This article is from the EMU News Archive. Current EMU new is available at www.emu.edu/news

Lessons Of The Sea

by Luanne Austin, Daily News-Record

Ripped sails, gale-force winds and a busted propeller have taught Linford and Janet Stutzman to roll with the changes in the wind and sea.

The Harrisonburg couple set sail in June on a 15-month journey that roughly follows the missionary travels of the apostle Paul. The Stutzmans have experienced the unpredictable nature of the Aegean and Mediterranean seas just as the first century apostle did.

"You have to be flexible," said Janet Stutzman. She and her husband flew home for Christmas from Ashkelon, Israel, where they are spending the winter.

This is a sabbatical year for Stutzman, associate professor of culture and mission at Eastern Mennonite Seminary & University, who plans to write two books about the voyage. Janet Stutzman left her job as director of parent-alumni relations at EMU to take the trip.

The book of Acts tells the story of Paul’s missionary journeys, of shipwrecks, storms and being detained by authorities. Paul was always changing his itinerary, said Linford Stutzman, who also teaches in EMU’s Bible and religion department.

"You can get stuck for a day or 10 days," he said. "This is important for missions. We have such control and programs. There’s something to be said for being out of control."

Unpredictable Force

A few days after leaving Volos, Greece, on their boat Sailing Acts, the Stutzmans discovered how strong, powerful and unpredictable the sea could be. On the island of Chios, they asked a fisherman about the weather the next day.

"Don’t go," the fisherman told them. "Strong wind. Stay in Chios one more day."

When the morning dawned clear and calm, the Stutzmans thought the fisherman may have been exaggerating and decided to leave.

An hour after putting up their biggest sails, the gentle morning breeze got stronger, then turned into a wind, then turned into gale-force gusts.

"We put on the working jib, reefed the mainsail, and finally, for hours, went with the strom jib (very small headsail), a deeply reefed mainsail and mizzen, and stayed above 5 knots in waves from 9 to 12 feet," writes Stutzman in their online journal. "After 12 hours, we were very, very happy to be finally tied to the wharf in Samos."

On the Greek islands of Samos, Chios and Lesbos — which are off the coast of Turkey — the Stutzmans were surprised to find that Paul’s one-night stops there at the end of his third missionary journey changed the people’s history and identity.

An Orthodox priest on Chios told Stutzman that "everyone knows Paul" there.

"He is the greatest saint," the priest, "Papa" Tsapelas George said. "All the children on the island learn about him in school."

Many churches on the three islands are named after Paul, although there are few others throughout Greece.

In Turkey, the Stutzmans visited Ephesus and Miletus. It was about this time the main sail began to rip, so they contacted Captain Steve, the man they bought their boat from, and had him order a new sail. Then they sailed back to Lesbos to pick it up.

After a few days back in Turkey, the Stutzmans awoke at 4:50 a.m. on July 23 to spend the day sailing to the Greek island of Limnos, a 64-mile trip to good anchorage. After some early rough winds and waves, the sailing was great, Linford Stutzman writes in his journal.

Around 4:30 that afternoon, Janet Stutzman went down into the cabin and found water covering the floor. Linford Stutzman quickly checked under the center floorboard and found the water was level with the floor. They were sinking.

He got the electric pump going, but it didn’t help, so he began using the manual pump, but that was broken. He began scooping water with buckets.

Eventually, the water stopped coming in and he was able to get the water level down, but could not figure out where it had come from. By that time, Sailing Acts had entered Saint Paul’s Bay, where they planned to spend the night.

Three hours after dropping anchor, after cleaning, mopping and drying everything and putting away tools, the Stutzmans ate dinner in the cockpit, happy to be alive. The next day, Linford Stutzman found how the water had gotten in.

"Paul experienced these kinds of moments a number of times, and somehow this is a great experience in this place as we try to understand him," writes Linford Stutzman in his journal. "I understand a little better why Paul kept mentioning his experiences at sea as demonstrating his commitment, faithfulness and suffering for the sake of the Gospel."

In October, when they docked for the winter at Ashkelon, Israel, a neighbor told Janet Stutzman that people of the sea have a more accepting view of the world.

"The sea does that to you," says Linford Stutzman. "It’s stronger than you. You can reach your goals by adjusting to what it throws at you."

Neither Jew Nor Greek

Another way the Stutzmans have identified with the apostle Paul is by being surrounded by people of the sea, who were pagans, rather than by his own people, the Jews.

"There’s no travel industry in sailing, so you relate to fishermen and sailors, and they aren’t paid to be nice to you," says Linford Stutzman.

The Greek who sold them their boat, Captain Steve, is a "crusty old sailor," says Linford Stutzman.

"At first I wasn’t sure I trusted him, but he’s been our best help," he says. "We know all his friends and relatives now."

The night before the Stutzmans sailed out from Volos, Captain Steve and his wife took them out to dinner, presenting them with a gift, a Greek Orthodox icon of Paul.

Although he was a Jew, Paul identified with the Greeks. He claimed, "to the Greeks I became as a Greek."

"He identified with the pagan world," says Linford Stutzman. "That got him into trouble with the Jewish world."

Paul goes against thousands of years of Jewish history when he embarks on his first missionary journey from Antioch, says Linford Stutzman.

"The whole Bible up to Acts 13 focuses on the beach and the land east of Israel," says Linford Stutzman. "After that, like a hinge, it focuses on the west. The Jews are the land people and the Greeks are the sea people."

Paul wrote that there was no longer any division between Jew and Greek, that believers become transformed into a new creation in Christ, says Stutzman.

Linford Stutzman plans to share all this and more in the books that come out of this adventure. One will be an academic treatment of the voyage and the other will be more like a travelogue.

The Stutzmans flew back to Israel this week to spend the rest of the winter at Ashkelon, just a few miles up the coast from Caeserea, where Paul spent his winters.

They plan to set sail again in April, finishing up their journey in July at Rome.

— article by: Luanne Austin, Daily News-Record; posted January 24, 2005