Central Florida Presbytery PCUSA
  • Home
  • About Us
    • CFP Churches >
      • Brevard County Churches
      • Highlands County Churches
      • Indian River County Churches
      • Lake County Churches
      • Okeechobee County Churches
      • Orange County Churches
      • Osceola County Churches
      • Seminole County Churches
      • Sumter County Churches
      • Volusia County Churches
    • CFP Calendar
    • CFP News >
      • Greeting from the Moderator 1-2023
      • News from EPSC 1-2023
      • PATH 5-Cents Per Meal
      • Greeting from the Moderator 12-2022
      • News from EPSC 12-2022
      • News from EPSC 11-2022
      • In All Things Give Thanks
      • Cuba Partnership Trip Update 11-2022
      • GraceWay Celebrates 40 Years
      • Hurricane Ian Recovery
      • News from EPSC 10-2022
      • Sabbatical Journey
      • Learning About Anti-Racism Work
      • Power as Idolatry
      • Hurricane Ian Cleanup
      • Hurricane Ian FEMA Assistance
      • News from EPSC 9-2022
      • Greeting from the Moderator 9-2022
      • PC(USA) Peacemaker Comes to Central Florida
      • Cuba Partnership Trip Update
      • News from EPSC 8-2022
      • Greeting from the Moderator 8-2022
      • Rules of Discipline Revisions to Presbyteries for Vote
      • Greeting from the Moderator 7-2022
      • Reflections from GA - Juan Carlos Montanez-Gonzalez
      • Reflections from GA - Jody Mask
      • Outreach Foundation Speaker
      • News from AEP 7-2022
      • Bringing Healing and Restoration
      • News from EPSC 6-2022
      • Cuba Transportation Update 6-2022
    • Classifieds
    • CFP Staff
    • Positions Available
  • EQUIP
    • Anti-Racism Committee >
      • Statement on Racial Injustice
      • Anti-Racism Resources
      • Celebrating the Life of Mary McLeod Bethune
      • The Truth Will Make You Free
      • Jesus Wants Us to Rock the Boat
      • Do Not Be Afraid
      • Racial Discrimination...Not So Long Ago
      • Moores' Legacy
      • A Mother's Prayer
      • Bartolome de las Casas
    • COM
    • Sexual Misconduct & Prevention
    • Called to Ministry? >
      • Teaching Elder Ministry Process >
        • Ordination Exams
      • Pre-Inquiry (Entering the Process) >
        • PCUSA Seminaries
      • Inquiry
      • Candidacy
      • Certification of Readiness
    • Resource Center >
      • New to the Stacks
    • EQUIP Curated Resources >
      • Church Leadership
      • Communications
      • Faith Formation-Christian Education >
        • Curriculum - Children
        • Curriculum - Youth
        • Curriculum - Adult
        • Ministry Resources - Children
        • Ministry Resources - Youth
        • Ministry Resources - Adults
        • Teacher Training
      • Mission and Service Resources
      • Worship & Sacraments
  • SERVE
    • PATH
    • Cuba >
      • Cuba Advocacy Request
    • Madagascar Mission Network
  • CONNECT
    • Presbytery Meeting Recaps
    • Book Club
    • VBS 2022
    • Youth Ministries
    • Youth Leaders Connection
    • Youth and Collegiate Coorinator's Blog
    • Montreat M&G
  • TRANSFORM
    • Church Transformation
    • Unchartered Faith Communities >
      • New Church Developments
      • 1001 New Worshipping Communities
      • Fellowship Groups
  • PRAYER ROOM
Picture

JESUS WANTS US TO ROCK THE BOAT
By Rev. Jody Mask, Associate Pastor, Markham Woods Presbyterian and Anti-Racism Committee Member

Picture
“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.
 



Proudly powered by Weebly