Slideshow image

 [The following is excerpted from the book, Gather: Getting to the Heart of Going to Church, Copyright © 2021 by M. Hopson Boutot. Click here to download the entire book for free.]  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Sometimes omission can be deadly. One of the most famous tragedies in modern history wouldn’t have happened without it. It was not terrorism, sabotage or foul play that led to the great loss of life when the Titanic sank, but a series of unfortunate omissions. It was not so much what was done, but what was left undone.

Only twenty lifeboats were aboard the Titanic, enough to accommodate little more than half of its passengers. The crew was not sufficiently trained in using the lifeboat launching equipment. A lifeboat drill was given to passengers in first and second class, but not for the 710 passengers in third class. On the evening of April 14, 1912, multiple warnings of ice in the area were ignored by the captain and crew. The binoculars in the crow’s nest were missing, hindering the crew from seeing the iceberg sooner. The first lifeboat was lowered into the water with most of its 65 seats still empty. All but two of the ship’s lifeboats left the sinking ship with empty seats. Many only carried half their maximum capacity. In the end, about 1,500 souls were lost in the sinking of the Titanic. Sometimes omission can be deadly.

In the last chapter we explored why non-attendance could be a sin of commission. Perhaps you’re sufficiently convinced. Perhaps not. Either way, I hope to convince you in this chapter that the greater danger with non-attendance is not what we do, but what we leave undone. In other words, non-attendance is often accompanied by a host of sins of omission.

Join us next week to consider several key omissions that could be associated with non-attendance.