In the Catholic tradition, it is customary that during the fourth week of Advent the Mass readings come from Saint Luke’s “Infancy Narrative,” where he describes for us all of the events that led up to the Nativity. They are all beautiful and meaningful, but my favorite is “The Announcement of the Birth of Jesus,” more commonly called “The Annunciation.” I am sure you are familiar with it. In that passage, Saint Luke tells us that when the angel Gabriel greeted Mary, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you,” “she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.”

Fra Bartolomeo captures Mary’s hesitancy quite well in his 1497 painting of “The Annunciation,” where Mary stands with her hand raised as if she is trying to distance herself from Gabriel, to keep him away. That reaction doesn’t surprise me. Being addressed by an angel is not an everyday experience, and Mary would certainly have been at least a little disconcerted, perhaps a bit frightened by what was happening. And maybe she was thinking to herself, “Why me? I am just a poor, young woman. I am not rich or powerful, I am not a member of an influential family. It is the successful people that the Lord has filled with his grace. Not people like me. Besides, I haven’t done anything to deserve it. How can I be full of grace? I am nobody special. Why would the Lord want to be with me?” All good questions for a poor young Jewish woman from the small town of Nazareth in Galilee to ask under these unusual circumstances.

But in order to understand just what is taking place, why the angel has addressed her this way, we must look through God’s eyes, not Mary’s. In God’s eyes Mary is special, a young woman meant to play a crucial role in his plan for our salvation. And so, God filled her with his grace, not because of anything she had or had not done, but because of his love for her and all humanity. Through God’s gracious gift Mary is so full of grace that, despite her initial misgivings, she has the courage to say “Yes” to God and bear his Son, Jesus, and set in motion the great and glorious chain of events that lead to our reconciliation with the Father through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of his Son.

I have been thinking more about the Annunciation lately as we approach the celebration of Christmas, the next great step in God’s plan of salvation, when our Lord is born as the babe in the manger, and the many blessings that flow to us from that singular event. And one blessing, in particular, keeps coming back to me: We may not realize it, but God greets each of us every day in the same way that the angel Gabriel greeted Mary. Every day God looks down on us and says, “Hail full of grace, I am with you.” We, all believers, are indeed blessed to be filled with God’s grace, a grace that pours down on us through his Holy Spirit every moment of every day, a priceless gift is freely given to us, not because we have done anything to earn it, but out of God’s great love for us, his children. In that we are truly blessed.

When you receive a gift, the proper etiquette is to say “Thank you” to the gift giver. How do we say “Thank you” to God for the gift of his grace? Mary shows us how. Like her, we must have the courage to say, “May it be done to me according to your word,” knowing that whatever the Lord asks of us, he is with us, and he will strengthen us in whatever work he calls us to do. What a blessing that is, too.

As we approach the great celebration of Christmas, may our hearts and minds be ever more open to the gift of God’s grace. May we use that gift to spread God’s love to all we meet in our ministries, in our families, in all we do, always and everywhere.

May the peace of our Lord be with you all, now and forever. Amen.

A Blessed and Merry Christmas and a Peaceful and Happy New Year to you all.

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“So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

I’m sure you recognize this as the last line from the 13^th Chapter of St. Paul’s 1^st Letter to the Corinthians, the culmination of his message on the overarching role of love in everything we are called to do as Christians. Yes, we must have faith in Jesus. Yes, we must have hope in his promise of eternal life to those who have faith in him. But, we are all noise and no action – Paul says we are like resounding gongs and clashing cymbals – if we do not express our faith and hope through a sincere love for God and for our neighbor. That love is what defines us.

Love is what defines Jesus, too. And nowhere do we see that more than in the days that we are now celebrating. This Easter we again celebrate Jesus’ Paschal sacrifice in which he took our sins upon himself and brought us back into a right relationship with his Father. We remember with joy his glorious Easter resurrection through which death was defeated and life was restored, giving us the hope of eternal life in his presence.

In a world beset by war and disease, famine and storms, poverty and discrimination, it is easy to become frustrated, to feel that we are lost, to forget the Easter message. But that message still rings true: Love never fails. May this Easter be one of joy for you and all your loved ones, and may Christ’s peace be with you this day and always.

I wish you God’s blessings as you continue to serve seafarers and their families.

Deacon Paul Rosenblum

President, NAMMA
Stella Maris Ministry Port Minister, Charleston, SC Stella Maris Ministry Regional Coordinator for North America and the Caribbean

“You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

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“The Father Arthur Lenwood Williams, Jr. Center is hereby named on the 23^rd day of September 2021.” With those words, the Charleston Port and Seafarers’ Society (ChaPSS) officially opened its newest dockside seafarers’ center at the Hugh Leatherman Terminal in Charleston, SC, dedicating it in honor of the society’s Chaplain Emeritus, Fr. Len Williams.

Fr. Len became the ChaPSS Chaplain in 2001, and served the seafarers who called in Charleston for 17 years, retiring in 2018. Since then, Fr. Len has continued to serve as a volunteer, bringing God’s love to all he meets in the port.

Like the other three ChaPSS dockside centers, the new center is easily accessible to crew members who are able to walk from their vessels to the center. There they have access to free WiFi and computer use, free transportation to local shopping areas and other sites, and a chance to enjoy a little time of rest and relaxation off of their vessels. ChaPSS is grateful to the continuing generous support of the South Carolina State Ports Authority for providing the space for the center in the Vessel Operations building on the pier.

The ceremony began with welcoming remarks from Gary Santos, Vice President of the ChAPSS Board of Directors, and Clark Cromwell, ChaPSS Administrator. Fr. Jeff Wallace ChaPSS Chaplain, then offered an opening prayer and read Luke’s Parable of the Good Samaritan. Fr. Jeff commented on how seafarers’ ministry was a great example of Jesus’ words to treat everyone as our neighbor, with mercy and love.

Mr. Jim Newsome, President and CEO of the South Carolina State Ports Authority, expressed his thanks to Fr. Len and all involved in the ministry in the Port of Charleston. He noted the critical job that seafarers and port workers do for the benefit of all of the citizens of South Carolina, and expressed his gratitude that ChaPSS staff and volunteers were there to support the men and women who work in the port.

Deacon Paul Rosenblum, Stella Maris Port Minister for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston and member of the ChaPSS Board of Directors, read the official dedication and naming statement. Following this, Bishop William Skilton, Retired Suffragan Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, anointed Fr. Len, and Fr. Chris Huff, Pastor of St. George’s Episcopal Church, led the crowd with the laying on of hands and blessing of Fr. Len.

In his address at the dedication, Fr. Len told the crowd of his family, friends, and colleagues from the ministry, church, and maritime industry how blessed and thankful he felt for the opportunity to serve as the ChaPSS Chaplain. He remarked that when he was first approached to become the ChaPSS Chaplain he was a bit hesitant, as he knew nothing about chaplaincy in general or seafarers’ ministry in particular. But looking back on his time of service he now views it as the most rewarding activity that he has ever been involved in during his tenure as an Episcopal priest. All those who have had the privilege to work with Fr. Len would agree that knowing and working with him is one of the most rewarding experiences they have had. He has served as a mentor, role model, and friend to the volunteers and staff of ChaPSS, and we are all grateful for his many years of service.

Rev. Curtis Pinckney, longshoreman and Chaplain to the International Longshoreman’s Association in the Port of Charleston, closed the ceremony with a final prayer and blessing for Fr. Len and for all those attending and all those working in the port.

Fr. Len is a long-time member of NAMMA and received a NAMMA Distinguished Service Award in 2019. NAMMA adds its congratulations on the occasion of his being honored by ChaPSS by the naming their new seafarers’ center for him.  

Photo: Charleston Port & Seafarers Society Facebook (Sept 24, 2021)

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Deacon Paul Rosenblum, President, NAMMA

Good morning. It is a great pleasure to see you all today and welcome you to our annual conference. Certainly, I would rather be speaking to you in person, and I’m sure that all of you would rather be gathered in a room somewhere, anywhere really, where we could meet in person, face-to-face, able to share handshakes and hugs and meals, but the virtual world is still the reality for gatherings of all sorts, and our conference is, unfortunately, no exception to that. I hope and pray that this is the last time we need to gather this way for our annual conference. Nevertheless, we are here to enjoy this opportunity to talk and share and learn from our speakers and from each other. And for that I am grateful. Thank you all for being here.

I would like to thank the Program Committee for their work in getting this conference organized and off the ground on rather short notice. When Jason and I had the first meeting with them, we had to determine the logistics for the conference and of course, its theme. And almost immediately the word COVID came up. I can’t remember who said it first, but it was likely in all of our minds. And that makes sense. Everything that we do, in our ministry and indeed in all aspects of our lives, has that word hanging over it. It is inescapable. Sad to say, but it looks like it will continue to be a shadow over us into the foreseeable future. As we talked more about how to approach the subject, we agreed that we wanted to be sure that this was not just a time for all of us to sit around and lament about all of the troubles that the seafarers have faced and will continue to face, and wail and gnash our teeth about all of the difficulties we experience in our efforts to minister to them.

I don’t really need to say this, you all know it to be true: This pandemic and the disturbances it has brought to the maritime industry and our work within it is really fertile ground for lamentations. We could spend all of our time together these two days doing just that, grumbling about how we can no longer have the meaningful fellowship that comes from sharing meals with crew or chatting with them in the van on the way to the mall, fretting about how we cannot pray with so many of them as frequently as we would like to, moaning because the lack of shore leave has adversely affected their well-being, bewailing the policies that shipping companies and government authorities impose that make it difficult to provide the care we would like to give to the seafarers, and, because I am now running out of synonyms for lament, simply regretting the many other disruptions to their lives and ours. But we cannot fall into that trap. It accomplishes nothing. It does no good, to the seafarers or to us, to focus on these disruptions that are really out of our control. That is not to say that we should not be concerned with them. We need to raise our voices to advocate for the welfare of the seafarers. But it can really be self-defeating to focus too much on these issues because we can become distracted by them and fail to do what we can do. I for one, find myself doing that far too often, and have to remind myself that I need to focus on what is under my control, the day-to-day acts that we all do to help the seafarers, that make their lives, and ours, better, one small act of kindness at a time.

And there is much good to talk about there: Gangway visits with goodie bags and gifts, not just at Christmas but every day; shopping trips to Walmart and other stores to buy the supplies the seafarers need when they cannot go themselves; online shopping to help them get needed items; a moment of prayer with the one or two crew members on gangway duty, asking them to pass the prayer on to their shipmates. And now, the essential provision of vaccinations that not only provide physical protection against the virus, but provide emotional relief, even joy, too. All of these and so much more. The mechanics of our ministry may have changed, but the essence of it remains the same.

And so, the theme for the conference: “Leading and Learning through Uncertainty.” A positive approach to the current pandemic disruptions. Looking back on what we have experienced, not just to rehash it, certainly not to lament, but using our experiences to explore and share what we have learned about our ministry that might help us as the pandemic continues, and into that longed-for post-pandemic world. Using the lessons learned to lead us into the future. That is our goal these next two days. I am looking forward to hearing from our speakers and panelists and from all of you.

May Christ’s peace be with you all this day and always. Amen

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At the end of Luke’s Gospel, he describes how Jesus commissions his disciples to go out to the world with the message of the Good News. He gives them the power to perform great miracles: driving out demons, healing the sick, speaking in new tongues, handling venomous serpents, drinking deadly liquids in safety. These would be the signs that Jesus has given the disciples the authority to preach and baptise in his name. And out they went, Luke tells us, performing these great miracles as they spread the Gospel.

We have all received a commission from Jesus, too, the exact same commission that those first disciples received. Now I can’t speak for you, but I’m pretty sure that I have never actually met a demon, let alone performed an exorcism. I haven’t miraculously healed anyone of a disease. I have never spoken in tongues. I have no great love for snakes, certainly not enough to handle the venomous kind, and I think it smart to avoid drinking potentially deadly fluids, at least not to excess, if you catch my drift. So sometimes I wonder, if I can’t do those things that the first disciples did, how good a disciple am I?

Reflecting on this, though, I realise that I am performing miracles. I say this not to boast, not to make myself into something that I am not. I say it because I believe that all of us in this wonderful ministry are miracle workers. They may not be spectacular miracles like the Lord himself and those first disciples did, but they are miracles all the same. Small miracles. That is what seafarers’ ministry is at its very core. It is a ministry of small miracles.

Why do I call it that? Think about what we do every day. Every time we meet and talk with a seafarer in our center or on board their ship, every conversation about their home and family, their work, their life at sea, every time we take the time to listen to them tell us about their joys and sorrows, we perform a miracle of healing by lightening their load, by letting them know someone cares.

Every time we transport seafarers for shopping or medical help or any other need, every time we console and pray with a seafarer who has lost a family member, every time we do anything that shows them that they are people, not just equipment on board their vessels, we perform a miracle of healing by treating them with the dignity they deserve.

Every SIM card we sell and every Wi-Fi connection we provide is an exorcism, driving out the demons of loneliness and disconnection from family and friends that often plague them. Seemingly small gestures, yes, but all small, yet very powerful miracles.

And I believe that this is also true: This flow of small miracles is not a one-way street. The men and women we meet perform miracles for us, too. I think about how often I smile when I am sitting in my office trying to figure out how I am going to get back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth again from Walmart in time to get all of the seafarers back on board their vessels before their shore leave expires, and I hear a seafarer in the next room talking to his family via Skype or FaceTime, not understanding a word of what is being said, but just knowing that there is a feeling of joy on both ends of that call, a feeling of joy in just being able to spend that brief time in conversation with loved ones.

That is a miracle of healing for me that cures me of the worry and anxiousness I am feeling. The greeting at the top of the gangway as if the seafarer and I are old friends even if we have never met before, the invitation to lunch on board, the smile and words of thanks on returning from a shopping trip, these are exorcisms that drive out the demons of frustration and futility that I, and I suspect you, too, sometimes feel. Seemingly small gestures, yes, but small and powerful miracles performed for our sake.

These odd days have certainly altered the way we go about this ministry of small miracles. But we persist as best we can, confident that social distancing and facemasks have no power to stop these small miracles from taking place. This ministry of small miracles is how the Lord has called us to show the world that we are his disciples. May he continue to bless us and strengthen us each and every day. Peace be with you.

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