Unchained Poet
Stories
Object:
Contents
"Unchained Poet" by Frank Ramirez
"Afflicting the Comfortable" by C. David McKirachan
* * * * * * *
Unchained Poet
by Frank Ramirez
Philemon 1-21
Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother….
-- Philemon 15-16
In the scriptures God answers a cry for deliverance by sending a judge, or a prophet, or a savior, but human tyrants are usually not as responsive as God to such cries. Around 250 years ago colonial Americans appealed to the British Parliament for relief from what they considered the slavery of taxes.
That was also about the time when Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), a young American teenager, lifted up her voice in a cry for deliverance. She had been dragged from Africa and put in the hold of one of the condemnable ships that was part of the slave trade, and was then sold into slavery in colonial Massachusetts in 1761. At that time it was assumed by many whites that blacks were subhuman, incapable of learning, and that they deserved the harsh treatment of slavery on the basis of their race (and through astounding misinterpretation of scripture that salved the conscience of their white masters).
Phillis, however, astounded her owners and many others when she not only mastered reading and writing, but also the more difficult art of writing poetry. She did not merely rhyme the last words of lines. Her understanding of literature allowed her to lace her poetry with sophisticated biblical and classical allusions. Despite the horrific conditions of the slave ship that she endured (descriptions of such voyages beggar belief), Wheatley nevertheless celebrated the events that caused her to put aside foreign gods and worship the God of the Bible. But though she was thankful she had come to know Christ, she would also pointedly note that she had a soul, and was a human too. In one short poem, "On Being Brought From Africa to America," she wrote:
'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God – that there's a Saviour too;
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye –
'Their color is a diabolic dye.'
Remember Christians, Negroes black as Cain
May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.
While American colonial leaders began to chafe against what they described as the slavery of taxation, she wrote a poem addressed to the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth, who happened to be his Majesty's Secretary of State for North America, appealing for freedom from real slavery, and not just the metaphorical slavery the white colonists complained of. When she wrote of "the iron chain which wanton Tyranny… has made" she knew whereof she spoke.
The reason she considered herself an expert when it came to a strong desire for freedom was also expressed in that poem.
Should you, my Lord, while you peruse my song,
Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung,
Whence flow these wishes for the common good,
By feeling hearts alone best understood,
I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate
Was snatch'd from Afric's fancy'd happy seat:
What pangs excruciating must molest,
What sorrows labour in my parent's breast!
Steel'd was that soul, and by no misery mov'd,
That from a father seized his babe belov'd;
Such, such my case. And can I then but pray
Others may never feel tyrannic sway?
Phillis made the point that her own slavery helped her sympathize with others who felt "tyrannic sway." Of course the real question is whether these patriots sympathized with her condition.
The publication of her book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, brought her renown on both sides of the Atlantic. George Washington singled her out for special praise. She is remembered today as the first African-American poet, and the first African-American woman to publish a book in English.
Alas, her story did not end happily. Although she was granted her freedom with the death of her master, John Wheatley, two of her children died in infancy, her husband was imprisoned for failure to pay debts, and she herself took sick and died at the age of 31. Her only surviving child died soon afterward.
In his letter to Philemon, the apostle Paul cannot legally break the chains of the slave Onesimus, but he challenges the master to see him as something more than a slave -- a Christian brother. Phillis Wheatley tried to make white Americans see her as something more than a black slave -- but also a human being who had been redeemed by Christ, and one who represented a whole race crying aloud for freedom. Reading her poetry should encourage us to look beyond stereotypes and personally hear the call for justice in our own times.
(If you want to read more of her poetry, see Phillis Wheately, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, available from Dover Books.)
Frank Ramirez has served as a pastor for nearly 30 years in Church of the Brethren congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. A graduate of LaVerne College and Bethany Theological Seminary, Ramirez is the author of numerous books, articles, and short stories. His CSS titles include Partners in Healing, He Took a Towel, The Bee Attitudes, three volumes of Lectionary Worship Aids, and Breakdown on Bethlehem Street.
Afflicting the Comfortable
by C. David McKirachan
Luke 14:25-33
I tell people, probably too often, that my job is to "comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable." And they think it is cute how I kid with them. Little do they know this is our call as preachers. My father always told me that if they didn't squirm on a regular basis, I needed to seriously reconsider my call. That hit me right between the eyes. It still does.
Hurting people, bothering people, making them squirm for the sake of "supposed to" is just plain stupid and has little to do with the good news. I've known preachers who counted it a success if people got up and walked out in the middle of their sermon. When they told me this with pride, I reminded them that indigestion might have been the walkers' motivation as much as conviction. Our attitudes of success are usually very far from the mark. Once we open up the word, the Holy Spirit goes and does what it will. Kinda like the wind. Somebody said that. Trying to give indigestion or conviction to someone is awfully adolescent.
The trouble is that counter to all sense of self-preservation, fiscal responsibility, and institutional health, we are dragged kicking and screaming out of the lands of green pastures and empty tombs back to the confrontational territories of the wastelands of sin and the horrific price of the cross. If we don't tell the truth to our people about the environment they are creating and recreating with their sin, we are lying to them. It's not fun. And if you're as approval oriented as I am, it makes you squirm worse than any of them will.
Jesus had no interest in hurting people. On a very human level, it was against his ethic and M.O. Further, it was against his dad's agenda as well. Remember that thing, "telling the truth in love." He insisted on telling the truth. He insisted on being the truth.
Face it. This culture worships the family, thus soccer practice on Sunday. It's idolatry. And as such it's destructive to the family, to the kids and the parents. They didn't have soccer practice then, but they had families. You get the drift. Evil is very insidious. It's why we have a cross up front, to keep reminding us and them of exactly why we're here… to follow Him.
Don't feel weird, I argue with Him too. And, thank God, I tend to lose.
C. David McKirachan is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury in central New Jersey. He also teaches at Monmouth University. McKirachan is the author of I Happened Upon a Miracle and A Year of Wonder (Westminster John Knox).
*****************************************
StoryShare, September 8, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"Unchained Poet" by Frank Ramirez
"Afflicting the Comfortable" by C. David McKirachan
* * * * * * *
Unchained Poet
by Frank Ramirez
Philemon 1-21
Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother….
-- Philemon 15-16
In the scriptures God answers a cry for deliverance by sending a judge, or a prophet, or a savior, but human tyrants are usually not as responsive as God to such cries. Around 250 years ago colonial Americans appealed to the British Parliament for relief from what they considered the slavery of taxes.
That was also about the time when Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), a young American teenager, lifted up her voice in a cry for deliverance. She had been dragged from Africa and put in the hold of one of the condemnable ships that was part of the slave trade, and was then sold into slavery in colonial Massachusetts in 1761. At that time it was assumed by many whites that blacks were subhuman, incapable of learning, and that they deserved the harsh treatment of slavery on the basis of their race (and through astounding misinterpretation of scripture that salved the conscience of their white masters).
Phillis, however, astounded her owners and many others when she not only mastered reading and writing, but also the more difficult art of writing poetry. She did not merely rhyme the last words of lines. Her understanding of literature allowed her to lace her poetry with sophisticated biblical and classical allusions. Despite the horrific conditions of the slave ship that she endured (descriptions of such voyages beggar belief), Wheatley nevertheless celebrated the events that caused her to put aside foreign gods and worship the God of the Bible. But though she was thankful she had come to know Christ, she would also pointedly note that she had a soul, and was a human too. In one short poem, "On Being Brought From Africa to America," she wrote:
'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God – that there's a Saviour too;
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye –
'Their color is a diabolic dye.'
Remember Christians, Negroes black as Cain
May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.
While American colonial leaders began to chafe against what they described as the slavery of taxation, she wrote a poem addressed to the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth, who happened to be his Majesty's Secretary of State for North America, appealing for freedom from real slavery, and not just the metaphorical slavery the white colonists complained of. When she wrote of "the iron chain which wanton Tyranny… has made" she knew whereof she spoke.
The reason she considered herself an expert when it came to a strong desire for freedom was also expressed in that poem.
Should you, my Lord, while you peruse my song,
Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung,
Whence flow these wishes for the common good,
By feeling hearts alone best understood,
I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate
Was snatch'd from Afric's fancy'd happy seat:
What pangs excruciating must molest,
What sorrows labour in my parent's breast!
Steel'd was that soul, and by no misery mov'd,
That from a father seized his babe belov'd;
Such, such my case. And can I then but pray
Others may never feel tyrannic sway?
Phillis made the point that her own slavery helped her sympathize with others who felt "tyrannic sway." Of course the real question is whether these patriots sympathized with her condition.
The publication of her book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, brought her renown on both sides of the Atlantic. George Washington singled her out for special praise. She is remembered today as the first African-American poet, and the first African-American woman to publish a book in English.
Alas, her story did not end happily. Although she was granted her freedom with the death of her master, John Wheatley, two of her children died in infancy, her husband was imprisoned for failure to pay debts, and she herself took sick and died at the age of 31. Her only surviving child died soon afterward.
In his letter to Philemon, the apostle Paul cannot legally break the chains of the slave Onesimus, but he challenges the master to see him as something more than a slave -- a Christian brother. Phillis Wheatley tried to make white Americans see her as something more than a black slave -- but also a human being who had been redeemed by Christ, and one who represented a whole race crying aloud for freedom. Reading her poetry should encourage us to look beyond stereotypes and personally hear the call for justice in our own times.
(If you want to read more of her poetry, see Phillis Wheately, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, available from Dover Books.)
Frank Ramirez has served as a pastor for nearly 30 years in Church of the Brethren congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. A graduate of LaVerne College and Bethany Theological Seminary, Ramirez is the author of numerous books, articles, and short stories. His CSS titles include Partners in Healing, He Took a Towel, The Bee Attitudes, three volumes of Lectionary Worship Aids, and Breakdown on Bethlehem Street.
Afflicting the Comfortable
by C. David McKirachan
Luke 14:25-33
I tell people, probably too often, that my job is to "comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable." And they think it is cute how I kid with them. Little do they know this is our call as preachers. My father always told me that if they didn't squirm on a regular basis, I needed to seriously reconsider my call. That hit me right between the eyes. It still does.
Hurting people, bothering people, making them squirm for the sake of "supposed to" is just plain stupid and has little to do with the good news. I've known preachers who counted it a success if people got up and walked out in the middle of their sermon. When they told me this with pride, I reminded them that indigestion might have been the walkers' motivation as much as conviction. Our attitudes of success are usually very far from the mark. Once we open up the word, the Holy Spirit goes and does what it will. Kinda like the wind. Somebody said that. Trying to give indigestion or conviction to someone is awfully adolescent.
The trouble is that counter to all sense of self-preservation, fiscal responsibility, and institutional health, we are dragged kicking and screaming out of the lands of green pastures and empty tombs back to the confrontational territories of the wastelands of sin and the horrific price of the cross. If we don't tell the truth to our people about the environment they are creating and recreating with their sin, we are lying to them. It's not fun. And if you're as approval oriented as I am, it makes you squirm worse than any of them will.
Jesus had no interest in hurting people. On a very human level, it was against his ethic and M.O. Further, it was against his dad's agenda as well. Remember that thing, "telling the truth in love." He insisted on telling the truth. He insisted on being the truth.
Face it. This culture worships the family, thus soccer practice on Sunday. It's idolatry. And as such it's destructive to the family, to the kids and the parents. They didn't have soccer practice then, but they had families. You get the drift. Evil is very insidious. It's why we have a cross up front, to keep reminding us and them of exactly why we're here… to follow Him.
Don't feel weird, I argue with Him too. And, thank God, I tend to lose.
C. David McKirachan is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury in central New Jersey. He also teaches at Monmouth University. McKirachan is the author of I Happened Upon a Miracle and A Year of Wonder (Westminster John Knox).
*****************************************
StoryShare, September 8, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
