The Gospel According to Gilligan: Sermon Matthew 18:19-20

Prepare our hearts, O God, to accept you Word. Silence in us any voices but your own, so that we may hear your Word and also do it; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship.

The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.

The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed,
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The minnow would be lost, the minnow would be lost.

The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle
With Gilligan
The Skipper too,
The millionaire and his wife,
The movie star
The professor and Mary Ann,
Here on Gilligan’s Isle.

Just to answer the question that might be going on in your mind right now, no, I haven’t lost my mind. School isn’t too tough and I haven’t got too many irons in the fire. And just so you know, you’re not crazy either, that is the theme song to the TV show Gilligan’s Island. This must seem unusual to you, but believe it or not there is a lesson to the learned from this show and it is the same lesson we read about in our Scripture readings this morning. Most of us know Gilligan’s Island, even those of us who are a little young to have seen it in its original broadcast thanks to cable TV and the TV Land channel. The original series aired on CBS for only three seasons from 1964-67, but in that time it became a cultural landmark. Everybody knows about Gilligan’s Island and a lot of people probably sing the theme song. I won’t make you do that. We know the story a couple of old naval buddies are running a charter boat company and 5 people from every walk of life imaginable decide to take a three hour tour. The ship was caught in a storm and wrecked on a deserted island. The hilarity begins. And although comedy was the main aim of the writers, if we look a little deeper we can find a lesson to be taken from this show. This lesson is the importance of togetherness and community especially in times of trouble. So this morning I want to explore the importance of friendship, fellowship, community, and togetherness with our friends on Gilligan’s Isle in the background and I also want to look at how creating and maintaining this relationships can be hard.

Why do we need friends, community, fellowship, togetherness? This seems like a simple enough question, but there are some deep spiritual answers. First, we need other people in our lives. We, as humans, have a deep need to be with other people. One of our deepest fears is being left alone. This need for companionship is divinely ordained. In the creation of humanity, God looked at Adam and said that it was not good for man to be alone and so God created Eve and divinely ordained the relationship between two people. But more than this God said that humans will be together, they will form families, communities, friendships, and fellowships. We have been united together as spouses, friends, and companions from the very beginning. If you look from the beginning throughout the Bible all the stories that have been collected, there are very few instances where a man is completely alone and those instances where due to the person’s mistakes. God wants us to be together, this is why we have the church so that a group of believer’s can come and worship God collectively, not to say that individual worship and time spent with God is not right or important it is, however there is something special that happens when a group of people gather to worship.

Let’s look at our friends in the island. There were 7 people on that island. The survived mainly because they had one other to rely on. They grew to depend on one other not only for survive, but also for comfort. When they had problems they could count on one another, when they were hurt both physically and mentally they had a shoulder to lean on. Gilligan was always the Skipper’s “little buddy”; these 7 people from diverse backgrounds came together because of the need for community. They were stuck on an island with no where else to go and no one else to turn to and so they relied on one another to survive.

Our reading from Ecclesiastes comments on the importance of friendship. One importance is for mental and physical survival. In biblical times and it some cases today it is much safer to travel together than it is to travel alone. One of the first things a personal safety trainer will tell you is not to be alone at night, especially in a strange place. The writer of Ecclesiastes says “And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” We hold on to one another for security’s sake. However, we have relationships for our mental stability as well. We need other people, be it friends, spouses, or family, to tell our dreams to, to share our fears with, and to tell our worries with. We need relationships with people who will listen and gives that shoulder to lean on and sometimes cry on.

We also need community, fellowship, and friendship especially Christian friendship in order to maintain accountability. As Christians we must hold each other accountable and aid each other in our Christian walks. This is not to be done in judgment or in malice nor is it to be done through gossip and behind the back dealings, but in love and in compassion for one another. We are a family in the church, we love together, we grow together, and we support one another. We support each other through our trials and temptations. There is a reason that AA, NA, and other 12 step programs are done in groups. It is done this way because a group offers support to the individual members. Remember a threefold cord is not easily broken. This is why community is so important we support one another we keep each other safe not only physically, but mentally and spiritually as well.

Jesus said in Matthew 18 that when two or more are there his presence will be with them. It is not that Jesus is not with us when we are alone, but there is something special that happens when two or more gather in the name of Christ. When a group of believers get together to worship it is an amazing feeling the Holy Spirit really gets moving in those kinds of situations. We need more of that type of community in the church. The Church almost seems lifeless as if we are just simple going through the motions when we come to church. I feel like that sometimes that is when I need my companions in Christ and the movement of the Holy Spirit to jumpstart me back into life. The Church needs a jumpstart to shock us and move us back into action.

So we see how community is important and we see how these things work together. But how should a community look? Diversity is vital to community. How boring would life be if everyone thought, and acted, and believed, and lived exactly how you did? We would never learn anything from each other, we would never be challenged in our faith and beliefs, and this would be a sad thing indeed. We need to learn for those who believe differently, not reject them. We all have a small piece of the truth; none of us have it all and so we must join together in order to gain new ideas and new perspectives.

There were 7 people on that island and each of them were unique in their one way. The only two who were anything alike was Thurston Howell III and his wife “Lovey” and even they were different. Each person had a unique personality and unique gifts. The group benefited from the diversity. Where one’s gifts and talents ran out another would step in and solve the problem, although they could never get that boat fixed. The same is true for the Church we all have gifts and talents and we all have to work together. Where one lacks another picks up and where one is tired another comes in for support. We don’t all have the same gifts and none of us have all the gifts so we need one another.

As much as diversity is a blessing it can also cause problems. As different people work together there is bound to be friction. Sometimes that friction causes hurt feelings and anger. These feelings can lead to divisions in the Church. One group with one person and another group with the other then the two come out fighting. This can destroy a Church as quickly as a match and gasoline can destroy the building. How can we avoid this? We avoid it by following what Jesus told us. Peter asks Jesus how many times should a church member forgive another 7 times, and Jesus’ response is short and to the point, not 7 times, but 7 times 70. It is not the number that is the point, but it is the meaning behind it, we should forgive each other numerous times. However, many times it takes. This is not saying we do not hold each other accountable, but we always forgive and forget. There has to be love. If there is a person in this room that you don’t love or a person you have a problem with, offer forgiveness, be the first one, no matter who started it, you be the one who finishes it.

I hope you have enjoyed our trip to Gilligan’s Island. I hope that you see the importance of community, friendship, and fellowship. We might not be on a deserted island in the south Pacific, but we are in a world filled with temptation and danger. We need one other now more than ever. Let us reach out as a community and show the people around here how much we love each other. Let us be known by our love. The world will try and break us apart, but we have to stay strong together. Remember what the Bible says and remember the lesson from Gilligan.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.