JESUS WANTS US TO ROCK THE BOAT
By Rev. Jody Mask, Associate Pastor, Markham Woods Presbyterian and Anti-Racism Committee Member
“At what point will Christians who are fed up with racism take more decisive action?”
That sentence is one of the closing thoughts from Jemar Tisby in his book The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism (the May CFP Book Club selection). It personally affects me, because I know I am fed up with racism, but I also know that I don’t like to rock any boats--especially those in which I am floating. But the boat in which I float needs to be rocked, and that is one reason I said “yes” to the invitation to join the Anti-Racism Committee of Central Florida Presbytery.
Internet sources suggest that the idiom “Don’t rock the boat” comes from a 1914 speech containing the sentence “The man who rocks the boat ought to be stoned when he gets back on shore.” The author of that speech is none other than William Jennings Bryan, who ran for President three times, served as Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson, and was the chief prosecutor in the famous Scopes trial. He was also a Presbyterian ruling elder.
Bryan was a social progressive of his day, defending the rights of labor and everyday farmers over the interests of railroads and other corporate behemoths. In these and other ways, folks today would be quick to call him a liberal. But he was also a biblical literalist, and after public service Bryan focused on a weekly Bible class in Miami and fought evolution. So one could argue just as easily that folks today would label him a conservative.
Michael Kazin, a history professor at Georgetown who wrote a biography of Bryan, said he “was the first leader of a major party to argue for permanently expanding the power of the federal government to serve the welfare of ordinary Americans from the working and middle classes.” But Kazin also wrote, “His one great flaw was to support, with a studied lack of reflection, the abusive system of Jim Crow—a view that was shared, until the late 1930s, by nearly every white Democrat.”
Given this reality, I understand how Bryan came to utter that sentence about boat-rocking being deserving of stoning. Isn’t that what most church-goers prefer--not to rock the boat? Even so, Bryan was not timid by any stretch--he simply believed passionately in certain causes, and conveniently left others by the wayside as one accosted by thieves and left for dead.
I know a lot of Presbyterians. I know many who passionately advocate for a myriad of causes, whether such would be labeled progressive or conservative. I know some, like myself, who are cautiously dipping a toe in the waters of anti-racism. But as the title of Presbyterian pastor John Ortberg’s 2001 book states, If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat. And getting out of the comfort of the boat inevitably leads to its rocking.
In the famous gospel story, Peter wants to walk on the water with Jesus, but needs reassurance. He even took a few halting steps. But when the wind whipped up, his faith flagged. Even so, it did not disappear, for it does take a little faith to cry out “Lord, save me!”
So we are called, especially as white people who are otherwise comfortably situated, to leave our places of safety and join Jesus in walking where we would not ordinarily think to walk. Whether or not the William Jennings Bryans of the world insist on our stoning upon our return to the boat, meeting Jesus to stroll the waters of anti-racism is worth it. We will experience times of flagging faith in this work, too. Just remember to cry out “Lord, save me!” And be prepared to be both gently rebuked and encouraged by the One whose power can help us overcome the scourge of racism together.
That sentence is one of the closing thoughts from Jemar Tisby in his book The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism (the May CFP Book Club selection). It personally affects me, because I know I am fed up with racism, but I also know that I don’t like to rock any boats--especially those in which I am floating. But the boat in which I float needs to be rocked, and that is one reason I said “yes” to the invitation to join the Anti-Racism Committee of Central Florida Presbytery.
Internet sources suggest that the idiom “Don’t rock the boat” comes from a 1914 speech containing the sentence “The man who rocks the boat ought to be stoned when he gets back on shore.” The author of that speech is none other than William Jennings Bryan, who ran for President three times, served as Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson, and was the chief prosecutor in the famous Scopes trial. He was also a Presbyterian ruling elder.
Bryan was a social progressive of his day, defending the rights of labor and everyday farmers over the interests of railroads and other corporate behemoths. In these and other ways, folks today would be quick to call him a liberal. But he was also a biblical literalist, and after public service Bryan focused on a weekly Bible class in Miami and fought evolution. So one could argue just as easily that folks today would label him a conservative.
Michael Kazin, a history professor at Georgetown who wrote a biography of Bryan, said he “was the first leader of a major party to argue for permanently expanding the power of the federal government to serve the welfare of ordinary Americans from the working and middle classes.” But Kazin also wrote, “His one great flaw was to support, with a studied lack of reflection, the abusive system of Jim Crow—a view that was shared, until the late 1930s, by nearly every white Democrat.”
Given this reality, I understand how Bryan came to utter that sentence about boat-rocking being deserving of stoning. Isn’t that what most church-goers prefer--not to rock the boat? Even so, Bryan was not timid by any stretch--he simply believed passionately in certain causes, and conveniently left others by the wayside as one accosted by thieves and left for dead.
I know a lot of Presbyterians. I know many who passionately advocate for a myriad of causes, whether such would be labeled progressive or conservative. I know some, like myself, who are cautiously dipping a toe in the waters of anti-racism. But as the title of Presbyterian pastor John Ortberg’s 2001 book states, If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat. And getting out of the comfort of the boat inevitably leads to its rocking.
In the famous gospel story, Peter wants to walk on the water with Jesus, but needs reassurance. He even took a few halting steps. But when the wind whipped up, his faith flagged. Even so, it did not disappear, for it does take a little faith to cry out “Lord, save me!”
So we are called, especially as white people who are otherwise comfortably situated, to leave our places of safety and join Jesus in walking where we would not ordinarily think to walk. Whether or not the William Jennings Bryans of the world insist on our stoning upon our return to the boat, meeting Jesus to stroll the waters of anti-racism is worth it. We will experience times of flagging faith in this work, too. Just remember to cry out “Lord, save me!” And be prepared to be both gently rebuked and encouraged by the One whose power can help us overcome the scourge of racism together.