Faces of Faith: Harriet Tubman – Our American Moses Preached by Rev. David Tinney on Mother’s Day, May 13, 2007 Text: Exodus 3:1-12 Theme: Throughout time God called strange and seemingly unqualified people to accomplish amazingly large tasks. The secret of their success was total trust and constant prayer. Motherhood is not one of those jobs tied to a time clock. In fact it is a responsibility that defies time. For all of you mothers here with grown children, isn’t it true that even when the kids are out of the house and on their own raising their own families it seems that you are still caring, worrying, fretting, praying and protecting their loved ones. Motherhood is a lifelong commitment. Let me share with you a true story of a mother who even in her later years of life was still protecting her son. A few years after Former president Jimmy Carter left office a woman reporter from Washington D. C. came to Plains, Georgia, to interview his mother Lillian Carter in relation to an article about Mr. Carter and his family. His mother really didn't want to be interviewed, but was being gracious. So when the reporter knocked at her door, Mrs. Carter invited her in. The reporter asked some hard questions and actually was rather aggressive, insensitive, pushy, and rude. “I want to ask you a question,” she said. “Your son ran for the presidency on the premise that he would always tell the truth. Has he ever lied?” Mrs. Carter said, “I think he's truthful; I think you can depend on his word.” The reporter again asked if he had ever lied in his entire life. His mother said, “Well, I guess maybe he's told a little white lie.” “Ah, see there!” the reporter exclaimed. “He's lied! If he told a white lie, he has lied.” The reporter was still not satisfied and asked, “What is a white lie?” To which Lillian Carter, now being the protective and wise mother said, “It's like a moment ago when you knocked on the door and I went to the door and said I was glad to see you.” As I said last week, I am doing a short sermon series entitled “Faces of Faith” in which I am looking at some great people of history who felt called by God for the purpose of changing the world – or at least their small corner of it. About the time that I was designing this series I read an article about Harriet Tubman and I was captivated by her story. She was definitely one of those unlikely heroes that God raises up and then fills with just the right gifts and graces to accomplish tasks that seem impossible. Now even though Harriet Tubman was not a mother, she cared like a mother for hundreds of slaves and risked her life repeatedly for those in her care. She was a great woman of courage, conviction, prayer, and faith and her story needs to be told over and over again to inspire us as we face challenges in our lives. Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1819, in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her given name was Araminta Ross but later she changed it to Harriet to sound more Christian. She was of pure African ancestry and was often described as not have a drop of white blood within her.1 When she was six years old she was taken from her mother and sold to a man ten miles away to learn the trade of weaving. She did not pick up the skills easily so her new owner put her in the swamps watching over his muskrat trap line. The cold, damp conditions were terrible for her health and she was constantly sick. Her owner grew tired of her low productivity so when she was eleven or twelve he hired her out to a neighbor as a field hand. She had to do the same work as some of the men lifting bales, tilling the grown, and doing hard labor. She hated her work and the treatment she received. Even though most people thought Harriet was slow and dimwitted they saw a spark within her that could not be beaten out. She cared for others and was willing to stand up against her mean-spirited bosses when they were unjust. When she was twelve years old one of her overseers got mad at a fellow slave. The boss told Harriet to tie the slave up so he could whip him and set an example for the others. Harriet refused. In fact Harriet blocked the boss from chasing after him and so the man grabbed a two pound weight to throw at the slave and ended up hitting Harriet in the side of the head with it. It took a long time for Harriet to recover from the blow and not only would she carry the mark for the rest of her life but she would forever suffer headaches, time of lethargy, and sleep problems. She was moved from the fields and sold to another master to be a nursemaid. She was treated no better than in the past, in fact on her first day in the new house she was beaten with a whip across her face to remind her who was in charge and that if she ever thought about escaping she would get worse. Because of her narcolepsy (falling asleep at strange times) she could not even be a nursemaid and she was moved back to the fields doing hard manual labor. When she was 25 years old she married John Tubman, a free African slave. Even though he was freed she still remained the property of a landowner who was going through tough times and was planning on selling off many of his slaves. Harriet and her two brothers, who were on this farm, heard they were part of the group to be sold and that they would be going further south. That was when she decided to make her escape to the promised land of Canada. She convinced her brothers to come but not her husband and the three left one night guided by stars and prayer. After the second day her brothers were overcome with fear and turned back, but Harriet continued on alone, without money, food, friends, or directions. She walked by night and hid by day and put all of her trust in God. She later said that God put the right people in front of her. After many nights of dangerous travel she realized she passed the magic line that divided the land of bondage from the land of freedom. She was later quoted as saying, “I looked at my hands,” she said, “to see if I was de same person now I was free. Dere was such a glory ober eberything, de sun came like gold trou de trees, and ober de fields, and I felt like I was in heaven.”2 But then came the bitter drop in the cup of joy. She was alone, and her kindred were in slavery, and not one of them had the courage to dare what she had dared. Unless she made the effort to liberate them she would never see them more, or even know their fate. “So it was wid me,” said Harriet, “I had crossed de line of which I had so long been dreaming. I was free; but dere was no one to welcome me to de land of freedom, I was a stranger in a strange land. But to dis solemn resolution I came; I was free, and dey should be free also; I would make a home for dem in de North, and de Lord helping me, I would bring dem all dere. Oh, how I prayed den, lying all alone on de cold, damp ground; 'Oh, dear Lord,' I said, 'I haint got no friend but _you_. Come to my help, Lord, for I'm in trouble!'”3 Have you ever felt all alone in the world? Have you ever felt like you “haint got no friends?” This was the turning point in her life where she began to walk and trust in God. The stories of Moses and the Israelites that she had heard told by the elder slaves now became her stories. She believed that God had heard her people crying in pain and suffering and that she had been sent to rescue them. She became known as the “Moses of her people” because of her efforts over the next few years to liberate as many as possible from slavery. With the help of the Underground Railroad she made 19 trips into the south and helped at least 300 slaves to freedom. At one point she had a $40,000 bounty on her head for her capture dead or alive. She was also known as the “Old Chariot,” a coded reference that could be passed along in song to let slaves know that she was in the area. Because slaves could not congregate a song like “Good news, the Chariot’s a coming” could be sung as slaves were going about their business and would alert any that were thinking about escaping that Harriet was in the area. Every time Harriet went south for another rescue she put her life in danger. Her picture was posted everywhere so she became the master of disguises. She learned how to hide from hay stacks, eat the food meant for pigs and hogs, drug babies so they wouldn’t cry when bounty hunters were close by, and learned how to confuse the best tracking dogs. She was proud of the fact that she never lost a single passenger in her underground train. Harriet was fearless. She believed with all of her heart that God was always going to provide and protect so she put aside all personal worries and went about doing God’s work. When she told her life’s story in the years following these rescues, she would say that she prayed unceasingly. She was always talking with God and God was always answering. There were many times when it looked as though her luck had run out and there were no options of escape and she would just ask God for a miracle and an opening was always created. She would tell those who were traveling with her to place their trust in God and God would lead with a “pillar of cloud in the day and a fire at night.” When that didn’t convince them to trust, she would pull out her pistol and say, “You will be free or you will die.” That usually got their attention and their trust. Her heroics went beyond rescuing slaves in the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War she served as a nurse and a spy, penetrating enemy lines and learning about the movements of troops and the plans of Confederacy. When the war was over and all the soldiers received their rewards and medals, she received nothing. She did her work without remuneration. She died at the age of 91, still illiterate, still scarred by the beatings of her youth, still suffering from the injury to her brain, and still filled with passion and purpose. She was able to secure some property in Auburn, NY which she used to help former slaves find a new start in life. She cared for her people until the very end and she was faithful to God throughout her life. When I read about someone like Harriet I have to chuckle to myself about God’s wisdom and humankind’s foolishness. God lifted up a woman who was so dimwitted she could not learn to weave or do common household tasks and gifted her with a cunning that was able to outwit even the best of slave hunters and the wealthiest of slave owners. God called a woman who was small, deformed, and infirm to lead where even the strongest and largest men were afraid to go. God inspired the lowest of the low to take on the major powers of the day and prevail. I think to myself what could God do in our lives if we trusted as much as Harriet did? How would we view the challenges that each of us face in our lives if we had the faith of the “Old Chariot?” Would we be bolder in our responses? Would we take on the social justice issues that seem impossible to change? Would we stop worrying about life and start acting? Would we listen more to where God was calling us and trust that God will provide all we need for the journey no matter how dangerous and difficult it may become? Would we dare to embrace our calls to ministry? Would we dare claim the gifts that each of us have been given and lift them up to further God’s kingdom? Would we dare step out saying “Here I am Lord, use me?” The Harriets of history inspire me and give me hope that God is not done with us and is still sending Moseses to rescue us from our various forms of slavery. Perhaps God is calling you right now to just such a journey. 1 Sarah H. Bradford, “Harriet, the Moses of her People,” Project Gutenberg, Feb. 6, 2006, http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/8htub10.txt 2 Ibid 3 Ibid --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ Faces of Faith: Harriet Tubman Page 1