The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Canon Durrell Watkins at
the Sunshine Cathedral on
Sunday, March 9, 2008.
Imagine a woman born about 1820 in Maryland. She is born into slavery, the
daughter of slaves. As a child she is severely beaten by her oppressors, and
once even sustains a serious head injury when a cruel overseer lashes out at
her.
Imagine this same woman in 1845 at the young age of 25 deciding that she
will risk her life in search of freedom. Imagine her making it as far as
Pennsylvania, and after learning about the workings of the Underground
Railroad, joining the effort to help slaves escape to Canada.
Now free, imagine this remarkable woman returning to Maryland at great
personal risk to help first her family escape from slavery. At age 31, she
helped her family escape to Canada, which would be her new home for about 6
years. Imagine her not being content to help only herself or her family, but
continuing to help upwards of 300 people escape from bondage to the hope of
freedom.
When the Civil War broke out, imagine this great hero volunteering to serve
in the military as a guide, a nurse, and a spy.
The Civil War concludes. Slavery is over. Does our hero rest on her
accomplishments, content to tell stories of her brave exploits in the past? Of
course not! Now imagine this amazing woman working for women’s suffrage, and
building a home for the aged and indigent. Of course the woman we are
imagining is none other than Harriet Tubman, an American hero and an example
of progressive, positive, practical Christian values.
Harriet Tubman could have accepted her lot in life, but instead, she worked
for her own liberation.
Harriet Tubman could have embraced her emancipation and forgotten about
others who didn’t make it to the Promised Land. Instead, she risked her
safety, her liberty, and her life to help one more person and then one more
and then one more until hundreds of people were able to join her in the
experience of freedom.
Harriet Tubman could have decided that she had already fought the good
fight and turn it over to others in her middle years. Instead, she continued
to fight for freedom as a volunteer in the Civil War.
Once the war was over, Harriet Tubman could have declared victory and
enjoyed a simple retirement; instead, she continued to serve others by
fighting for women’s rights and providing comfort to people in need. Harriet
Tubman joined the eternal cloud of witnesses at her death in 1913. She was
buried with military honors.
Harriet Tubman gave her life to serving others. She didn’t do it for honors
or rewards. She didn’t do it for titles or recognition. She didn’t do it for
social standing or to be remembered in history books. She didn’t do it to
create a legend or a legacy. She did it because as a devout Methodist, she
believed God wanted her to do it. She believed it was her calling to do unto
others as she would have them do unto her. She believed that to whom much is
given, much is required. And even in her most humble circumstances, she
realized she had gifts, and gifts are to be shared.
Harriet Tubman chose to believe in herself, and by living a life committed
to liberty and justice for ALL, she helped others believe in themselves. And
when a person believes in herself or himself, that person is able to discover
the presence of God within herself or himself; and in God’s presence, life is
enriched, ennobled, and enlightened.
Harriet Tubman allowed herself to be the love of God in action; she allowed
herself to share the light with the world because she knew… as a follower of
Jesus and as a believer in the God she encountered in the life of Jesus, she
knew that following Jesus was costly, and it entailed selfless love,
conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege. She knew it,
and she lived it. And there is not one scrap of evidence that she ever
regretted it.
You see, it isn’t the cost of achievement that one regrets. It isn’t what
we tried to do, whether we succeeded or not, that brings us dismay. It is what
we didn’t do that we find so vexing. The price was high, but never too high;
because the price for answering the call to follow Jesus in bringing hope and
liberation to one’s neighbor is high, but never too high. It is just high
enough so that when we pay the price we feel like we got something truly
significant in return.
Harriet Tubman knew what Jesus and his earliest followers knew: you can’t
out give God. The more we give to the cause of liberty for all, the more we
give to the cause of justice for all, the more we give to the cause of
bringing hope and healing to every person, the more we give, the more we
receive. We start to encounter God in our very hearts. We start to see that
our lives have sacred value and that the love we share makes a difference. The
more we give, the more like Jesus we become.
Jesus said, “I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be
shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.” Jesus knew there were predators out
there who thrive on tearing people apart and keeping them down… there are
people who hate or fear their neighbors because of their race or language or
religion or gender identity or sexual orientation. There are haters out
there…in homes and in schools and in Congress and in mayor’s offices and in
pulpits.
But Jesus said, “I’m sending you out…” You have to confront injustice, so
be wise, be careful, be aware, but be about making a difference. It’s not
easy, and it may not pay much. It may not get you an award or your picture in
the paper or your name on a street sign, but when you do what is right… when
you help someone up, when you stand up for equal opportunity, when you speak
up for the disenfranchised, when you speak out against injustice and when you
reach out to the marginalized, then you are rewarded with the feeling of
significance, the feeling of accomplishment, the feeling of knowing that at
least on occasion, you are the light of the world.
When you allow yourself to be the light and love of God in this world, you
are also the voice of God. Spirit is speaking through you and what She is
saying is that God doesn’t have one person to waste. Jesus says to us today:
Behold, I am sending you out… to continue Sharing the Light with the World.
This is the Good News! Amen.