Thurs, July 20, 2023
Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Amelia Bloomer
The Rev. anne williamson
Luke 11:5–10
Jesus said to his disciples, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, `Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' And he answers from within, `Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. "So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."
Today’s gospel is an invitation by Jesus to take heart and be persistent. It is the perfect gospel as we commemorate three incredible women: Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Amelia Bloomer. These women were persistent social reformers; they were liberators and prophets. They took to heart Jesus’ message to ask and search and keep knocking on doors in the pursuit of freedom, justice and equity.
Of these three women, Sojourner Truth was the eldest by a generation. She was born enslaved at the end of the 18thcentury and spent the first 28 years of her life being sold from household to household. She was know as ‘Belle’, short for Isabella, and after fleeing with the help of some Quaker friends, landed first in Philadelphia and latterly in New York City. When asked her name, she decided that she would take the name Sojourner Truth, rather than any of the names she had been known by with her various earthly masters as “The only master I have now is God, and His name is Truth.” She was charismatic, witty and wise, and became a travelling preacher. Although Sojourner Truth never learned to read or write , she knew her Bible by heart, and spoke passionately against slavery and for women’s suffrage. She was resolute in believing Jesus’ words, that by searching and asking and knocking on many doors, ultimately the abolition of slavery and women’s suffrage would prevail. Slavery was indeed abolished in her lifetime.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Amelia Bloomer were friends who attended Trinity Episcopal Church in Seneca Falls New York, and they were fierce advocates for the rights of women in the late 19th century. They also lived by the words of Jesus to ask and to search for truth and justice. Both Elizabeth and Amelia were well known for contending knowledgeably and eloquently with (male) clergy over the role of women in the church and in society. They did not live to see the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote but in the words of Elizabeth Cady Stanton “The same Power that brought the slave out of bondage will, in His own good time and way, bring about the emancipation of woman, and make her the equal in power and dominion that she was in the beginning.”
Martin Luther King Jr. once said that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ Change is coming, but it takes time. These three women took the words of Jesus in today’s gospel and applied it to the challenges of their time; they were resolute and undeterred in the face of not seeing all the hoped for results in their lifetimes. In the bending of the arc of the moral universe toward justice, they each made a difference. I wonder how God is calling us to make a difference in the time in which we find ourselves? There is a Taize chant that I love, The Kingdom of God is Justice and Peace, and I offer it to you as you ponder where you are to be asking and searching and what door you are meant to be knocking on:
The kingdom of God is justice and peace
And joy in the Holy Spirit
Come, Lord and open in us the gates of your kingdom.
Blessings on your day. Anne
O God, whose Spirit guides us into all truth and makes us free: Strengthen and sustain us as you did your servants Elizabeth, Amelia, and 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; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.