From Don Dibble

I can still remember Pastor Baker singing this as a solo. As a metaphor for salvation in Jesus, its words carry an important message that remains vitally relevant today.

The Old Ship of Zion

I was drifting away on life’s pitiless sea,
And the angry waves threatened my ruin to be,
When away at my side, there I dimly descried,
A stately old vessel, and loudly I cried:
Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy!
And loudly I cried: Ship ahoy!

’Twas the old ship of Zion, thus sailing along,
All aboard her seemed joyous, I heard their sweet song;
And the captain’s kind ear, ever ready to hear,
Caught my wail of distress, as I cried out in fear:
Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy!
As I cried out in fear: Ship ahoy!

The good captain commanded a boat to be low’red,
And with tender compassion He took me on board;
And I’m happy today, all my sins washed away
In the blood of my Savior, and now I can say:
Bless the Lord! Bless the Lord!
From my soul I can say: Bless the Lord!

O soul, sinking down ’neath sin’s merciless wave,
The strong arm of our captain is mighty to save;
Then trust Him today, no longer delay,
Board the old ship of Zion, and shout on your way:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Shout and sing on your way: Jesus saves!

~ Mary J. Cartwright, 1889.

On a more humorous note….

Did you ever involve yourself in something that when it blew-up in your face, somebody said, “you know, ten years from now we’ll look back and laugh”?

This is one of those kinds of stories. My friend Ed and I were sitting in church one Sunday Morning. Pastor Baker was up there preaching. I suppose we were 12 or 13 yrs old, old enough to be paying attention to the sermon. At some point, I reached over and untied Ed’s shoe. (Now my memory could be going, so in fairness he could have started it, but that’s a discussion for when we were 12.) Anyway, not to be outdone or otherwise to live in a universe that was out-of-balance, he reached over and untied my shoe. There was probably a lull in aggression during which we retied our shoes, but then we’re at it again, only this time we’re tussling in the pew trying to keep the other guy away from our shoe laces.

I’m trying to imagine what Pastor is seeing and thinking, but back then we didn’t have to wait too long. “Now boys!” came the sermon-volume-level address. “I’m up here trying to preach the gospel. Do you think you could save that behavior for outside”?

Wow! O the public scrutiny we felt. We literally did the butt-skootch, sliding as far down in the pew as possible - silly boys. We were so embarrassed and rightfully so. But it’s been over 40 years, so I can now smile about it all.