Caring for the whole person and soul

“For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.”
Luke 17:21

In the U.S. we have a bit of a time discussing whether the Bible should be taken literally or not.  Of course, the Bible is the revealed Word of God. It is, as Luther said, “the manger in which we find Christ”. Theologian Marcus Borg in his book “Reading the Bible again for the First Time” states: “Being Christian, I will argue, is not believing in the Bible or about believing in Christianity.  Rather, it is about deepening the relationship with the God to whom the Bible points.”

This relationship is something we take literally as we minister to seafarers: a relation among those who are on a ship: A RELATION-SHIP.  So, yes, when we read that “the kingdom of God is among you” in Luke 17:21 we, as port chaplains, literally become a ministry of presence and relation-ship among seafarers for whom the kingdom of heaven may seem like something far away, intangible. We put “skin on God” and channel the incarnated promise of God, Immanuel – which is Jesus – to be among and amidst the seafarer that we serve.

This often means that our first question when we encounter a seafarer is not “What can I get you” but, rather, “How are you”?  This relationship is predicated not on transaction but on relationship – caring for the whole person and soul. Listening, empathizing, being among seafarers as God is among all of us in the kingdom.

“And the Word becoming flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1) which has always been and always will be the way that God comes among us – through flesh and bread and manger and relationships with each other.

Marsh Luther Drege
Pastor und Executive Director, Seafarers International House, New York, USA