Jul 20 2009
Feast of Elizabeth, Amelia, Sojourner and Harriet
liberators and prophets
Today we remember the lives of four women who dramatically impacted the world through their engagement with the Jewish and Christian scriptures. The scriptures and collect (prayer) for the day is found in a separate post.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton - Born in upstate New York, Stanton organized the first Women’s Right’s Convention in Seneca Falls New York in 1848. Her entire life she held the Church accountable for using scripture as a weapon for oppressing women and prevent ordination to the ministry. When a revised version of the Bible was published in 1881 with no input from women scholars, Stanton used the Greek she had learned growing up to bring forward new understandings of the passages used to oppress others. She attended Trinity Episcopal Church in Seneca Falls with Amelia Jenks Bloomer and was a close friend of Susan B. Anthony. On her death bed Stanton said, “My only regret is that I have not been braver and bolder and truer in the honest conviction of my soul.”
Amelia Jenks Bloomer - Amelia is most famous for the clothing known as Bloomers. The loose fitting pants were a statement against the restrictive (and often dangerous) clothing women were forced to wear. Clergy attacked the clothing citing Moses, “Women should not dress like men.” Amelia had the retort “It matters not what Moses had to say to the men and women of his time about what they should wear. If clergy really cared about what Moses said about clothes, they would all put fringes and blue ribbons on their garments.” Believing that scripture had been given a “strained and unnatural meaning” she felt deeply that the writers of scripture including St. Paul would have never left their writings open to such interpretations had they been able to foresee “all the sorrow and strife the cruel exactions and oppression on the one hand and the blind submission and cringing fear on the other” that women would undergo. Ultimately Bloomer believed that the same power of God which set free the slaves would “bring about the emancipation of woman and make her the equal in power and dominion that she was in the beginning.” Trinity Episcopal Church in Seneca Falls, where she was baptized and where she attended with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, records her as a “faithful Christian missionary all her life.”
Sojourner Truth was born as a slave on the estate of a wealthy Dutchman in New York. After 28 years of being sold from household to household she escaped with the help of Quaker friends and felt the call to become a street corner evangelist. Eventually she focused a lot of her energy on a homeless shelter for women. Following a call from God she set out east on foot. Up to this point she had gone by the name of Belle, but upon stopping at a Quaker farm and being asked her name she thought for a moment. She replied” My name is Sojourner” and when asked for a last name she thought about taking a name from one of her former masters as was customary and then realized that the only master she had was God and the name of God is Truth. As a traveling preacher she impressed all with her knowledge of scripture in spite of her illiteracy. She remained a steadfast champion for the emancipation of slaves and the rights of women.
Harriet Ross Tubman - Harriet was born in 1820 in Maryland. After years of abuse and injury at the hands of her owners she escaped to Canada. In freedom she could not forget those who were left behind and ultimately made 19 trips back to Maryland between 1851 and 1861 freeing over 300 people all the time remembering her favorite story of Moses bringing his people forth from slavery. Eventually a $40,000 reward was offered for her capture. Tubman received a vision preparing her for the U.S. civil war. When war broke out Harriet volunteered as a cook and nurse for the Union Army but cared for wounded on both sides. Once she lead 300 troops on a raid that freed 750 slaves and became the first woman to lead U.S. troops into military action. Though not formally educated she established schools for young African-Americans and fought alongside Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton for women’s rights while always supporting African American women to found their own organizations to address equality. In all her efforts Harriet felt the never ending guidance of God in omens and dreams.
All of these women found the ability to listen to God and to hear beyond restrictive readings of scripture and discover the true voice of God that is only found when one enters dialogue with the writings of the Bible. All too often we believe that revelation is closed and yet think of all the injustices that would have been inflicted on our world had women such as the four we remember today not engaged more deeply with their faith. Questioning and wrestling with scripture is not a sign of faithlessness but ultimately truly holding to faith. It is also challenging to me that the Christian faith has such a history of oppression and yet so many of the great movements of human rights were born from those who were lead by their Christianity to change the world. Christianity also has a legacy of bettering human life and the call to take up that cross lies before all of us.
(biographical information taken from Lesser Feasts and Fasts)
