are not in the river. Your friends are the like-minded lifeguards sitting around you right now.

Young Lifeguard: So, (gradually figuring it all out) we’re not actually going to be trying to rescue people?

Leader: Oh we will rescue people. We have rescued people! Look around you son. Do you think these people were born lifeguards? Oh no! We were all born in the river. We were all swimmers! “All we like fish were being swept away!!”  But we heard the call to come out and be dry. 

Older Lifeguard: That’s right brother! I remember  it like it was yesterday! There I was, drifting in the current  when I was suddenly hit in the head with this little pamphlet: “12 steps to Dryness” (waves pamphlet in the air)

Leader:     A pamphlet, I might add, flung into the valley from this very                lifeguard station with our “Outreach and Recruitment” catapult.                 (Holds up a very large slingshot and shoots a pamphlet out toward to river. Lifeguards applaud)

Older Lifeguard: And that pamphlet helped me find the riverbank, and              Drag myself out of the water, and the little map on the back lead me up here, where I became a lifeguard myself.  So don’t tell me we’re not rescuing people!

Young Lifeguard: Well, that’s great. I just think there must be a more    effective way to rescue swimmers than chucking books at them from the top of a hill. I mean . . . just look at all the pamphlets on the hillside. Most of them don’t even make it to the river.

Leader: The catapult is working just fine thank you. We are not like those poor misguided folks who call themselves lifeguards but who stand so close to the river that their shirts are dampened by its very spray; that their sandals are soiled by its muck; (his eyes widen) that the very pages of The Red Cross Book Of Water Safety which they claim to follow, fall limp in their hands from the permeating moisture which  surrounds them. (This draws a moaning response from the crowd. “Have Mercy!!!”)

Leader: And that’s why we’re moving up and moving on! I’m pleased to announce that construction is now complete on our brand new state of the art lifesaving station high atop the mountain overlooking this city.  Far above the swirling mists of the river we will be free to study the book. And as those poor misguided souls float by on the rapids, they’ll be able to look up and see our station shining out as a beacon, calling them up the hill to the joys of dryness!!!!!

All: Glory!!!!!!!

Leader: Come brethren! We’re marching to the promised land!!!

(He begins to lead them off stage. The Young Lifeguard doesn’t move. The Leader turns back.)

Leader: Are you coming?

Young Lifeguard: (Looking back and forth between the Leader and  the river)  No . . . I don’t think so.

Leader: (With a smirk)  Then I hope you can tread water.   Exit

The Young Lifeguard walks toward the river and watches people drift by.  After a few hesitant attempts to say something to them, the Young Lifeguard picks up a life preserver, opens up The Red Cross Book of Water Safety, and walks off in the other direction, reading.

1.   The church that refuses to engage the culture and chooses instead to run from it, is on the path to spiritual impotence.

It’s almost as though we are equally concerned with our dryness and the peril that people are in, drowning in the cultural river that swirls around us.  What peril might we be subjecting ourselves to if we respond.  It’s always easier to stay on the bridge. 

One of the most silly preoccupations that we develop when we’ve been out of the river for too long is this desire to preserve our “dryness” or our self-ascribed righteousness at the expense of people perishing all around us.

In the early church there were societies of men and women who called themselves the parabolani, that is, the riskers or gamblers.  They ministered to the sick and imprisoned, and they saw to it that, if at all possible, martyrs and sometimes even enemies would receive an honorable burial.  Thus in the city of Carthage during the great pestilence of A.D. 252 Cyprian, the bishop, showed remarkable courage.  In self-sacrificing fidelity to his flock, and love even for his enemies, he took upon himself the care of the sick, and bade his congregation nurse them and bury the dead.  What a practice of the heathen who were throwing the corpses out of the plague-stricken city and were running away in terror.

We, this generation were once risk-takers.

Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have.

As children we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

.

Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. .

.

Our baby cribs were painted with bright colored lead based paint. We often chewed on the crib, ingesting the paint.

.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes we had no helmets.

.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.

.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

.

No one was able to reach us all day.

.

We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda, but we were never over weight; we were always outside playing.

.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

.

Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.

.

That generation produced some of the greatest risk-takers and problem solvers.

.

We had the freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

A person, a people, a church that refuses to take risks will never be effective in it’s local mission field.  There are all kinds of risks that are taken.  If we are a grace giving people there will be times when we will be accused of being liberal.  Liberal like Billy Graham.  I was on staff in a Wesleyan church in which the pastor boycotted a local Billy Graham crusade.  This pastor was a dear friend and I love the man so much to this very day.  Despite the differences in our outlook, God used this man mightily in my own life.  There came a time when I had to leave because we became increasingly incompatible.  He felt that the Graham organization was wrong to invite every local church pastor to sit on the platform during the crusade.  He invited Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses to be among the clergy on the platform.  I saw personally as a wonderful way to bring these folks under the sound of the gospel.  My Sr. pastor felt that this somehow tarnished the evangelical clerical image as though the physical presence of these men on the platform were some great compromise.  God help us.  We don’t want to get wet do we.  Our dryness is of utmost importance.

C.T Studd devalued everything this life had to offer including his stellar career as a cricketeer.  He wrote his sentiments in this oft quoted declaration: 

“Some wish to live within the sound of church and chapel bell. I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.” 

So close to the peril of souls that you can smell the smoke of hell on your clothes.  People leave churches that become serious about this mandate.  Most churches are more comfortable places  where our comfort zones are not threatened and our preferences are pandered.

You can’t be a good baseball player if you are preoccupied with keeping your uniform pressed and clean.  Such a player would never slide to secure a run for his team.  If you choose to help people out of the muck of sin, you may get soiled somehow.  Sometimes there’s just no way around it.  You put your arms around someone who is wet you are likely to get a bit soggy by times.

The most criticized church in a given community is often the aggressive.  They are accused of a myriad of things, quantity over quality being one.

I remember Pastor Buckingham in the earlier days of Moncton’s success, being interviewed on a local TV program.  The interviewer asked the United Church minister what he thought of the growth of the Moncton Wesleyan Church.

His response, “To say that I am perturbed would be putting it

mildly.  All they are interested in over there is numbers.  In our church we believe in raising a quality of people.  As a matter of fact in the 28 years that I have been a minister I have never one time invited as single person to our church.”

Pastor B. refers to himself as clearly arrogant in those days and this reply was like throwing a match on kerosene soaked wood.  He teed off on this casual, complacent cleric.

“There are references to numbers all through the Bible.  My Bible tells me to go out into the highways and byways and compel them to come in that my house may be full.  Why there’s even a book in my Bible named numbers.  As a matter of fact the more proper interpretation according to the Greek is “go into the highways and byways and  bus them in.”

The verbal exchanges continued throughout the program.

The interviewer asked both men about the annual budget of their churches.  At that time the budget at Moncton Wesleyan was 10 times the budget of this other church.  The United minister asked how they could possibly raise that kind of money.

Pastor B replied, “We have a quality of people in our church who believe that God has called them to reach their city and they are willing to go to any lengths or pay any price necessary to reach them for God.”

You gotta’ love it.  You know something, anything that stands between a church and its mission any restrictive tradition any distorted perspective of righteousness any timidity that excuses and justifies itself, is idolatry.  It is an abomination in the eyes of God that will shut down the flow and the power of the Holy Spirit in a given congregation quicker than most anything else that I know of.

Do you know what I want and pray for?  I want God to transform me first and ultimately this fellowship, entirely into a church where I get more “amens” when I talk about grace than I do when I talk about judgment.  If you can’t say “amen” when I tell you that God loves you, don’t say “amen” when I tell that people will stand before God one day and give an account for their deeds while on this planet.  I want people who are more concerned that there are folks drowning in the river than they are about why their choices led them to this peril.  If heaven rejoices when a saved sinner comes home, I want my heart to be sensitive enough to break when we lose one.  I want to pastor a church where people understand the reality of hell but know the certainty of heaven.  I want to be a part of a team where people hit the dirt when the coach calls for a slide.  I want to be willing to lay down a sacrifice with a little ignominious bunt if it means that someone comes home.  That’s what Christ did for me – he laid down the sacrifice and I came home.  That’s what he’s done for every man, woman boy and girl in this sanctuary today.  If that doesn’t make a “haleleujah” rush to your throat and choke it’s way out then may God help us to reconnect our hearts and our heads and become true worshippers in truth and spirit. 

And every once in a while, I want to get the signal from the coach when the bases are loaded, to swing away.  I want to be able to hang in there on the curve balls and belt the ball over the fence to clear the bases.  Every once in a while we hit a grand slam around here.  Jennifer LeBlanc and the VBS sluggers slammed the ball out of the park last summer.  The coach orchestrated a healing service in this church last fall and set me on the bench.  Every once in a while, Murray Thorne still does a victory lap around the bases.

And so God calls us to be “risk-takers”.  Unless we are willing to do what needs to be done without being primarily concerned for our own welfare, we will never be as effective as God would have us to be.

Let’s go back to the bridge.  One very clear lesson that I learned that day is that we have rescue teams that are effective.  Rarely does on person function as effectively as a team of people.  And so it is true in the church.  It takes a team and a workable strategy to pull people out of the river.

Scene 2:           “Shall we gather at the river?”

This scene is set in a lifesaving station at the very edge of the river.  The lifeguards are dressed more like real lifeguards; no ties or dresses. They wear the same lifeguard shirts, but with shorts and sandals. There are life jackets and life preservers on display.  A circular lifebuoy is behind glass in a display case under a sign which says, “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass!” The lifeguards are cheerful and friendly; constantly grinning at each other. Ted, The Head Lifeguard calls the meeting to order.

Ted: Ok everybody; let’s call the meeting to order.  Before we start, I think Tony has some announcements for us.  Tony?

Tony: Thanks Ted. We want to thank all of you who supported last night’s potluck fundraiser. As I’m sure you know, we were raising money for new whistles, and I’m pleased to announce that we not only brought  in enough for top quality whistles, but also for the customized W.W.T.D.O.B  lanyards. (Hold us a whistle on a lanyard)

Everyone claps delightedly. There are a few scattered “oohs and ahs”

Lifeguard 1: Raising a hand.  Uh . . . what is W.W.T.D.O.B?

Tony: With a “how could you not know that?” look on his face.  It stands for “What Would They Do on Baywatch?”

Lifeguard 1: Ah.

Tony: Anyway, make sure you get your new whistle on the way out!  Also, the Mouth to Mouth seminar for the Lifeguard Youth group has been cancelled at the request of several parents. (A couple of teen lifeguards groan. One is elbowed by an adult) And those are all the announcements. (sits down)

Ted: Thank you Tony, now for our first order of business.  Let’s get out your Red Cross Book of Water Safety and turn to page 83.  Today we‘re going to discuss proper toweling techniques.  Remember, toweling techniques can save lives.  So let’s give Helen our undivided attention as she leads us in the toweling drill.

Helen: Thanks, Ted! Alright, everybody! Let’s all hold up our towels.  Hold them nice and high now! Remember folks, if you don’t bring your towels to the meeting, you probably don’t bring them anywhere.  Now let’s all recite the four steps to the dry off.  (rhythmically) Lift - and - fold - and – pat - and - release!  Say it again with me, all together now, Lift - and - fold - and – pat - and - release!  Ok, now find a partner and try it.  Remember, hypothermia is our worst enemy. 

(A variety of people try this in unison, except for one who is messing up the steps. Ted works his way through the crowd correcting techniques. As Ted makes his rounds, Lifeguard 1 notices that there is someone floating down the river)

Lifeguard 2: Hey look, look, there’s someone now, drifting by!!!

(Everyone stops what they are doing and looks at the river and all agree that there is someone who is drifting by. They shake their heads sympathetically as they watch him/her go by)

Ted:  And that folks is why this lifesaving station is so important!  There are people like that everyday who are floating by.  The training we are doing now will someday help others.  Now, let’s get back to work. 

They go back to toweling drill.

Lifeguard 2: But shouldn’t we have done something?  I mean . . . they . .

Ted: (interrupting, with an indulgent smile) Let’s try to stay on task.  OK?  Fine, let’s move on shall we?  We are now going to look at      proper sunscreen application techniques.  Remember, (rhythmically, with pointing hand gestures) “A High UV Burns You and Me!”  Get out your sunscreen!

Lifeguard 2: Hey, there’s another one.  Do you see her?  Right there! We can reach her! Let’s get the buoy! 

She runs towards the lifebuoy behind glass, picks up the little hammer on a chain, and is about to break the glass when Lifeguard 2 throws himself in the way.

Lifeguard 3: Whoa whoa whoa!!!! Hold on there Mister! What do you    think you’re doing?

Lifeguard 2: I’m gonna throw this out to save that woman.

Lifeguard 3: I don’t think so!  This life preserver was donated to us…

Lifeguard 4: Excuse me; I have a question about the lifebuoy.

Ted: (Exasperated that the meeting seems to be spinning out of control.  His grin looks a bit  forced) (Big Sigh)  O . . .K . . . we can take your question, but then we really need to get back to the agenda.

At this point, a person with wet hair and a towel draped over him (probably one of the lifeguards from scene 1) starts to make his way down the river. His lifeguard shirt is hidden by the towel.  As he crosses the front, he makes his way to shore somewhere near the organ, where he collapses, clinging to the organ bench. He should reach this point just as the rope discussion ends.

Lifeguard 4: Well . . . it’s just that I’ve noticed that there isn’t even a rope attached to it.  Isn’t there supposed to be a rope so that we could pull it back in if we throw it to someone?

Treasurer: I already addressed that in last month’s treasurer’s report. To buy that much rope would just be too expensive.  Do you have any idea what rope costs?

Lifeguard 4: It just seems to me that rope should be a pretty important part of our equipment.

Ted: (Again, indulgently. His smile is becoming increasingly forced)  Yes, of course it is.  After all, this is a life saving station. We have rope.  (Holds up a small, frayed piece of cord).  Imagine, us not having rope!

Lifeguard 5: (Noticing the man on the organ bench) Hey look!  Somebody’s washed up on the beach!!!

All lifeguards look over in astonishment.  There are cries of “What?”  “Oh my goodness!!”  “Look at that!!!” etc.

Ted: (He couldn’t be more delighted!!!  He blows a few short blasts on his whistle)  OK everybody!!!!  This is a great opportunity to practice all that we’ve learned.  Let’s go…don’t’ forget your towels!

They run in a mob to the steps by the organ.  The first couple of lifeguards grab the man, none too gently, and pull him up the steps, being very careful not to step off the steps into the river. The rest of the lifeguards bury the man under a mound of towels and he sinks to the ground as they pat him furiously.

Ted: Ok everybody!  That should do it!  Let’s give her some air!

They back off, forming a timid semi-circle around him.  The man shrugs the towel off, revealing his Lifeguard shirt.

Lifeguard 6: Hey!!  She’s a Lifeguard!!!

Rescued Lifeguard: Yeah!  I fell in on the way to the meeting.

Tony: That’s always a danger, isn’t it?

There is a pause as they think about this, nodding to each other. They then converge on the rescued lifeguard again, patting him on the back, shaking his hand, etc., with cries of “Welcome back buddy!”  “Good to have you home!”  Meanwhile, Lifeguard 1 watches the river as people continue to drift by.

Ted: Well!  This has been a great day for the station! (to rescued man)  Let’s get you a dry towel and some sunscreen.  Come on everybody!

Lifeguard 1 stands, looking at the river, as the rest head, chattering happily, toward the exit.  Lifeguard 3 pauses, turns and looks at Lifeguard 1, then at the exit through which the rest have gone.  It is a moment of decision.  He walks back to Lifeguard 1 and watches a couple of people drift by.  They look at each other, and without saying a word, walk back to the Lifesaving Station.  Lifeguard 3 lifts the glass, and Lifeguard 1 removes the buoy.  He picks up a Red Marker and quickly draws two circles on the poster board back of the case.

Lifeguard 2: They’ll never know the difference.

Lifeguard 4: (sadly) Yeah.  (pause) Come on, let’s go find some rope. 

Both exit

2.   We are never more effective than when we are a part of a like-minded, mutually committed team.  God commits his mission to the church not to isolated individuals.

I turned to our fastest runner, Jason and flipped him by car keys.  Jason raced back toward the car to make a 911 call on my cell phone.  I gallantly elected to stay on the bridge to keep Tim talking.  Donnie in runners wear made his way down to the shore.  He wanted to see how quickly the bottom fell away from the river bank.  He was hoping that he might perhaps wade closely enough to risk the swim to him if need be.  I felt that if he released his fragile hold on the buoy, I would come from above and Donnie from the shore and we could get him before he went down.

Meanwhile I turn to see Jason again.  He found Brian Scott coming on to the south end of the bridge and did a mission relay.  Brian was on his way to make the 911 call.  As I turned to see Jason, I noticed a boat being launched up river on the north side.  We tried to get their attention but they were out of hearing range.  Selflessly I suggested that Jason now run up toward the boat launch to try to flag these men down – we needed their boat.  Jason gasped his way toward the boaters.

By now, Master Cpl. LeBlanc is chest deep in the water.  I reminded Donnie that he was nearly 40 years old and that he probably would love to celebrate that birthday and therefore he should wait to see if we had gained the help of the boaters. 

Jason was successful.  The boat was on the way.  The vapor was dense enough that the boaters could not see Tim until they were within a few feet of him.  Between Donnie we served as verbal navigators to guide them closely enough to grab the young man’s collar.  They couldn’t get him out of the water but were able to drag him within Don’s grasp.  We could hear the wail of the emergency vehicles responding and by the time they had him on the shoreline medical personnel had arrived.  When they saw Don shivering in his wet spandex I think they wanted to take him along to the hospital as well.

It was a great run that day, one that I will never forget.

Several weeks later I had my first chance to meet the young man and we had several ensuing appointments at a certain coffee shop in town.  Let me tell you his story.

He was a young man with some mental handicaps that were the result of childhood sickness and medical problems.  He was working with a cleaning company.  He had secured this work through an agency in town that helped people such as Tim to secure employment. 

Some time previous to this event, he began living with a girlfriend.  Some weeks prior to the bridge incident she had taken a liking to another young man who had moved in at first under false pretenses. 

Gradually Tim became the guest in his own apartment and the girl began to love the newcomer.  This was an unbearable situation for Tim.  He had returned home from a night shift that Saturday morning to find his girlfriend striping the apartment and moving out with this other man.  Tim upon his return home was physically threatened and ridiculed. 

Dejected he walked to the river, took off his coat and jumped in.  He told me that the minute he left the bridge he knew he didn’t want to die.  He tried diving under the waters and, holding his breath.  Repeatedly he resurfaced spitting and sputtering.

Something told him that he needed to live and he was able to find the buoy and he clung to it for his very life.

It’s amazing how a lack of love can bring a person to despair.  It’s equally amazing how the love of Christ expressed through his people can raise a persons’ will to live and a cry for help.

3.   When God has a group of people who will sacrifice anything for His blessing, He creates supernatural, extraordinary movement.  The church at it’s best is a movement.  When God is free to move He is impossible to be “managed” humanly.  Our attempts to “manage” what God is doing are most often restrictive.

I was an ordinary teenager, just new to Christ.  We didn’t have a youth leader.  There was probably 10-15 of us in the North Head church in those days.  I prayed and prayed that someone would come along and give leadership to the youth group.  No one came. 

Since then I have realized that awareness of need is many times God’s direction to fill it.  God rarely brings something to someone who is not willing to respond.  What needs do you see around this place?  It takes a lot of people to fill all the gaps.  Finally the answer to my prayers cam in a question that God placed in my mind – a divinely intrusive thought.  “What’s wrong with you?”  I might ask you the same question.  Laura and Matt Palmer are moving to Sussex in just a few short weeks.  They have fulfilled the requirements of their internship and they have done it well.  Laura has been leading the Girls Alive program in the midweek.  She’ll be missed.  Someone needs to step forward.  What’s wrong with you?

I became the leader of our youth group.  I started to preach before I knew how to preach.  I learned the Bible because there was a reason to learn it.  To teach it I had to know it.

I had no idea what I was doing and in the times that I have been least confident God has been most powerful.  I didn’t have any idea how to lead a youth group but I was becoming the youth pastor for the island.  Our youth group became an interdenominational group that met every Wednesday night in a different church somewhere on the island.  In the summers we would gather around a fire on a beach somewhere, often 70 to 100 kids.  I couldn’t play a guitar.  I’d just stand in front of the fire and sing and ask for testimonies.  I was in the middle of a movement of God and didn’t even know it at the time.

It was my senior year and the openness of my faith brought me respect and popularity that had previously escaped me.  I was the captain of the basketball team – they asked me to be the class president.  I told them that I would but that I was unwilling to organize my prom.  This was a normal part of the job.  They elected me president anyway.

The coach started Wednesday evening basketball practices and I went to him to explain that this was a conflict because of the youth group I was leading.  He was unwilling to change the practice schedule and for me the choice was obvious.  I wouldn’t go to practice.  Youth group was far more important.  I was frequently benched after that and fell out of the top ten scorers in our league.  But God was moving and when you find yourself in the middle of a movement like that there’s nothing more important and nothing more exciting.

We scheduled a youth banquet for Christian teens at the same time as the High School prom.  I don’t necessarily advocate that today – things were different then and there.  There were upwards to 300 students between grades 7 and 12 in the Jr. and Sr. High Schools.  Over 200 people showed up at our banquet.  We had a Christian rock group named Dwight and Margie Mullen.  I dropped in on my prom later that evening.  It was dead.  The next morning in school there were posters all over the bulletin boards.  “Jesus Christ has ruined our prom.”

I found myself in the middle of a movement in Jamestown NY – unprecedented blessing in that youth group.  I didn’t know what I was doing then either.

I’m in the middle of a movement of God again – right now – right here.  If I ever preach anywhere else this will be the third movement in my own life.  What an exciting time.

You see.  You can make the way for the King to come but you can’t tell Him what He’s going to do when He arrives.  A true movement of God is unmanageable.  Many people never see it because they are afraid of it.  They can’t accept what they cannot control and so they catch glimpses of God and trickles of blessing.  I want the unmanageable presence of God to make a difference in this place and in our hearts.  I want Him to become more real to us than anything that we can touch with our hands.

When He begins to move He will take his people to places they never imagined and lead them in victory that they could never envision in a million years.

Do you know that God is most hindered by his people, his helpers.  Are you willing to do whatever He asks you to do to honor Him and the sacrifice that He made for you?

The river is raging all around us.  We cannot remain detached from the flow of humanity.  We have to be willing to move with the current in order to reach the lost.  In this place today there are families whose loved ones are playing in the river – perhaps some here.  One day you will be lost in the current that you play in.  Can we let that happen?

Trio enters and moves to piano platform as Pastor Karl finishes. They begin song.

This entire scene is done in silence as they sing. Lifeguard 2 and Lifeguard 4 from scene 2 enter, and come to the edge of the platform. They are carrying the lifebuoy and a rope, which they toss into the aisle. They shout (pantomime) to passing people, and point to the rope. People look at it, but keep on drifting by. Lifeguard 4 walks down to the bottom step and reaches out to people. They’re just out of reach. Lifeguard 2 walks down a couple of steps and links arms with her. It’s still not quite enough. As they do this, Young Lifeguard from scene 1 joins them, and links arms with Lifeguard 2. They grab a passerby, whom they pull onto the platform. The passerby and the young lifeguard move to the center of the platform, where they pull in another, while the other two pull in someone else. Some continue to drift by. Some who are pulled in embrace each other and/or the lifeguards, and exit to choir room.  Others help pull in more people.

More lifeguards trickle down front and join in the work. The rest enter, far upstage and watch, with a variety of expressions on their faces.

As this happens, the river background on the screen is replaced by video and/or stills from our baptismal services.

The rescue effort continues until the song ends. As the song ends, everyone freezes, as Pastor Karl makes his way to the front. When he begins to speak, everyone very quietly exits, still in character, arms around each other, hands on shoulders, etc.

Conclusion: Pastor Karl –

Closing/Invitational Song  -

Open the Eyes of My Heart

(Softer, slower and more contemplative than usual)

Prayer