Jesus said, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:
father against son and son against father,
mother against daughter and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, `It is going to rain'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, `There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"
Sermon by the Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
In 1913, there was a tiny town in Alabama called Loachapocka. Loachapoka became the site for the very first school built in the south by Julius Rosenwald. If you haven’t heard of him, Julius Rosenwald was part owner and then president of Sears. He was a man who, at the turn of the 20th century, had amassed a great fortune. Historians say that he was a relentless businessman. But he was also a generous philanthropist. He was constantly on the lookout for ways he could contribute to try to make the world better.
Just before 1913, Julius became aware of the fact that most African Americans had no place to receive an education. And that really weighed heavily on him. So he reached out to the one person who he thought would be able to give him guidance about this – a man named Booker T. Washington. At the time, Mr. Washington was in the process of setting up The Tuskegee Institute, a world-renowned college committed to offering access to education to those with the least opportunities people who had no access to education. So these two men got together and started to brainstorm about how they could be a force for good in the world where it was most needed.
And Booker T Washington said, “I’ve got a plan for you. It’s really the rural areas that are the most hard hit.” He invited Julius Rosenwald to come to Alabama, to partner with him and get something positive done. Over the next 20 years Julius began funding the building of schools. Over 5,000 of them in 15 states. From Maryland to Texas.
Historians say that over 700,000 Black students were educated in those schools from 1913, when the first one was built, until sometime in the 1960’s when schools were desegregated following the historic Brown v Board of Education decision and passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Seven hundred thousand students! That’s equivalent to the current population of Denver.
We talked last week about the Great Cloud of Witnesses – those who inspire and challenge us including Jonathan Myrick Daniels. Julius Rosenwald and all the communities that came together with him in partnership to see over 5,000 schools come into being and be centers of education, now stand in that tremendous cloud of witnesses. They were witnesses to the plight of those who were languishing without education, witnesses to what it means to be faithful especially to those who it would have been so easy to ignore. They became part of a great cloud of witnesses who realized that giving of themselves to something bigger than themselves that would outlast themselves really mattered.
Our lesson from Hebrews today is where that beautifully descriptive term – great cloud of witnesses - originates. The historical context, we believe, is that it was written to a fledging group of Christians who were struggling with what it means to follow God in the face of persecution.
No one promised that following God would be an easy road. And that’s what we see in this sort of roll call in the lesson.
It was not easy for the children of Israel who came into bondage in Egypt and had to escape, or those who came into Canaan, or for those that we hear about: of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets – and all whom were persecuted for the love of God, who were persecuted for loving neighbor as themselves.
And yet they left behind a legacy, they left behind something for all of us today. We are privileged to walk in the path that they have carved out for us. Had it not been for those pillars of the faith, for those willing to sacrifice, who saw the need to care about something bigger than themselves - if not for those who chose God over the world.
Can you imagine 100 years ago, that Julius’ task was not easy, that it caused great division – within communities, friendships, families. It’s a hard thing sometimes loving our neighbors. And it causes division between those who want to stay in places of comfort, who want to avoid conflict, who cannot abide those who are ready and willing to do the loving thing. Jesus warns us that there will be tension between those who chose love and those who deny:
father against son and son against father,
mother against daughter and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
That great cloud of witnesses includes something else – the joy we have at leaving a legacy for those who come behind us.
Kathryn Bigelow was first woman to win an academy award for directing. And her comments to reporters were striking. “This really isn’t about me,” she said. “It’s about all the people who came before me to make it possible for me to stand here today. And it’s about all the people who will come after me. Because of what happened here today, there are women who now know that something is possible that they never dreamed would happen for them.”
And that is us today. That’s all of us. Jesus asks us to read the signs of our lives, in our world, he asks us to interpret the signs of our present day and to do it through the eyes of God’s love and compassion. To see the destitute, the lonely. We share the responsibility together to believe in what is bigger than us, to care for all those who come after us and know that we will be the cloud of witnesses to lift them up.
Today we are going to celebrate reading in a very special way and a very special reader. We are going to present Olivia Becerra with her very first Bible. Olivia is growing up – maybe too fast for her family’s liking. At her baptism, promises were made on her behalf by her parents and godparents to keep the lessons of the apostles for themselves and to teach them to Olivia.
And now it’s time for her to take on some of that responsibility for herself – to become a student of God’s word and immerse herself in it. We celebrate this time in her life with her, this coming of age.
God calls us to ask ourselves how we will be remembered. Whatever we are able to do to improve the life of another human being, God calls us to do that. And as we give thanks for those who came before us, for those on whose shoulders we stand in order to have a better view of God’s Kingdom, let us always remember that there are those, like Olivia and all our children, who come after us. And that we are their light and their path to an ever greater knowledge, and ever closer relationship with God. Amen.