The Holy Spirit Speaks, Provokes, Empowers: A Sermon
Preached on Mother’s Day
“The one thing I have never been afraid
of is standing before important people
and speaking my mind.
I represent women
who may never have the opportunity t
o go to the UN
or meet with a president.
I’m never afraid to speak truth to power.”-
(pause)
When times are difficult,
Beloved
Where do we hang our troubled hearts?
And where do we draw strength,
So that we can speak
A prophetic word,
Knowing that there will always be risks
To unveiling truths
(pause)
The presence,
And the power,
Behind our voices
As Women,
Always seems to
STIR LIFE UP
As the saying goes,
Well behaved women,
seldom make history.
(pause)
It’s Mother’s Day,
I don’t know about you,
But I come from some pretty fierce roots,
Women in my family
Who spoke their mind,
Sharing their wisdom,
Whether we wanted it or not,
Especially as we became Mothers
Who were not afraid to speak truth,
So that we would not make the same mistakes
That they encountered
Nor,
For us to never be afraid,
Of who we were
And who God created us to be
To witness,
To the Love God had and has shown them,
Even when times were difficult
To stand up for their children,
Protective,
And had no problems putting people in their place
Reminding them.
That our lives,
Birthed from their bodies
Belonged to them
(pause)
Women,
So many are not mothers,
And yet,
We embrace them as such
For what they instill in us
Women such as Leyhmaee Gbowee
who refused to watch her people perish
drowning in seas of war,
And through her activism,
Helped bring about peace
Ending the Liberian Civil War.
It was not just on her strength alone,
But her faith
(pause)
Women such as Malala,
Who refused to remain silent
Who refused to hide,
Even after she was attacked,
For wanting to learn,
To explore
To be who the Creator called her into this life,
And amid death threats
She continues to fight for equal education,
For young girls like her.
It was not because her story was world wide,
But because of her faith
(pause)
Women such as Daisy Bates,
Who was tired of being tired,
Of African American children being denied their humanity
Lack of resources
Because of her love for her community,
She spearheaded the Little Rock Nine
to get a quality education
It was not because she was moved do just do something,
It was because of her faith
(pause)
Women such as
Huldah
Esther
Judith
Hagar
Deborah
Mary,
And for that matter,
All the unnamed women in the Bible,
Who spoke truth to power
Who were not afraid,
Because they knew they were loved
By the Creator
They hung their troubled hearts deep within their faith,
leaning on the Cross
when the world attempted to shun them,
shut them up
and cast them out
-because they could not believe the Holy Spirit
was speaking prophetically through them.
Even we see the Holy Spirit as She
because Women’s voices are unique in expressing
and
lamenting
Demanding change.,
and asking for truth.
(pause)
(pause)
Like women in our own Church,
who refused to remain in the background
when the Holy Spirit pushed them into the role of Pastoral leadership,
shattering the myth that Women should be silent
and not preach prophetically
Women such as Rev. Earlean Miller,
And the Rev. Dr. Cheryl Pero
Women such as Rev. Traci Blackmon
And the Rev. Dr. Joanne Marie Terrell
These women are public with their witness
And their calling,
And yes,
The Holy Spirit has stirred within them,
And because of their testimonies,
They too,
Like so many,
Have been attacked physically
Have been jailed
Have been ostracized
Ironically,
Because of their faith
And because,
Of following Jesus Christ
(pause)
And in the same vein,
Stephen disturbs the status quo,
Stephen is continuing to live,
As Christ has called all of us to do
Stephen is lauded as martyr;
Stephen,
By his own people,
Because of his preaching,
His teaching,
His prophesizing
That because Jesus Christ is the way,
The truth
The life
That who we are,
And this life
Changes
To where what we do,
How we live
Is just not for our selfish reasons,
But because of the beloved community here
Because the resurrection RADICALLY TRANSFORMED
Not only Christ,
But us
They did not want to hear it.
They did not want to be reminded of their failings
They did not want to hear,
Or change
(pause)
Is this why we as the Church
are so afraid to speak?
Challenge one another?
See,
It’s okay when the Holy Spirit
lovingly embraces us,
as what occurred in Pentecost.
We are all about affirmation
It’s okay when we see the HS as a gentle dove,
because its not threatening to us,
and to the agenda we have for our lives.
It’s okay to think about the Holy Spirit as just background noise
But when She MOVES…
(pause)
See,
It’s okay to tell churches
that they now have the power to direct their congregations
about who to vote for,
free speech and all
But
When the Holy Spirit moves our sisters and brothers in Christ
and in faith,
Moves our spirit
to remind us about what our purpose and call is
To use that same PUBLIC VOICE
To push back against inequality
To advocate for the poor
See,
That just because somewhere in Scripture
it says “the poor will always be with us”
does not mean we are to ignore them,
walk past them,
belittle them
when they are literally DYING on the streets
Because even though they are with us,
JESUS DID NOT MEAN FOR THEM TO REMAIN IN PAIN!
The Creator did not create poverty
What Jesus calls us into,
Is not apathy
But advocacy,
Not silence,
But prophesy!
And Jesus,
Knowing we would struggle
Drop the ball,
Jesus gives us
Surprise!
The Holy Spirit
And when we as the body of Christ, cry out
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
To give Good News to the poor
To set the oppressed free
When we dare to come from behind our walls,
Suddenly,
Our witness
Is met with stones.
And yet,
Even when we are ridiculed
Jesus tells us,
Do not,
Do not be afraid,
Believe in God,
Believe also in me.
Even when people doubt us,
Jesus says,
Do not be afraid
Believe in God,
Believe also in me
Even when they try to drown out our voices,
Just like Stephen,
Just like Hagar
Just like Malala
God is there with us,
Telling us,
Do not be afraid.
Thanks be to God.
