For most of us this vast expanse of life remains out of sight and out of mind. Yet water covers 71% of the earth’s surface. Another fact that seizes the imagination is the profound depth of the seas. The average depth is 3,800 metres, which compares with the height of the world’s mountains.

Today, as in no other age, there is also the critical importance for the world economy of trade carried out by Sea, more than 95% of world trade is carried by sea. It is said without the sea and shipping one half of the world would starve and the other would freeze, such is our dependence on the sea and shipping for bringing us the goods we rely on for daily living.

For most of us our experience of the sea is limited; a cross channel ferry, stories from a relative who years ago sailed in the navy or worked in fishing, or perhaps a few weeks on a cruise ship. However, even these fleeting experiences contain an appreciation of the vastness and the grandeur of the sea and also its unmanageable ferocity when we read in newspaper reports of whole ships broken up with lives lost.

The Sea in Scripture

Paul Ternant in Leon-Dufour’s Dictionary of Biblical Theology conducts a wonderful survey of the significance of the sea in scripture.

The sea in the bible is a significant image of God’s power, in his creation and its relation to his people that comes under his Lordship.

In the religions of the peoples surrounding Israel the sea or sea gods competed for supremacy in the divine world. For Israel, the sea is one, albeit a powerful one, of God’s creatures. In organising the world, God imposes on the waters limits they were not to pass. It has its place with all the other created elements to praise its Creator.
(Dn 3: 78)

The Israelites were not a seafaring people like some of its neighbours such as the Phoenicians. Exceptions in the book of Kings were Solomon and Josaphat. Perhaps the most famous seafarer in the Old Testament was Jonah, who goes to sea to escape the call of the Lord and wrestle with the plan of God. There he experiences its tumultuous power and the saving power of God to rescue him with an enormous fish, giving him three days to re-think his course and to begin to follow the Lord’s call. The psalms recall how the ferocity and power of the sea can threaten seafarers (Ps 107:23-30) and those who live close to the coast (Gn 7:11, 9:11,15).

It isn’t until the New Testament with Jesus and his fisherman disciples and subsequently Paul who sailed the Mediterranean to preach the gospel that the sea and the adventure of the Kingdom of God become entwined in scripture.

‘You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them’
Ps 89:9The sea in scripture is one of the main symbols of mortal danger (Ps 69:3), not only because of its incredible power but also because its depths were thought to border sheol, the underworld.

Precisely because the sea is an image of death, the bible illustrates the Lordship of God over this creature. At the heart of salvation history is the Exodus, wherein God dries up the Red Sea for his people to escape the slavery of Egypt. At the close of scripture in the final battle of the apocalypse the beasts rise from the watery abyss but the creator whose power to tame the sea from the beginning has the final victory over the forces of the deep.

In the New Testament the forces of the sea meet with the person of Jesus. Jesus, as Son of God shows his power over the elements and all that reminds us of chaos and death. He comes to his disciples walking on the sea, and calms it with his Word, ‘Peace, be still’ (Mk 4:39).

The sea announces the generosity and vastness of God’s beautiful creation. Something he has gratuitously done, most of which escapes our notice. Its power humbles us and particularly those whose lives are entwined with the sea. But the sea also announces the cooperation with God in saving humanity from slavery and ultimately from all the forces of death and sin, every day as this battle continues to be worked until the end of time when the cosmic battle which has already been won, is brought to fulfilment.

The vast seas today still provide a livelihood and workplace for many millions of people; seafarers, fishermen, those on oil and gas rigs and those working on yachts. These people and their families, whose work is amongst the most dangerous in the world are in a particular proximity to God and his creature the sea, their sense of him and their littleness is often more real than for those of us that live isolated from creation.

‘Bless the Lord, seas and rivers’
Dn 3:78This disconnection between us and the ‘People of the Sea’ as Pope John Paul II called them, can often lead to their exploitation and marginalisation. For this the church has established a particular pastoral care that goes beyond what can be provided in parishes. This work is undertaken by the Apostleship of the Sea (AoS), present in nearly 100 countries around the world. Through its network of port chaplains and ship visitors the AoS supports the practical and pastoral welfare of all the ‘People of the Sea’. It is very much involved in the immediate and concrete needs of these often forgotten people; working to ensure labour rights are protected, to ensure fishing conventions are fairly applied, providing practical help for seafarers far from home and loved ones. Pope John Paul II talked about the heart of the work of AoS saying ‘it seeks to support the work of the faithful who are called to witness to their Christian life in this sphere.’ Amongst those who live and work at sea are many Christians, who by their lives and words make Christ present. The Apostleship of the Sea takes care to foster this evangelisation of the maritime world, so that all who are touched by the sea may not be afraid of its power or indeed of any force or injustice, but may hear the voice of Christ, and know His victory of all evil, sin and death.

www.apostleshipofthesea.org.uk