August 27,2023
"History from below"
Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch
August 28, 2023
By show of hands… How many of you have heard of the name Claudette Colvin?
In 1955, Claudette Colvin was a 15 year old high school student in Montgomery Alabama. She relied on the city's buses to get to and from school because her family did not own a car.
The majority of customers on the bus system were African American, but they were discriminated against and as I am sure you know, in the segregated Jim Crow South, people with dark skin were forced to sit in the “colored section” of the bus. If the bus became so crowded that all the "white seats" in the front of the bus were filled until white people were standing, any African Americans were supposed to get up from nearby seats to make room for whites, move further to the back, and stand in the aisle if there were no free seats in that section. Claudette Colvin was a member of the NAACP Youth Council at her Highschool and had been learning about the civil rights movement happening.
On March 2, 1955, she was returning home from school. She got on the bus and sat in the colored section.
When a white woman who got on the bus was left standing in the front, the bus driver commanded Colvin and three other black women in her row to move to the back. The other three moved, but then another black woman, Ruth Hamilton, who was pregnant, got on and sat next to Colvin.
The driver looked at the women in his mirror. And as Claudette Colvin remembers:
”He asked us both to get up. [Mrs. Hamilton] said she was not going to get up and that she had paid her fare and that she didn't feel like standing, So I told him I was not going to get up either. So he said, 'If you are not going to get up, I will get a policeman.'"
The police arrived and convinced a black man sitting behind the two women to move so that Mrs. Hamilton could move back, but Claudette Colvin still refused to move. She was forcibly removed from the bus and arrested by the two policemen.
It is probably a familiar story to you. We know it of course because of Rosa Parks, a woman who would become a hero and an icon for doing the exact same thing, but 15 year old Claudette Colvin was arrested for sitting-in on the bus 9 months before Rosa Parks, in fact she was the first person to be arrested; and Rosa Parks herself has said that Claudette Colvin’s story inspired her own action.
So why then has Rosa Parks been elevated to an icon in our society and so many of us don’t know about Claudette Colvin?
Because at the time the NAACP made the decision to highlight Rosa Park’s story and keep Claudette’s Story quiet. The leaders of the civil rights movement thought it best to share the stories of protesters with the broadest appeal, especially those who had potential appeal to the white population of the south. And because Claudette had darker skin than Rosa, because she was just a teenager, and because she became pregnant, the NAACP chose to not promote Claudette as the civil rights icon she is, and instead when we think of Bus Protest in Civil Rights Era Alabama, only one name comes to mind.
Now I’m not bringing up Claudette Colvin to diminish Rosa Parks who is an amazing hero of history, who sacrificed so much for equality and a more just society, but I do think Claudette Colvin’s story illustrates something flawed in how we understand history. You see, history is not just the facts of the past, it’s a set of stories that we choose to tell about the past.
You can’t tell all of the stories. You can’t create a complete, high resolution record of everything that has ever happened. So, there is a lot of selection that goes on in history about what stories get told.
And this is part of the problem we have. Because when we tell the stories of history we look for heroes. People who are enigmatic and exceptional. But the trouble with this telling of history is that it paints the picture that our world is only shaped by a few select individuals. That all of life is a clash between heroes and villains and that if you are not one of them, you don’t matter, you can’t make a difference, you can’t shape your world for the better. This telling of history is not only flawed, it is a lie we have chosen to accept without ever thinking about it.
The reality is no individual is responsible for all the bad in the world or all the good in the world. Our world is the product of billions of small actions made by billions of individuals. Our world is shaped collectively. And while we can’t tell every story in history, we can choose to give voice not just to the heroes or the those with resources and power, but also tell the stories of those who are often silenced or pushed to the margins, we can give voice to those who’s stories are often voiceless.
Which is why I love these two stories from Exodus and why I chose to include both of these long readings today. Shiphrah and Puah, Miriam, and Moses’ mom are not people you’d expect to hear from in the history books. These women are not elite rulers, in fact they are about as far to the margins as is possible.
They are Hebrew in an Egyptian society, so not only working class but slave class. People who are seen as property, forced to labor, and seen as less than in every sense of the word. And they are women who throughout history have not often been written about in the history books, and not only that but have been treated as less than, oppressed because of their biological sex.
Yet, in this story, We hear the names of these Hebrew midwives… Shiphrah and Puah. We hear the name of this Hebrew slave daughter… Miriam. These women on the margins names and stories are told and the other characters in the story. The folks whom the history books would choose to tell their stories and tell their names, go unnamed in this story… Pharaoh, the king of Egypt who is considered a human God, no name. Pharaoh’s daughter, this woman who was the elite of elites, a person of complete privilege and power, also unnamed.
It is not their stories that matter, instead it is Shiprah, Puah, and Miriam whose defiant actions in the face of power, corruption, and great evil make history. It is the people who shouldn’t matter who do and these marginalized oppressed enslaved people who wind up shepherding in a new era of freedom for their people.
People of God… We know the names of the great and powerful and iconic individuals who have come before us, but God invites us to remember the names and stories of the people whom history has overlooked, so say it with me…
Shiphrah.
Puah.
Miraim.
Claudette Colvin.
Know their names,
Choose to tell their stories.
Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: We gather as the body of Christ.
All: We are many individuals, some serving quietly behind the scenes
Some take a lead at the front but together, we are one.
One: Each of us has our own gifts, our own calling, our own role,
All: but God uses all of us together, to shape our world, and make a difference.
One: Let us worship God.
*HYMN Psalm 123 MORNING SONG
I lift my eyes to You, O Lord,
Your throne, earth's canopy; As masters hold their servants dear, So, Lord, remember me.
More like a child than bonded slave, I claim Your grace outright; The proud shall fall, but yet the meek Find favor in Your sight.
Your boundless mercies, Lord, outweigh
The scorn we must endure; While foes shall fade in their contempt, Your love will long endure.
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Rebekah Gayley
Almighty God, When faced with earthly powers that seem overwhelming, we crumble in fear. We fear so much in this world. We fear losing our status, our stability, our station. But fear is never a good way to live life, and its certainly not your way. Forgive our short-comings and teach us to trust in you when we take a risk for what we know is right. In the silence, hear our prayers as we confess our fears, and seek to trust in your way of love...
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*RESPONSE OF PRAISE 582 “Glory to God, Whose Goodness Shines on Me” GLORY TO GOD (Vasile)
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
SPECIAL MUSIC “Mothering God” Tom Trenney Skye Johnson, soloist
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
One: Show us your ways, O Lord!
Lead us in your truth, and teach us.
All: Open our eyes, minds, and hearts
to know your will and to follow it.
One: Reveal your vision for us,
and keep us focused and faithful to what you would have us do.
All: Bring us together to worship and work for your purpose,
and move us forward into your future. Amen.
SCRIPTURE: Exodus 1:8-21
Now a new king came to power in Egypt who didn’t know Joseph. He said to his people, “The Israelite people are now larger in number and stronger than we are. Come on, let’s be smart and deal with them. Otherwise, they will only grow in number. And if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and then escape from the land.” As a result, the Egyptians put foremen of forced work gangs over the Israelites to harass them with hard work. They had to build storage cities named Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they grew and spread, so much so that the Egyptians started to look at the Israelites with disgust and dread. So the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. They made their lives miserable with hard labor, making mortar and bricks, doing field work, and by forcing them to do all kinds of other cruel work.
The king of Egypt spoke to two Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah: “When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth and you see the baby being born, if it’s a boy, kill him. But if it’s a girl, you can let her live.” Now the two midwives respected God so they didn’t obey the Egyptian king’s order. Instead, they let the baby boys live.
So the king of Egypt called the two midwives and said to them, “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the baby boys live?”
The two midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because Hebrew women aren’t like Egyptian women. They’re much stronger and give birth before any midwives can get to them.” So God treated the midwives well, and the people kept on multiplying and became very strong. And because the midwives respected God, God gave them households of their own.
Then Pharaoh gave an order to all his people: “Throw every baby boy born to the Hebrews into the Nile River, but you can let all the girls live.”
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Trip Porch
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
*HYMN (insert) “Let Hope Be Reborn” MIDWIFE
Verse 1: solo; Verses 2-3 All Sing
INSTALLATIONA OF OFFICERS
Jessica von Zastro – Elder
Anna Long - Deacon
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE with The Lord’s Prayer using debts and debtors
TIME OF OFFERING
*OFFERTORY RESPONSE #710 “We Lift Our Voices” OFFERING
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
God of Great and God of Small, We recognize that the greatest gift is the gift of love. May our offerings distribute this love to the world: the small world we inhabit with the suffering people we know; the larger world where the power of love is sorely needed. Amen
*HYMN “Long Ago, When Pharaoh's Daughter” NETTLETON
Long ago, when Pharaoh's daughter walked along the riverside,
In a basket in the water was a baby, snug and dry.
Tiny baby! Did his mother give him up so he might live?
Love that gives to save another is a mighty love to give.
Christ, you offered us a blessing — what our life in you can be:
"When a child is given welcome, then you also welcome me."
In a world where children suffer and where all need love and care,
Love that leads us to each other is an answer to our prayer.
God, you call us your own children; we're adopted! We're reborn!
We rejoice that through adoption, human bonds are also formed.
Bless the ones who welcome children; bless the ones who let them go.
May each child be loved and welcomed; may each church help families grow.
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452