Jesus, be with me in the Boat!

Advent devotional on Peace - for First Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, 2025 

Peace is not just the absence of conflict or war. It’s a positive thing in and of itself, just as rest is more than the absence of work.  Real peace is a state of heart that is positive, a fullness sometimes described as shalom or flourishing. 

As many of you know, I survived an “active shooter” terrorist attack in March of 2016 in the Ivory Coast. The Sunday before that happened, the sermon was on Jesus calming the storm (Luke 8, Mark 4, Matthew 8). Jesus was asleep in the boat, totally at peace, while the storm was raging. The disciples, on the other hand, thought they were going to drown and woke Jesus up. The takeaway from that sermon was that when we face troubles, we are to pray “Jesus, be with me in the boat!” 

One week after that sermon, I found myself up on top of a wall in a dark room with the sound of crashing ocean waves not 50 yards away and the sound of continual gunfire much closer for 90 minutes. I wish I could say that I was tranquilly sleeping as Jesus did - calm and at peace. But I was not. I remembered that sermon and prayed “Jesus, be with me in the boat”. Sometimes all that you have available in crisis are simple prayers. 

Peace did not come to my heart while I was in that room. For the disciples, peace did not come until AFTER Jesus calmed the waves. In my case, we were rescued by some special forces and eventually found our way back home. The immediate danger was gone but peace did not really return to my heart. I left Ivory Coast a few weeks later and returned to Cameroon. There was an absence of trauma, but I wasn’t really at peace - still on edge for the next month or two. 

If you have never lived in an African city, I don’t think you can know the sense of constant noise that one experiences at all times. Your windows are always open. Trucks and motorcycles going by with horns blaring.  There are animals of all sorts - goats, sheep, dogs, cows, birds. There is always someone off in the distance talking loudly. At night, there is music blaring from night clubs. And then at 4:30 a.m. the mosque across the street gives the call to prayer. 

In June 2016, three months or so after the attack, I moved from Cameroon to a small town in Germany to start my next assignment. I had an overnight flight and arrived mid-morning. I was picked up and driven to a guesthouse and had lunch. Then I lay down for a nap. An hour or so later I woke up suddenly - almost startled by the silence.  “What’s that sound? . . . Absolutely nothing!” 

God used that time in Germany for a fresh start and a time to build peace and refreshment into my heart! I spent a lot of time exploring the beautiful paths and bike trails through forests and green meadows. One evening, I crested the hill on a bike ride at sunset and caught this view. It lines up with this verse that I had discovered.  

In advent, we look forward to the coming of Jesus and the Peace that he brings to our lives and to the world. If you are experiencing a storm, ask Jesus to be with you in the boat and trust him to bring calm to the situation and to your heart in his time, because he delights in you!

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

I found the picture above when I was preparing for an advent service we led for the first week of advent, this year. I used it in the powerpoint and have been wanting to write an advent piece ever since. I find the empty chairs sad and yet hopeful, perhaps evocative of people in exile looking to return. Waiting for someone to come fill them?

I have really been struck this year by the readings in the early part of the advent cycle. Christ's coming is promised in dark and troubled times of exile and oppression.

Oh come, Oh come, Emmanuel, 
And ransom captive Israel, 
That mourns in lonely exile here. 
Until the son of God appears.
Rejoice, rejoice! Emmanuel, 
Shall come to you, O Israel. 

 Isaiah 9: gives hope for victory over oppression and evil in the world:

 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. . . .The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.. . . You have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.

So the advent season starts in a time of Darkness but anticipating coming Light - the everlasting light shining in thy dark streets, O little town of Bethlehem. 

Advent is not unlike the season of Lent and Good Friday where, in darkness, we anticipate the Resurrection on Easter. Both of the seasons parallel our ongoing anticipation for the 2nd coming. (Is there a time in the liturgical year when we look forward to the second coming? If not, why not?)

I think part of the reason "O come, O Come Emmanuel" has resonated so much with me this year has been the rather dark times that are upon us in Mali, where I live. There have been 2 separate kidnapping incidents here in the past few weeks (see news report here), and we have had to call people from that region in to the capital where it is safer. In addition to the terrorism, banditry is on the rise, and there is famine in one area of Mali (details and giving options here).

The advent songs remind me, in a way, of the Negro Spirituals, which were written in a time of oppression and looking forward to hope in the life to come. For them to really ring true, you need to be first experiencing that oppression that so few of us can really imagine. 

I noticed another thing in musing over the Isaiah prophecies and the Christmas carols. Much of the language looks forward to a coming Messiah, but not so much as a personal, individual savior (as Christ is portrayed in Western evangelical circles), but as one bringing justice and banishing evil in the world.  Now we know that when Christ did come, he made it clear that his was not an earthly political kingdom, driving out the Romans.
But he did spend a lot of time talking about the Kingdom of God, which was not JUST for the world to come but also very much for now, in how we live in relation to each other. (cf. Sermon on the Mount)
Jesus comes to bring us life and restoration and justice and healing NOW, at least partially, but also in complete fullness in heaven. There is a tension between living out God's Kingdom in the NOW and waiting for what will not be resolved during this time of NOT YET. Until that day, we are called to love and serve people living in the midst of the NOT YET. (paraphrase of Adam Cox, Kansas City Boiler Room).

There is thus a tension between Jesus coming to be my personal savior (very western and individualistic) and Jesus coming to bring common good and "peace on earth - great joy for all the people". Between a Personal Gospel and a Social Gospel.  I'm reading a book, "Finding our way again: the return of the ancient practices". In it, the author suggests that this is not an either/or dichotomy. The Kingdom of God can be both of this world and the world to come. He says that we normally paint 2 opposing ways to live out the Christian life:
              Contemplative Way                      Activist Way
              Personal Gospel                              Social Gospel
              Seeking Private Piety                      Seeking Common Good
              Heaven-Centered                            Earth-Centered
              Sin-Averse (avoid sin)                     Injustice-averse (avoid injustice) (p.72-75).

Our typical evangelical take is to promote the Contemplative, individual-centered way, but the Christmas passages tend to point us to both sides of things:

"Chains shall he break [Yes, chains of personal sin]
For the slave is our brother.[and chains of real slavery]
And in his name, all oppression shall cease".

Certainly in our popular culture there is an idea that there should be Peace on Earth at least at Christmas time. The social aspect comes into play with soup kitchens were people are warm and eat well at least one day a year. And in sappy movies where we wish it was "Christmas all year round."
I think that people are just resonating with the side of the coming of Christ that seeks the common good, stamping out injustice.

And so in this advent time, 

Look forward in Hope to the Coming of the Christ child 
Look forward in hope to his second coming. 
And live to make his kingdom come, first in your heart, and then in the world around you.