Life and Love and Why?: Titanic

Titanic fever has hit Belfast. Big Style. Every street you go up seems to have some sort of Titanic paraphernalia adorning it. You can't turn on the TV without some mention of the Titanic and the brand new Titanic Building is attracting visitors from throughout the world with tickets sold out for everyday for weeks on end. In some ways it's exciting to see Belfast with such a buzz to it, to see visitors coming to a city which was for many, many dark years considered by the outside world as a war zone. In other ways it becomes somewhat tedious to listen to report after report on the TV or walk past yet another exhibition concerning a ship which ultimately met such a tragic end. In many regards it's hard to get your head around why the people of my city are so proud of a ship that ultimately sunk.

However, whether you love or loath the Titanic it has opened up some great evangelistic opportunities. In the shop in which I work it has been wonderful to watch people with no faith, see a book on the Titanic and come in and purchase it simply because there has been such an interest in the ship. Many of these books focus on the life of one Titanic passenger, John Harper. Born in 1872 in Scotland Harper became pastor of a church in Glasgow following his conversion a ministry which saw significant blessing manifested in significant growth. At the age of 31 he married but 2 years later was widowed when his wife died during the birth of their daughter Nana. He was on the Titanic on the 15th April 1912, making his way to a new pastoral charge in Chicago. As the ship began sinking and the carnage unfolded John ensured that his daughter was safely on one of the lifeboats and then went about telling people of Christ as eternity became an imminent reality for so many. We know of at least one man who came to Christ on that night because of the faith of one man.

Such an incident made me think about a number of things but mostly about how much we love people and want them to be saved. If we were in such a crisis as this how would we use our last moments, fearful and devastated about what we had 'lost' in this life or so passionate about seeing people won for Christ that we give our all to witness for him?

To find out more about this incident and others, the following useful resources have been published in this centenary year:

For children: