Loading...Sermon December 4, 2016
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
Please be seated.
I have always been interested in and awed by Harriet Tubman. I believe I first learned about her from a Scholastic book. I must have been 10 years old at the most and I was reading about this woman who escaped from slavery…who defied the authorities (remember I was growing up in the 60s)… who led people to freedom. Such strength and courage, intelligence and ingenuity.
Then in the early 1980s, I lived in Ithaca and my grandparents were still living in Fulton, New York, about 70 miles north and a little east. I found out there was a way to take the 2-lane road straight north until close to Lake Ontario and then take a right and be at their home.
This route passed through Auburn, New York, and eventually I started seeing the historic sign that Harriet Tubman lived there after the Civil War and died there. I kept looking into this story and learned there was the home where she died that was open to the public, but you had to call and make an appointment. I did that and one day with my children in tow, we visited this home at the edge of Auburn. A kind man from the church that Harriet Tubman attended, gave us a tour and showed us the bed where Harriet Tubman died.
He also offered to take us to her grave. I immediately said we’d go. When we got to her grave, I felt like I was on hallowed ground.
Harriet Tubman was a very faithful woman. She had visions, which some attributed to the head injury she suffered as a young woman when a slave master threw an iron at her and hit her in the head. Harriet Tubman saw these dreams and visions as messages from God and was clear that God guided her on every journey she took.
What lured me into the life of Harriet Tubman was hardly being able to imagine how you’d do something so dangerous, taking off through woods and rivers, being guided by the North Star. And doing this all in the effort to free people from the horrors of slavery…all in the effort to liberate people. The courage of someone who stood in God’s truth against the powers and principalities of the world thoroughly captivated me.
As I was thinking about the hope we have at this time of Advent…the hope we always have as followers of Jesus Christ, Harriet Tubman and her life came to mind. That’s because when I think about the hope of Christians in difficult and challenging times, I think about the many millions of Black people enslaved in this country from its independence in 1776 through the end of the Civil War in 1865. The 1860 census lists 3.8 million people who were enslaved at that time.
Over 89 years, nearly 5 generations, people who were enslaved and subject to tremendous horrors and cruelty beyond our imaginations, somehow heard the message of Jesus Christ…heard the message of hope…heard the message of freedom and somehow held on through the brutality of their daily lives.
I mean, the words in the Bible were used by the enslavers to convince them it was right and just and God’s Will that they be enslaved! The message of Jesus Christ was used against them… was used to justify the cruel and ruthless torture and oppression they faced every single day. The Bible was used to justify the selling of their children and breaking up of their families. The Bible was used to justify the punishment unleashed against them. The Bible was used to justify the horrible working conditions and living conditions they faced.
Yet, somehow the true message Jesus Christ, of love, freedom and justice, came through. Somehow midst all of the violent distortion of the Bible, they heard the power of Jesus Christ…that Jesus Christ loved them…that they were created in the image of God…that Jesus did not condone their treatment nor their position as slaves.
That’s how powerful the message of Jesus Christ is. It comes through even though we humans try to distort it! The hope through Jesus Christ came through somehow and the people in such vicious circumstances strove to live their lives to the best of their ability. They strove to care for the next generations. They strove for freedom. They believed God wanted them to be free.
And people who were free, both White and Black, heard God’s call…heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and participated and took action to defy the oppressive authorities and laws created. They committed “crimes” in the name of Jesus Christ who was sent “to proclaim release to the captive and recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free.”
Right here in Newport a Pennsylvania historical marker was dedicated in July of 2015 to commemorate the 1841 event when three men escaping from slavery, were pursued by bounty hunters. One of the men died, but the other two were aided by citizens of Newport to keep moving north to freedom. These citizens of Newport were taken to court in Philadelphia and received a substantial fine for their actions, which actions were against our human laws, but firmly in line with the laws of Jesus Christ.
So today on this Sunday of Advent when we hear about hope… I hope none of us ever has to face or live through the horrors of slavery…I hope none of us ever has to take the actions that Harriet Tubman did to bring God’s Kingdom closer. Yet, I do hope that our followship of Jesus Christ gives us hope and courage to address the violence and oppression of our own times.
Amen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States#Distribution_of_slaves
