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Sermon March 5, 2023
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, MSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
The Second Sunday in Lent, Year A
Women’s History Month Observance
https://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Lent/ALent2_RCL.html
Audio: /documents/Eucharist__March_5__2023
Video: https://youtu.be/krT9bLC2Db4
For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants…. Romans 4:16
A woman I knew used to have a gift shop in Harrisburg. One of the things I really loved were the figurines that portrayed African-Americans. I couldn’t resist and had to buy this one of Harriet Tubman.
I have been enamored of Mrs. Tubman since I was a child. And yes, I wrote about her in the newsletter. Thought I should find another woman to highlight for this Women’s History Sunday, but Harriet Tubman just kept coming to me.
When I was a child of 9 or 10, I remember getting a book about her through Scholastic books. Oh how I loved getting those papers of books to look at and being able to choose some to own. And Runaway Slave: The Story of Harriet Tubman was one of the books I chose. I could hardly imagine how someone could walk to freedom and then go back again and again through all of that danger to lead more and more people to escape to freedom.
I was so happy to stumble upon her final home in Auburn, New York, when I chose to drive a 2-lane road from Ithaca, New York, where I was living at the time, to Fulton, New York to visit my grandparents. The road took me through Auburn and there was a historical marker by the road with a small white house behind the fence that said she had lived there. One time, I finally called the church that owned the property and provided tours and was able to take my children and visit. The man who guided us through the home asked, “Want to go see her grave?” with a twinkle in his eye. Oh, yes, of course. And he took us there.
Now the site is operated by the church and the National Park Service and the cemetery has an amazing map to all of the graves, including Harriet Tubman’s.
So when I saw that the General Convention has asked Diocese to remember Harriet Tubman on or close to the anniversary of her March 10, 1913 death, I had to do something. And you’ve seen the flyer for the events to be held in Columbia, PA on Saturday.
I have been immersed in her life for the past few months. The book, Scenes from the Life of Harriet Tubman has been especially interesting.
I knew Harriet Tubman had great faith. Faith like we heard today referenced today when Abraham trusted God and moved his entire family to a new place. Faith like Paul mentions in his letter to the Romans – everything she did depended upon faith. Faith like that that Nicodemus struggled to understand when Jesus told him he must be born again – born of the spirit… born from above.
Harriet Tubman had amazing faith. She could not read nor write, but heard the voice of God every day. She had visions and dreams where she heard God’s guidance.
Listen to her words and stories:
"I started with this idea in my head, 'Dere's two things I've got a right to, and dese are, Death or Liberty--one or tother I mean to have. No one will take me back alive; I shall fight for my liberty, and when de time has come for me to go, de Lord will let dem kill me." P. 8
And it wasn’t just her own liberty, but
'I have heard their groans and sighs, and seen their tears, and I would give every drop of blood in my veins to free them,' she said. P. 9
At one time, there was a bounty of $12,000 dollars, over $400,000 in today’s money, on her head. How did she not live in fear, knowing how much she was wanted?
She said, "Why, don't I tell you, Missus, t'wan't me, 'twas de Lord! I always tole him, 'I trust to you. I don't know where to go or what to do, but I expect you to lead me,' an' he always did." P. 13
She was an amazing nurse. During the Civil War, she cared for many people, soldiers and those who had escaped slavery alike. She’d work all day taking care of their wounds. Then she’d go home “to her little cabin, and made about fifty pies, a great quantity of ginger-bread, and two casks of root beer. These she would hire some contraband to sell for her through the camps, and thus she would provide her support for another day; for this woman never received pay or pension, and never drew for herself but twenty days' rations during the four years of her labors.” P. 13-14
She was called to nurse soldiers dying of Dysentery because she knew of a local remedy that worked to cure it. She nursed people with smallpox and various fevers. She never caught those diseases. When asked about why she would risk taking care of people with some of these most contagious diseases, she said, “De Lord would take keer of her till her time came, an’ den she was ready to go.” P. 14
According to her friend Thomas Garrett, a Quaker in Chester County, PA, there was a time when she was leading two men to freedom along her usual route. “She said that God told her to stop, which she did; and then asked him what she must do. He told her to leave the road, and turn to the left; she obeyed, and soon came to a small stream of tide water; there was no boat, no bridge; she again inquired of her Guide what she was to do. She was told to go through. It was cold, in the month of March; but having confidence in her Guide, she went in; the water came up to her arm-pits; the men refused to follow till they saw her safe on the opposite shore. They then followed, and if I mistake not, she had soon to wade a second stream; soon after which she came to a cabin of colored people, who took them all in, put them to bed, and dried their clothes, ready to proceed next night on their journey.” P. 17
She learned a few days later that the enslaver of these two men had put up posters with a reward for their capture. God had guided her to a safer path.
Garrett often supplied new shoes to Harriet and those who accompanied her. He had not seen her for three months when she called upon him:
"Harriet, I am glad to see thee! I suppose thee wants a pair of new shoes." Her reply was "I want more than that." I, in jest, said, "I have always been liberal with thee, and wish to be; but I am not rich, and cannot afford to give much." Her reply was: "God tells me you have money for me." I asked her "if God never deceived her?" She said, "No!" "Well! how much does thee want?" After studying a moment, she said: "About twenty-three dollars." I then gave her twenty-four dollars and some odd cents, the net proceeds of five pounds sterling, received through Eliza Wigham, of Scotland, for her. I had given some accounts of Harriet's labor to the Anti-Slavery Society of Edinburgh, of which Eliza Wigham was Secretary. On the reading of my letter, a gentleman present said he would send Harriet four pounds if he knew of any way to get it to her. Eliza Wigham offered to forward it to me for her, and that was the first money ever received by me for her. Some twelve months after, she called on me again, and said that God told her I had some money for her, but not so much as before. I had, a few days previous, received the net proceeds of one pound ten shillings from Europe for her. To say the least, there was something remarkable in these facts, whether clairvoyance, or the divine impression on her mind from the source of all power, I cannot tell; but certain it was she had a guide within herself other than the written word, for she never had any education.” P. 17
Harriet Tubman believed in God. Harriet Tubman had faith in God. She trusted God so deeply and was not afraid of what might come, figuring that then it would just be her time to leave this earth.
May we have a faith like hers. May we find God to be our sure foundation.
Amen
Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman by Sarah Bradford https://amzn.to/3kKakzy
