Nautical Images

One not entirely uncommon image for the church is that she is a ship or a boat. Indeed, precisely that symbol is used as the emblem of the World Council of Churches. Of course, boats vary a lot - so do churches - and a lot can depend on what kind of boat?! I always remember a friend of mine (Michael Jagessar) mentioning at a consultation that one of our mistakes is to think of the church as a tanker - difficult to manoeuvre and slow to turn round - when what we need is a canoe, portable and flexible. On Saturday I was at another consultation when one of the speakers suggested that we might use the ark, made famous by Noah, as an image of the church. There was room for all despite the immense diversity - but perhaps the biggest surprise was that some didn't eat the others!