Women of Faith

August 16, 2020 Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost The Rev. Mark Pendleton Women of Faith Matthew 15:21-28 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon." But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." He answered, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed instantly. One of the questions I get when I teach confirmation classes is the following: does the Episcopal Church believe in saints? Like the word miracle that we examined last week, a saint has meant different things over the centuries. Small 's' saints can be any Christian baptized in the faith. Capital 'S' Saints have been seen as extra holy and sacrificial, many having gone through some official process to be named and made a saint. The Episcopal Church, not surprisingly, takes a middle path. We see saints as less our protectors to whom we might pray to intercede on our behalf - as in praying to St. Anthony for helping me find where I left my car keys - and more like inspirational and grace-filled people through whom God's light shines brightly. They are the heroes and heroines of the faith. So, we honor the lives of saints for their witness, not feeling the need to pray to them directly: that avenue and access to God through Jesus Christ is wide enough for anything we might hope and desire. One such saintly holy woman we commemorate on July 20 every year is Sojourner Truth. Who was she? Born Isabella Baumfree in 1797 in New York State, she spent the first twenty-eight years of her life as a slave. (Biography taken from Lesser Feasts and Fast 2018) During that time, she was separated first from her siblings and then from her children as they were sold to various slaveholders. In 1826, when her owner refused to honor his promise to emancipate her ahead of New York's abolition of slavery, Sojourner took her infant daughter and, in her words, "walked off, believing that to be all right." She later learned that her young son Peter had been illegally sold by her former master, and was enslaved in Alabama. She filed suit, and in 1828, two years after her escape, she won her case, becoming one of the first black women to ever prevail in an American court over a white man. With slavery abolished in the state, Sojourner moved to New York City as a free woman. Having undergone a religious conversion after her escape, she became involved in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded when white members of St. George's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia would not permit African Americans to worship alongside them as equals. Truth was known to preach and pray and sing with remarkable passion and eloquence. She also worked at a shelter for homeless women, convinced that showing Christ's love required meeting the material needs of the poor and vulnerable. The next decades of her life would prove tumultuous for Sojourner. At approximately forty-six years old, Sojourner heard a call from God, telling her to go and preach the gospel, telling the truth of her experiences as a slave and proclaiming the Christian imperative to support the abolition of slavery. It was at this time that she abandoned the names given to her by her master at birth, taking up for herself the name Sojourner Truth. Sojourner became a traveling preacher, approaching white religious meetings and campgrounds and asking to speak. Captivated by her charismatic presence, her wit, and her wisdom, they found her hard to refuse. She never learned to read or write, but quoted extensive Bible passages from memory in her sermons. Her reputation grew and she became part of the abolitionist and women's rights speakers' network. During a women's rights convention in Ohio, she had listened for hours to clergy attack women's rights and abolition, using the Bible to support their oppressive logic: God had created women to be weak and blacks to be a subservient race. Speaking extemporaneously, she exposed the hypocrisy of the white male ministers, pointing out the ways in which slavery had forced her to become as strong as any man (she was nearly 6 feet tall) and noting that Jesus himself never turned women away or refused to teach them on account of their gender. Until her death, she continued to speak and preach, advocating for the right to vote to be expanded to all women, not only white women. Sojourner died in 1883. One sentence in that life summary might need further qualification: "Jesus himself never turned women away or refused to teach them on account of their gender." As we hear in today's gospel in his encounter with the Canaanite Woman (Matthew 15) at first, Jesus and his disciples were not exactly open and welcoming of this unnamed woman who did not share their Jewish faith. Clearly distraught with worry and anguish for the health of her daughter who she believed was possessed by a demon. The disciples were not very "evolved," shall we say, rather they were creatures of their times. Send her away, they asked Jesus, for she keeps shouting at us. At first, Jesus seems to comply by reminding her that his work was among the children of Israel, not those far off and outside the faith. We live today, still, in my view, a patriarchal society, where even with many advances over the decades men continue to have more power, voice and influence than do women. I say this because I can see elements of this gospel story still being played out in workplaces and families. The disciples wanting the shouting woman to simply go away was not the first nor the last time men try to dismiss woman by saying or implying they are loud, bothersome, hysterical, mad, or emotional. This happens even today, as I suspect most of us know. I'm sure Sojourner Truth was called many names and worse; which makes her life even more remarkable. Look at the way the Canaanite woman moved through this gospel encounter. She approached Jesus with words of respect and honor. They were from different regions and different cultures. She called him 'Lord, Son of David.' More importantly she did not go away. She remained and knelt before Jesus and challenged him to not dismiss her so quickly or easily. This was personal for her. "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table." For many who hear this exchange, quite possibly that is the most biting and challenging remark anyone ever said to Jesus directly. This comment from the Canaanite woman can also reveal another cultural difference between she and Jesus. The dog lovers among know that we can treat our dogs like our own children. We talk to them and feed them quality food. They sleep inside our homes and some cases in our beds. And we know other cultures where dogs are kept outside to guard the house or work in the fields. Behind the persistence of the woman who confronted Jesus was the determination to save and help her daughter. We can relate to how our world changes when things get personal. When we know someone who has died in a war. When we know someone who has cancer. When we know someone who has lost a job or suffered a loss. When I was a newly minted rector at the age of 30 in Connecticut, one of my first challenges came when our Senior Warden wanted our parish to make a statement on whether gays and lesbians were welcomed. This was years before LGBTQ became the preferred way to describe this community. The Warden and his wife had become active in the local PFLAG chapter and they had just recently learned that their youngest daughter was a lesbian. They wanted to know whether their church, where as a baby she was baptized at the font, received communion at the altar and was confirmed by the bishop, would welcome and accept her now. Now that she was living opening the way she felt God had made her and loved her. For me, I did not know that would be the first item on the plate as a very inexperienced rector in 1994. But we held conversations, looked more closely at the Bible verses that far-too-often get cherry-picked and taken out of context, and we voted to be a welcoming congregation for all people. It was not a statement that changed the world by any means. But, taken in the moment, it was way to say: we want your church to care for and about those you care for and love. Your daughter should always feel at home here. Life takes a turn when events get personal. In the life of Sojourner Truth, imagine waking up one morning, free, while knowing your child had just been sold into slavery. A soul-crushing head-spinning development. Imagine the odds she faced to get him back. The mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ - at the heart of the Christian faith - is God getting personal with humanity and all of creation. The great "I AM" walked in our shoes, shed tears, laughed, slept, grew angry at injustice and frustrated at hypocrisy. There are some of us who need to see the personal side of God to believe. The God of creation, the stars and moon and oceans and mountains, is not always enough to break through. So we need saints and heroes to remind us to push forward - to live without fear. That faith is gained through testing and trials, losing and loving. "Woman, great is your faith" said Jesus - finally seeing the power of the person before him. And the healing was instant. Holy women and men inspire us not because they are perfect. They inspire us through their passion and purpose. They refuse to take "no" as the final word. They will not be defined by the limitations or hardships they inherited at their birth and they rise to moments when others fail to. And, most importantly, their light makes our path brighter. On those days when I'm feeling and acting most un-holy and small 's' saint-like -- I admit that there are people I would like to go away. There are people whose viewpoints, motives, methods and goals I do not share. I can almost relate to the disciples who just wanted to keep Jesus on task to do what he was called to do. But just wishing that they go away is not very effective. A better way is to ask ourselves: what do we care enough about to push our way against and through a crowd to achieve? What would lead us to learn, pray and act? What would make us mad enough to want to bring about change? On the day the church honor Sojourner Truth, we pray: O God, whose Spirit guides us into all truth and makes us free: Strengthen and sustain us as you did your servant Sojourner. 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. Amen. 4