Readings for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 9 – Year A)
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday July 5 2020. Worship Program here. (Sermon begins at 34:02)
Happy 4th of July weekend, everybody! I hope you are all staying safe and healthy as we celebrate our nation’s independence. It’s hard for me to imagine a better way to celebrate with you than by gathering safely to pray for one another and for our country, during this challenging time.
On this weekend, we celebrate the great ideas and values upon which our country was founded, especially the idea that all persons are created equal; that all people have been endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Although these words were written by Thomas Jefferson, who was a slave owner and who initially limited these rights to white men, his words have proven to be far more powerful and far-reaching and consequential than even he could have imagined. The musical Hamilton speaks to this when a character says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal / And when I meet Thomas Jefferson, I’m a compel him to include women in the sequel.” Jefferson’s core ideas of equality and liberty helped us to see the intrinsic value and dignity of every human being, an idea that resonates deeply with our Christian values and our baptismal covenant and the fundamental Christian teaching that we are all made in the image of God. Our nation was founded upon this Christian value along with the other core Christian values of justice and hospitality and courage and self-sacrificial love.
Although I have received criticism for it, I continue to display our country’s flag here at the chancel and I display it even more prominently today, not because our country is perfect, not because of a president, not because of partisan politics, but because of the values for which it stands: one nation under God. As Ronald Reagan said, “If we are not a nation under God, then we are a nation gone under.” For me, the flag symbolizes unity in the midst of differences and disagreements (e pluribus unum – out of many one) and the values of liberty and justice for all. These are the values that we are called to uphold as Christians and as Americans. During this time of year, I often say patriotism without criticism has no head, but criticism without patriotism has no heart. True patriotism involves acknowledging the ways in which we have fallen woefully short of our values and ideals. This morning’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans expresses this tension powerfully. Paul finds himself in this bind of knowing the right thing to do, but then continuing to do the wrong thing. He says, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…whenever I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.” (Romans 7:15, 21).
From our nation’s founding, we have expressed the importance of godly virtues and ideals and many brave lives have been put on the line and sacrificed for the sake of the common good. However, while we as a nation strive to pursue what is good, we still ought to follow St. Paul’s example in not denying the evil that has remained close at hand, even from the beginning. Let us not deny that our nation was founded alongside the horrific genocide of Native Americans, who lived on this land long before us. Let us not deny that much of our country’s economy was built on the backs of enslaved African Americans. Let us not deny that white supremacy has been and sadly still is part of our country’s DNA. Let us not deny that there are strong forces at work today in our nation, seeking to divide us rather than unite us. My friends, to deny these evils and our complicity in them (conscious or unconscious) is to deny the reality of sin, which according to St. Paul, is not really an option for Christians. So may we join St. Paul in acknowledging our sinfulness, even our wretchedness and our profound need for Jesus Christ to rescue us from our death-dealing ways; and may we repent.
May we also heed the voices of the prophets, who risk their safety and their lives to expose the sinfulness of the status quo and speak truth to power. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who counted himself among these prophets, explains in this morning’s Gospel how God’s prophetic Word is often revealed to those whom we may be inclined to dismiss, those who are not considered privileged or well-educated or among the elite.
This morning’s psalm or song invites me to reflect with you on a great American prophet who was certainly not privileged and who never even learned how to read or write, but who deserves our attention and admiration this weekend and all year round because God clearly spoke to and through this prophet; and this prophet exemplified most beautifully our highest values.
Let me first say some remarks about this morning’s psalm. Remember that the heart of Morning Prayer is not the Gospel reading but the chanting of the Psalm and this morning, we have the most unique psalm of all, known as the Song of Solomon or the Song of Songs (which is a Hebrew way of saying “the greatest song of all.”) It’s not included in the book of Psalms because it is its own book of the Bible and one that has made Christians a little bit uncomfortable throughout the centuries because of its uninhibited celebration of sexual love. It rarely appears in the lectionary; and many of the Puritans who arrived on the Mayflower 400 years ago and planted the seeds of our nation found this book to be quite scandalous. Throughout history, the erotic language has often been interpreted as an allegory, highlighting the intimate love between God and God’s people and thus subsuming the sensual language in a more spiritual narrative.
The Rev. Dr. Arthur Holder, who preached here a couple years ago at our Celebration of New Ministry, is a scholar of the Song of Songs and he has pointed out to me that the main speaker in the poem is a woman, who seems to understand herself as completely equal to her male lover (which is pretty incredible, considering much of this poem was written about 3,000 years ago). Arthur says, “The woman actually has more lines in the poem than the man does, and she is very much an active partner in their courtship. Some modern interpreters have even speculated that this may be the only Old Testament book written by a woman.”[1] The woman in the poem has been described as “bold,” “outspoken,” “assertive,” and “spirited.” [2] And when she describes herself in verse 5 of chapter 1, she says, “I am black and beautiful.” If you have a Bible at home, I encourage you to take a look at that verse: Song of Solomon 1:5. Many older translations say, “I am black but beautiful” thus revealing the racism sometimes inherent even in biblical translation; but the NRSV says, “I am black and beautiful,” a more accurate translation of the Hebrew, which sh’chora ani v’narah.
This dominant female voice in the Song of Songs and perhaps even the author of Song of Songs brings to mind another bold, beautiful, black woman who considered herself equal to all men; a woman whose feast day our church celebrates later this month on July 20th; that is, Harriet Tubman, a great American prophet who embodied courage, liberty, and self-sacrificial love her entire life. As a young girl enslaved in Eastern Shore Maryland, Harriet placed her body between an abusive slave owner and a black man to protect the black man. As a result, she suffered a serious head injury. Although this injury caused life-long health problems (seizures and hypersomnia), it seemed to have also made her more attuned to the voice of God, a voice that guided her in her escape from slavery. After finding sweet freedom in Philadelphia, Harriet returned to Maryland to liberate dozens of other enslaved peoples, risking her own life and freedom in the process. She became the most famous conductor of the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses organized by black and white abolitionists to liberate enslaved African Americans. Although she never learned how to read or write like her friend and fellow American prophet Frederick Douglass, she clearly knew how to communicate with God. She became known as “Moses,” the prophet and liberator of her people, and she would often sing the black spiritual “Go Down Moses” as a way to communicate secretly with enslaved peoples. White abolitionist and Quaker Thomas Garrett said, “I never met with any person, of any color, who had more confidence in the voice of God…and her faith in a Supreme Power truly was great.”[3] Harriet Tubman served in the Civil War as a cook, nurse, scout, and spy; and was the first woman in the war to lead an army expedition. She became known as “General Tubman” as she guided the raid at Combahee Ferry in South Carolina, which led to the liberation of over 700 enslaved peoples. After the Civil War, Harriet Tubman continued to uphold our great Christian values by becoming active in the women’s suffrage movement and by caring for the poor and elderly until the day she died. Her final words were the words of Jesus, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:3). Today, this bold, beautiful, black woman stands as a great American icon of courage, self-sacrifice, love, liberty, and justice for all.
On this 4th of July weekend, Harriet Tubman’s spirit calls us all to uphold these great American values; and during this time of crisis and division in our country, I imagine Harriet’s spirit offering us all hope and freedom from our to bondage to sin. I imagine her speaking to the weary and broken parts within all of us, saying, in the words of Song of Solomon, “Arise! And come away with me for the time of singing has arrived.” And in the words of Jesus, I hear her say, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I will teach you how to boldly uphold the virtues of courage, liberty, justice and self-sacrificial love for all.” May we heed these words and uphold these values today and in the months to come. Amen.
[1] Arthur Holder, “Yearning for God in the Song of Songs” Sermon preached by the Rev. Dr. Arthur Holder at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, San Rafael, CA on the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, July 9, 2017.
[2] Ariel Bloch and Chana Bloch, The Song of Songs: A New Translation (University of California: Berkeley CA, 1995), 5.
[3] “Thomas Garrett’s Reminiscence of Tubman as Underground Railroad Conductor (1868)” in Kerry Walter, Harriet Tubman: A Life in American History (ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara CA, 2019), 209.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 