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LINKS TO THE SERMONS |
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| “The Cracks in History” Abraham was the great patriarch of three world religions. Yet, reading the history, his story is far from heroic; as a matter of fact, you get the feeling that he was something of a wimp. If one was to quote his most frequent saying it would probably be, “Yes Dear.” Makes you wonder why God picked him in the first place, but he did. God had promised that he would be the father of a great nation, descendents as numerous as the grains of sand on the beach or the stars in the sky. Abraham and his wife Sarah were excited; they were excited for days, and months, and years. But by the time Abraham qualified for social security, the excitement began to ware off. So far their first star was not even a gleam in Abraham’s eye; as far as grains of sand were concerned, their beach was barren. One day Sarah said to old Abraham, “We better get started on those grains of sand and those stars,” and Abraham said, “Yes Dear.” Then more years passed and since old Abraham wasn’t going to take any action, his wife did. She said, “Since God isn’t allowing me to have any children, why don’t you take our Egyptian slave as a surrogate wife?” And, Abraham said, “Yes Dear.” Wouldn’t be the first or last time a slave was forced into sexual servitude. No sooner was the deal done and Hagar was pregnant when Sarah got buyers remorse –didn’t like the fact that Hagar, that slave woman, was aglow with child of her husband and she was still old and barren. Besides, she got to thinking that Abraham had said, “Yes Dear,” a little quicker and with more enthusiasm than usual. So, Sarah said to her husband, “I don’t like the way that woman looks at me and I’m going to make her existence a living hell.” And, Abraham said, “Yes Dear.” Another twelve years go by. By now Abraham has his pre-paid contract with Forest Lawn and has one foot in his pre-paid grave. Sarah, who is no spring chicken herself, turns up pregnant. Certainly God must have been chuckling somewhere. And when her son is born they name him Isaac, child of laughter. One day Sarah sees her child playing with his big brother Ishmael and says to Abraham, “I want that slave woman and her child out of my sight, out of this family and out of my life. Abraham was sad because “that child” was his first born son. But he said, “Yes Dear.” And, God said, “It’s okay because the same blessing I promised you will be for Ishmael. He shall be the father of nations with descendents as numerous as stars in the sky and grains of sand on the beach. And the rest of the story of the Bible follows Isaac’s branch of the family tree; genealogies trace back through Isaac, not Abraham’s first born. All listings of the patriarchs list Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not Ishmael. Arguably the most recognized holy place in the world is the temple mount in Jerusalem. There is a mosque there named “The Dome of the Rock.” It marks the traditional spot of a significant event in the lives of Abraham and his son Isaac. There our no shrines marking events in the lives of Abraham and Ishmael. I know what it is like to be a father for the first time when you are old. I carry a picture of my daughter right next to my AARP card. I know that Abraham loved that boy, his first born, and they shared many wonderful father and son moments – none are recorded. Ishmael and Hagar fell through one of the cracks in history. History is fickle like that; historians are all subjective types prioritizing persons and events according to there own prejudices. That’s why when people get interested in genealogy; it is their own family name they get interested in. That’s why we need a black history month. I remember when black history classes started to show up at universities; I couldn’t figure out why I needed that – I already knew about Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglas. But a history that can abandon the story of the first born son of the great patriarch of three world religions – what else can go down the cracks? Did you know that more has been written about Abraham Lincoln than any other person in history? Did you know that the number of books written about the American Civil War equals one per day from the end of the war until now? Then why is it, with all those volumes of information, that we know nothing about Elizabeth Keckly? Yes, she was just a seamstress but so was Betsey Ross and her’s is a household name. Elizabeth Keckly didn’t sew a flag; she made dresses – for the wife of Frederick Douglas, the wife of Robert E. Lee, the wife of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy and for Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of the President of the United States. It seems that a person who began life as a slave and later moved into the White house would be a suitable subject for historical notice. Elizabeth Keckly was born in Virginia in 1818, the property of Col. Armistead Burwell, who was also her father. That being the case she was allowed to be a house slave rather than a field slave. That meant that she got a rudimentary education and she learned to sew from her mother who was also a house slave. Keckly was loaned out from time to time to various Burwell relatives. Perhaps Mrs. Burwell didn’t like her around as a reminder of her husband’s indescression – so he said, “Yes Dear.” Several of the relatives to whom she was loaned pressed her into service as a sex object. Her first born she named George. Finally, on one of her assignments in St. Louis she came into contact with some free Blacks who advised her not to try to escape – much too risky – but rather to buy her own freedom. She could use her skills as a dress maker to earn money. But a slave wasn’t allowed to earn money. So she bided her time, letting her reputation grow and cultivating relationships with the wealthy in St. Louis society. Finally she worked out an ingenious plan to get loans from several of her clients against future work. In November of 1855 she walked into the court house in St. Louis and purchased her freedom, and that of her son George, for $1200. The word of her extraordinary dress making ability soon spread and her first major clients were Mrs. Robert E. Lee and Mrs. Jefferson Davis. Mrs. Davis invited Keckly to come to Richmond and live with them. Keckly declined opting instead to cast her lot with the people of the North. She moved to Washington DC and made the acquaintance of the wife of the new President, new in Washington society and eager to impress. By 1861 she had made 16 dresses for Mrs. Lincoln and had become her confidant. When the Lincoln’s 11 year old son Willie died, Mary Lincoln would be comforted by no one except Elizabeth Keckly whom she called her best friend in the world. The two were bound together in grief; Keckly’s own son George had been killed in battle fighting in the Union Army into which he was able to enlist as a white soldier because of his light skin. (Blacks were allowed to enlist but not to actually fight) When the President was assonated, Mrs. Lincoln called for her friend Elizabeth to console her. The relationship ended in 1868 when Elizabeth Keckly published her memoir; Behind the Scenes or Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House. Mrs. Lincoln saw the book as a betrayal and so did Washington society, not that the content was scandalous but the idea that a former slave, a black woman, had the audacity to write about the President of the United States. You can’t have black servants writing about white aristocracy – just think where that could go. Keckly road out the controversy and went back to her dress making business. She hired black women and trained them as skilled seamstresses. In the 1890s she served as the head of Wilberforce University’s domestic arts department and designed a dress exhibit for the Chicago world’s Fair. She died in 1907 in a home for poor black women which she had helped to establish. There are several truths to be gleaned from this story. One is that great spirits are forged in the furnace of adversity. Take heart in your time of suffering; maybe it means that God sees in you a great spirit that needs to be brought forth, gold that needs refining. The second thing we know is that suffering and hardship in this life in some way generates capitol that is credited to our account in the next life. And three - that most great spirits fall through the cracks in history; but nothing falls through cracks in the memory of God. Isaiah affirmed it in the affirmation that began our worship, “Why do you say my way is hid from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God?” That is so silly. God doesn’t miss anything, loose anything, forget anything.” Who cares if you didn’t make the history book as long as your name is written in the Book of Life? God remembers his children, that slave woman and her son George, and even that other slave woman and her son Ishmael, cast out from the family, left to die in the desert. The story picks up again in chapter 21 of Genesis. They are starving now and dying of thirst. Hagar leaves her son under a bush and goes some distance – about a bow shot according to the story – and she waits for death to come for them both. She doesn’t want to watch her son die, that’s why she moved off. But, she can still hear him cry. And, what about that promise, that Ishmael would receive the same promise as his brother Isaac? God also heard the child’s cry; God doesn’t miss anything. The angel of the Lord comes, Shows them where to find water. They do not die, they live, and Ishmael, the first born of the great patriarch, Abraham, becomes the father of a great nation, as numerous as the stars in the sky of the grains of sand on the beach. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to her who has no strength he increases might. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Lift up your eyes and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.” We are citizens of a kingdom that doesn’t have any cracks.
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