From Hebrews, chapter
6: “We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.”
In the early Christian
church, before Christianity was legal, persecuted Christians used secret
symbols to communicate their faith to one another. In the catacombs, where they
would meet, there are still symbols that one can make out. Among them is the
anchor.
Anyone who has slept on
board a boat will appreciate that anchors are symbols of safety and security.
It is reassuring to know that your anchor is well-set, so that you will not
drag anchor while you sleep an awake having run aground.
The symbol of the
anchor was particularly meaningful for Greek speakers, because the word ankura
is close to “en kurio”, which means, “In the Lord.” There’s an old
African-American spiritual that goes, “my soul’s been anchored, anchored in the
Lord, in the Lord, in the Lord.”
But how exactly does
one anchor in the Lord? Perhaps it is like Martin Luther’s explanation to the
First Commandment: you shall have no other gods before me. Luther says this
means that “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”
Anchoring in God comes
by learning to love God through hearing God’s word, by praying and sharing our
burdens with God, by learning to see God in our midst, and by trusting God with
all the uncertainties we hold in our hearts.
This is not to say that
it is easy to set an anchor well. Sometimes, you have to try, realize that the
anchor did not set- because you are dragging anchor, pull up the anchor, and
try again. When we find that we are dragging anchor, that we are drifting far
away from that which gives us hope and life, God invites us to anchor again in
his steadfast love and mercy and then rest again in his grace. Amen.
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