transcript sea sunday 2019 - Mariners Club

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

My name is Father Andrew Dangerfield.

I am a Port Chaplain with the Sailors’ Home and Mission to Seafarers here in Hong Kong.

I have had the privilege of working with seafarers as a chaplain for the past seven years: firstly in Yokohama Japan, then in the Red Sea Port of Aqaba, Jordan and now here in the fragrant harbour that is Hong Kong.

And although I have been a priest for almost thirty years, it is only in these last few working as a Port Chaplain that I have come to truly understand something about which so many of us take for granted.

I had no idea, for example, that over 90% of the goods we buy come to us at some point by ship. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, all the possessions that make up our lives are moved around the world by sea.

A recent government report here in Hong Kong has suggested that if all the ships that come here were to stop today - it would only take 12 days for the shelves in our supermarkets to become empty and only one month before all our electricity would run out.

We rely heavily on the world of international trade and the global movement of goods via the world’s shipping industry. And every one of those ships has a crew of dedicated men and women who spend a large part of their lives at sea so that all the things we want and enjoy - we can have.

Seafarers are for the most part invisible, and over the years I have gained a great respect for these men and women. For their labours, for their courage, and their commitment to earning a living in such a way.

On this day, that we call Sea Sunday, we are given a unique opportunity to stop and pray for seafarers, to honour the work that they do and to thank them for being who they are.

The Gospel reading for our service this morning from Saint Luke’s tenth chapter is a familiar story that we call the Parable of the Good Samaritan. It reminds us that we should always be willing to help people who are in trouble and to respond to those who need our help. It challenges us to go beyond ourselves and to see people as neighbours, even though they may be different to us in some way.

Jesus told this story in answer to a question posed by a lawyer who simply asked him: “who is my neighbour?”

Each and every day as a port chaplain, I try to respond in ways that continually seek to address that same question: “who is my neighbour?”