“Daddy, where do sailors go to church?” asked the young son of curate Revd John Ashley, who consequently turned down a parish appointment to begin a ministry to seafarers in the Bristol Channel. The worldwide Mission to Seafarers (supported on Sea Sunday), owes its existence to Ashley, who doubtless would have found opposition to Ashley’s idea of leaving conventional parish work at the start of his ministry to embark on a previously untried venture supporting outcast sailors. From family, peers and diocesan chiefs who would regard this a risky move at best, a scandalous waste of his time and energy at worst. But his is a Good Samaritan tale of our times, to celebrate.

A talk for The Fourth Sunday after Trinity, Sea Sunday, 10 July 2022.

Find the text to this and all my talks at bit.ly/johndavies-talks.