Pastor Hugh's December 2008 Meditation
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JESUS, ANCHOR OF OUR SOUL
It is clear from the recent turn in our economy, that life can seem very chaotic and uncertain at times. When life feels like a storm that tosses us all about, where are we to turn? For people of faith, the answer is “God.” Throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, we find numerous references to the peace, security or comfort promised to those who place their trust in God. Psalm 23 famously records:
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff — they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)
Click on image to see a larger view of St. Paul’s “Christ the Anchor” Window, in a separate window.
In Luke 8, and elsewhere in the Gospels, we find Jesus asleep in a boat in the midst of a violent storm. His disciples cry out to him to help them, for “we are perishing!” they plead. “And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm.” (Luke 8:24, emphasis added.) More than a mere miracle story, this is a promise that faith and trust in Jesus will bring us “calm” from the storms that threaten our lives.
Christians have symbolized this promise in many ways. In the center window in our balcony, we find this promise in the form of an anchor. From the earliest days of the Church, when Christians gathered in
catacombs
for worship, the anchor was used as a symbol of faith. Its shape reminds us of the cross. Its nautical origins reminds us of other nautical symbols used by Christians, such as the fish.
For early Christians the fish sign symbolized the central promise of Christ. In Greek the word fish was ICHTHUS (ΙΧΘΥΣ) which was used by early Christians as an acronym (a word formed by the first letters of other words) for “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” In Greek it reads, Ιησους Χριστος Θεου Υιος Σωτηρ (Iésous Khristos Theou Huios, Sotér).
The anchor, as a symbol for Christians, not only comes from the nautical origins of Jesus’ followers—Peter, Andrew, James and John all starting off as fishermen—but from a passage in Hebrews 6:19 where we read, “[In Jesus] we have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.” The anchor took on more symbolic potency when one of the early Church leaders, Clement of Rome, was martyred by being tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea where he drowned.
Just as an anchor gives a ship stability and security in the midst of a storm, so the anchor symbolizes the stability and security that our Lord promises us in the midst of our life storms. The cross shape in the anchor reminds us that it is through the cross of Jesus that we have eternal security.
No one knows what the future holds. We wish things would always be calm and secure. But we all know that despite our best plans, things happen in an instant that can change life as we know it. Our faith in Jesus doesn’t insulate us from storms, but offers us the security to navigate our way through them. And when we rest in the Lord, we can experience the peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding—and, like Jesus before being awoken, sleep like a baby.
Hugh R. B. Haffenreffer
Pastor
December 2008
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