O God, whose Spirit guides us into all truth and makes us free: Strengthen and sustain us as you did your servant Harriet Ross Tubman. Give us vision and courage to stand against oppression and injustice and all that works against the glorious liberty to which you call all your children; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2022-Church Publishing, p. 131)
Dear friends,
As we enter the season of Lent, we are encouraged to draw nearer to God who creates us, loves us, and gives us strength and hope in this life and for the next. In our fragile humanity, we have God's promise of forgiveness and new life when we draw near to Him.
Lent is also a time for study and prayer, and for living in community with our common prayers and concerns. We will begin Sunday's services with The Great Litany, a prayer that invites us to consider our corporate sin as we chant it together. On Wednesday many of us observed Ash Wednesday, and were marked with the ashes from last year's burned palms...a moving and powerful ritual.
In reflecting on the ashes from Ash Wednesday, Fr. Mike Marsh at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Uvalde TX, challenges us to think about the ashes as a mark of our common humanity; as not simply a personal thing, but rather a reminder that we are all made from the same dust and will return to the same dust. Marsh says: "What if we lived with our shared and common humanity at the forefront of our minds? What if that mark of our connection was the first thing we saw when we looked at another person? What if we acknowledged our shared humanity before we ever said or did anything? I wonder if it would change what we say and do, and how we relate to one another. And what if that is the first challenge of Lent this year? To see our common humanity."
Monday March 10 is the feast day of Harriet Tubman, whose life of service and bravery exemplifies this challenge to see the humanity in each person; even those whom she may have regarded as enemies. Born into slavery in Maryland, she relied on the story of Moses who led the Israelites out of slavery as her guiding light and faith. She escaped at age 24 to Canada and worked with the Quakers, making at least 19 trips back to Maryland to lead over 300 people to freedom. During the Civil War she served as a nurse and a cook caring for both Confederate and Union soldiers and led a raid that freed over 750 slaves. After the war she joined the fight for women's rights, working with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and encouraging African American women in their efforts to found organizations to address equality, work and education.
Fr. Marsh's reminder about Ash Wednesday is a fitting tribute to Harriet Tubman's life and sacrifice: "The ground from which I was taken is the same ground from which you were taken. The dust that I am is the same dust that you are. The mortality that will return me to the dust is the same mortality that will return you to the same dust."
As we live into these days of Lent, may we be strengthened in our conviction to love one another as God loves us...and to live our lives inside and outside the church as witnesses to the truth of our common humanity with all whom God has made.
Lenten blessings,
Nancy+
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