“Breaking free from the pack-ice of institutionalized Christianity”
Is there anything more beautiful, more inspiring, or more breath taking than a sailing ship cutting through the waters of the high seas? Driven by, and at the same time, at the mercy of an unseen force – the wind. With her sails full and a dedicated crew she can face and conquer the mightiest breakers the wild sea has to offer. It’s no wonder that sailing vessels are often endeared by feminine names or are referred to as “she”, for the burden they bear at sea is akin to the trials of a woman in the throws of childbirth. And in much the same way, occasionally they too, become overtaken by the rolling waves forced upon them by nature and they perish, along with those they were attempting to carry to safety. The surviving crew of such an event often speak of their lost ship in much the same way a child would speak of a mother lost during childhood.
Ah, but if sailing ships had voices their timbers would tell tales of a more horrid fate than being overtaken by a rogue wave in the open ocean. At least, in that terrible death the ship is free and can fight to the very end, and it’s death comes quickly. Like a soldier, a ship would sooner die in the midst of battle than meet its’ end in the moth balls of a slow rot in the dry dock of some obscure shipyard. There is however a more frigid and fearful tale, one that would make the hardiest sailor long for land legs. A fate that can crush the spirit of the most dauntless vessels that have sailed the Seven Seas.
This dark ghost seldom succeeds in capturing its prey but when it does, death is sure, slow, relentless and cold. Creeping up on its victim, it slowly surrounds the vessel forcing it to a complete standstill. Like a boa constrictor, it slides up, surrounds – and slowly squeezes the life out of its’ victim. It is the pack ice of the Polar Seas.
Authentic Christianity has succumbed to a similar fate. The institutionalization of the Church has frozen the vessel in time, in unnatural surroundings and stolen her freedom. She no longer roams the Seven Seas in search of strange lands. Most of the Church now operates like a crew frozen in the tundra – no more sailing, it’s all simply about mere survival now.
This is the story of that situation, and is dedicated to, and includes the stories of those brave souls who have faced reality, willingly admitting that the current vessel is strangled and doomed.
Those who have decided that the Church must venture out in risk, again – or surely die. Those who have gathered the supplies they could carry on their back and decided that He who provided manna long ago will sustain them also. Those who have formed pathetic little search parties, venturing out across the pack ice dragging their pitiful little lifeboats.
Those with the high seas in their heart……those brave souls In Search of Thin Ice.
