An Ocean Story

‘An Ocean Story’
The Very Revd Nicholas Papadopulos, Dean of Salisbury

Sunday 20 April 2025

Isaiah 43: 1–21
1 Corinthians 15: 1–11

‘Do not fear…when you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you’

Once upon a time there was an ocean.  It was so deep that its depths had never been sounded.  It was so broad that its expanse had never been charted.  It was so massive that its scale had never been comprehended.  It had no beginning, and it had no ending.  At its farthest reaches its waves never stopped pushing it farther still, and they lapped against the rocks of eternity.

This is the story of three of those waves.

The first wave looked back at the ocean behind it.  And it smiled.  ‘Ah‘ it thought ‘my old friend the ocean.  Made of the same stuff as me.  How  it adores me!  Soon I shall reach the shore, and then the ocean will come and sit beside me, moulding itself to my shape’.  And with that the first wave broke upon the rocks of eternity and returned to the ocean from which it had come.  And as it did so it wept salty tears, for it had never expected to be broken.

The second wave did not look back at the ocean behind it.  And it reared up, scattering spray to the left and to the right, resplendent, joyful and exuberant.  ‘Look at me’ it shouted ‘I’m so powerful; I’m so beautiful.  I’m so free!‘  And with that the second wave broke upon the rocks of eternity and returned to the ocean from which it had come.  And as it did so all it could see was something it had never noticed; something it did not recognize; something it could not understand.

The third wave looked back at the ocean behind it.  And it trembled.  ‘What is that?’  it wondered, ‘so deep, so broad, so massive.  Why is it following me?  Why is it pursuing me?  It’s huge!  It’s fierce!  It’s going to swallow me!  I must flee!‘  And with that the third wave rushed for the rocks of eternity.  It broke upon them and returned to the ocean from which it had come.  And as it did so all it could see were the cold clutches of a fearsome foe.

The first wave misunderstood the ocean.  It looked back and saw an old friend.  It expected to rest upon the shore; it believed that the ocean would do its bidding; it hoped that the ocean would curl up at its feet.  But ‘Do not fear’ says the Lord, ‘Besides me there is no saviour…I declared and saved and proclaimed… I am God’.

The second wave never considered the ocean.  It did not look back.  It was so entranced by its own wondrousness that it never acknowledged that from which it came and with which it was one.  But ‘Do not fear’ says the Lord, ‘he who created you… he who formed you’.

The third wave feared the ocean.  Like the first, it looked back.  And it fled.  It saw only an enemy, pursuing it, hounding it, persecuting it.  But ‘Do not fear’ says the Lord, ‘… you are precious in my sight, and honoured, and I love you’.

You are a wave in the ocean of God.  As a wave is made in the image and likeness of the ocean so are you made in the image and likeness of God.  You have come from God, and you will return to God.

This is Easter Day. Christ’s resurrection has conquered death itself; through Christ’s resurrection all human life is changed; in Christ’s resurrection Christ knows you by name.  So you cannot command God.  You cannot separate yourself from God.  And you have no need to fear God.

For you are a wave in the ocean of God.  You have only to learn to be what you already are.

Amen.