Will Willimon, the one time Dean of the Chapel at Duke, tells of a visit he made to the office of a lawyer in his congregation. It was just a drop-in. Will says he did not know the man that well - his wife seemed to bear the church interest for the family. Listen to the story in Will's own words:

It was at the end of the day. I entered the outer office of his law firm. Everyone had left. All was dark, except for a light coming from the inner office. He called to me. Invited me to come back to his office.

"Didn't expect to see you here, preacher," he said in a voice that sounded tired. "Come on in, I was just about to fix myself a drink. Can I interest you in one?"

"Sure," I said, "if it's caffeine free, diet."

He poured out the drinks, offered me a seat, reared himself back in his chair, feet on the disordered desk before him.

"What sort of day have you had?" I asked.

"A typical day," he said, again sounding tired. "Misery."

"Oh, I'm sorry. What was miserable about it?" I asked.

"'My day began with my assisting a couple evict their aging father from his house so they could take everything he has while he's in the nursing home. All legal. Not particularly moral, but legal. Then, by lunchtime I was helping a client evade his workers' insurance payments. It's legal! This afternoon, I have been enabling a woman to ruin her husband's life forever with the sweetest divorce you ever saw. That's my day."

What could I say?

"Which," he continued, "helps explain why I'm in your church on a Sunday morning."

"I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed," I said, "thinking what on earth I have to say in a sermon which might be helpful to you on a Sunday."

"It's not the sermon that I come for, preacher," he said, fixing his gaze upon me. "It's the music. I go a whole week sometimes with nothing beautiful, little good, until Sunday. Sometimes, when that choir sings, it is for me the difference between life and death."

Why are YOU here? You don't have to answer. The fact that you ARE here is enough. You NEED this ship. We all do. Stay in the boat. Because it is here we hear, "Take heart. It is I; don't be afraid."