WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
February 26th 2006
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“The Life and Witness of Maria Fearing”
Matthew 28:16-20
Maria Fearing was born in 1838 on a plantation just outside of Gainesville, Alabama. For the first thirty-three years of her life she was a slave. Maria was responsible for raising the child and other domestic work. Since it was illegal to teach slaves to read or write, Maria could do neither. However, she did memorize parts of the bible and the Presbyterian catechism alongside the children of which she was responsible.
When the institution of slavery was brought to an end, Maria Fearing was thirty-three years old. Her first priority seemed to be tending to her own education. Using the skills she learned serving as a house slave she obtained a job to pay for her education. When Maria enrolled in Talladega College she was the oldest student in the school. As providence would have it Maria ended up rooming with the youngest two students at Talladega.
Maria was a diligent student who learned quickly. Upon her graduation she returned to the rural environment of which she was most familiar. It seems that she hoped to give back to her community by sharing her education with others. A short while after she begin her life as a teacher Maria purchased her own home in Anniston, Alabama. For over fifteen years Maria was a successful professional woman. However, her life was about to take a dramatic turn.
In 1891, Maria went back to Talladega College to hear William Sheppard speak. Sheppard was a black Presbyterian Missionary on leave from his work in the Congo. During Sheppard’s rather dramatic speech, he ended his talk with an invitation to join him in this work. Maria, feeling God’s call, knew she was to join Sheppard. So, at the age of fifty-six, Maria Fearing turned in her application to serve as a missionary for the Presbyterian Church in the Congo.
At first, Maria’s application was denied. She was told that she was simply too old. After all, she was told, this work killed men half her age. This was the sort of work where one in three people died. Because of this, the Presbyterian Church did not want to pay for someone they assumed was more likely to die before reaching her destination.
This rejection did not stop Maria. Sensing that God had called her to this work she was undeterred by the churches rejection. When Maria reapplied her application was accepted. However, there was one stipulation. If Maria wanted to serve as a missionary in the Congo with the Presbyterian Church, she would pay her own way.
Maria, convinced of her calling, did what she had to do in order to follow God’s call. First she sold her home and then received a pledge of support from a Congregational Church in Talladega. With money in hand, Maria Fearing was prepared to become a Presbyterian Missionary in the Congo. However, this was only her first challenge on the journey.
The journey from New York City would take over two months. However, it was the final leg of the journey which would prove most difficult. The last leg was a rough river trip in a steam ship. The ship was less than pleasant and the crew less than honest. The captain kept the rations of food for himself while serving rotting meat to the passengers. If one of the passenger dared venture onto the ship’s they would find it covered with a fence to keep arrows which were launched from the jungle upon unsuspecting targets. Despite a trying journey Maria took to her work with great vigor.
The entire group of Presbyterian missionaries was distinctly different from others. Not only were they black but their approach was rather unique. Instead of seeing the Congolese, with whom they worked, as ignorant and needing of their help, these missionaries had an obvious respect for the culture, traditions and languages. This posture made their work exponentially easier.
Upon arrival Maria became a student of the local customs and language. She had a real ability for this work. Maria was active in helping to translate the gospel into the local languages. Two years after beginning this work Maria was finally given the recognition she deserved from the Presbyterian Church. She was now a fully compensated missionary.
Maria Fearing’s greatest work was the founding of Pantops Home for Girls. The home was designed for girls who had been orphaned or had run away from slavery. Maria even sought to purchase the freedom of other slaves as she was able. Once at the Pantops Home, the girls were educated in traditional learning as well as life skills. They learned; reading, writing, arithmetic, homemaking, gardening, and the tenets of the Christian faith. It was clear that her work went far beyond that of conveying information. The young girls were so fond of Maria she was lovingly referred to as their “Mother from far away.”
This work was Maria’s life’s calling. In an environment where one in three people, half her age, died, Maria thrived. When Maria turned seventy-one she was encouraged by the Church to retire. It should come as no surprise that she told them no. However, six years later, in 1915, Maria Fearing did leave the Congo and returned to Alabama. In her retirement, Maria continued to teach church school until she died at the age of ninety-nine. Just over sixty years after her death, Maria Fearing was inducted into the Alabama Woman’s Hall of Fame.
It would be hard to measure the full impact of her life and witness. At a time in her life when many people would be beginning to think about settling down, she went to school, and become a teacher. After having reached a professional status and buying a home Maria appeared to have reached the ‘American Dream.’ However, Maria left it behind to follow her heart. After being told she was too old to serve she sold everything she had to serve God. And at an age when many people are preparing for retirement Maria Fearing was busy serving God’s children.
The passage we read this morning from Matthew’s gospel is often called the great commission. In the gospel, Jesus meets the disciples on the Mountain and leaves them with this message: Go and make disciples of all people, baptizing and teaching them to follow what I have taught you. The life and witness of Maria Fearing is one which understood this call. Despite being unable to read, despite being told no, despite being told she was too old to serve, Maria Fearing followed God’s leading in her life.
I am humbled by her witness. Her life ought to lead each one of us to ask; “What excuse or excuses am I letting stand in the way of living out God’s call in my life?” I believe her witness is one which demands us to reexamine our lives. It is a call to confront the obstacles in our way and then ask “Am I willing to follow God’s call for my life despite the obstacles that stand in the way?” Amen.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Sunday, February 19, 2006
The Life and Witness of Edward Blyden
WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
February 19th 2006
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“The Life and Witness of Edward Wilmot Blyden”
Matthew 21:12-17
This morning we could spend a great deal of time simply on the many achievements of Edward Wilmot Blyden. Though he is virtually unknown in the United States, there is so much about his life and witness which is worthy of our time. During his life, Edward Wilmot Blyden served as an ordained Presbyterian Minister who “spent his whole life championing and vindicating his race.”[i] His accomplishments include serving as: Liberian Commissioner to Britain and the United States, Professor of Classics at Liberia College, Liberian Ambassador to the Court of St. James in the United Kingdom, Secretary of State of Liberia, Accomplished author and newspaper publisher.
However, I believe that the many accomplishments of this driven man are not the most interesting or pertinent for us this morning. Today, as we look to his witness there is something else which demands our focus. Edward Wilmot Blyden was uncompromising in his crusade to undermine the prevailing belief, at the turn of the century, that people of African descent were inherently inferior to people of European descent. This belief led him to openly challenge many of the practices of the Christian church. His challenges not only placed him in conflict with white church leadership, but also with leaders in the black church. These challenges have an important legacy with real modern relevance.
Edward Wilmot Blyden was born on August 3rd 1832 on the island of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. It is written that he was a precocious child who had a natural aptitude and love for learning and for his faith. Edward had natural gifts and the willingness to work to perfecting his talents. Edward’s earliest mentor was young Presbyterian Minister by the name of John P. Knox. (Good name for a Presbyterian minister…)
Knox noticed the deep spirituality and keen intelligence in Edward Blyden. However Knox was not the only one who could see that young Edward was destined to become a minister. So, when Knox returned the United States, he offered to take Edward with him to see to his theological education. Edward accepted.
When Rev. Knox sought to enroll Edward in his alma mater Rutgers Theological College, Edward was denied admission because he was black. This was Edwards’s first experience with such overt racism and it left quite an impression. However, it did not extinguish his passion for learning or his call to ministry. So, with the assistance Knox and other Presbyterian Ministers, Edward Blyden left the United States to study in Liberia.
In 1851, at the age of nineteen, he arrived in Monrovia Liberia. In order to pay for his education at the Alexander school, Edward took a part time job as a clerk for a merchant. Edward immersed himself in his studies and excelled in; mathematics, classics, geography and Hebrew. Because of his clear gifts, a local benefactor made arrangements so that Edward could quit his job and devote himself full time to study. By the time he was twenty-one, he was a licensed lay preacher and at twenty-six he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister and appointed Principle of the Alexander school.
By the time he had become principle of the school, Edward Blyden his reputation as a top notch scholar was widely known. However, because of the limited resources of the school and his teachers, he was, in many ways, self taught. Once Edward became principle of the Alexander school he petitioned the mission board for better support for supplies and facilities. Unfortunately, many of his requests fell on deaf ears. As a result, he often had to find the necessary supplies anywhere he could. Though this was not his greatest frustration with the institutional church it was indicative of a bigger struggle.
Edward Blyden was a Presbyterian Minister who was quite vocal in his criticism of the practices of his own church. His many challenges were well founded. Edward saw the church’s rejection of everything African for what it truly was: racist. Edward saw, in the actions of the western missionaries, a fear of all local customs and practices. The outright rejection of all local customs showed an ignorance of the foundations of Christianity. His extensive study had shown him how Christianity emerged from a culture more closely related to the African continent than to Europe.
While this might seem like an elementary idea to us, Edward Blyden faced a church which taught its mission personnel that: “the African mind… (is) blank or worse than blank, filled with everything dark and horrible and repulsive.” It was this sort of teaching which Edward was facing. The church was teaching people of African descent to accept themselves as inferior which worked to destroy all racial pride. This has, no doubt, led many people of African descent to give up on the church for its complicity in this evil.
Edward Blyden’s criticism of Christianity always had to do with its practice and not with its essence. In other words, he was clear to separate the practice of Christianity from the teachings of Jesus. Edward Blyden simply rejected ‘christianity’ which propped up, however subtly, white supremacy. In fact, Edward Blyden had much praise for the way in which Christianity had lead to the Haitian people’s self-emancipation from the imperialism of France.
After years of struggling with the mission board, Edward Blyden gave up his ordination in the Presbyterian Church. At that occasion, he said he would no longer be a Presbyterian minister but a “minister of truth.” In his writings about this incident, it is clear he was parting ways with an institution which refused to repent of its continual racist practices. He no longer could support an institution which assumed the natural inferiority of African peoples. Unfortunately it took nearly fifty years after the death of Edward Blyden for our academic institutions to ‘catch on’ to the truth of his criticism. Some of our local congregations have yet to fully repent of their own complicity.
Edward Wilmot Blyden was a visionary, a reformer and an idealist, which is a volatile combination. He had one grand vision of which he pledged his life. Edward Blyden’s hope was to be a catalyst for the development of one West African State. He believed this state would be a beacon which could show the world that people of African descent were not inferior to the white race. In his work he ran into resistance from church leaders, European colonizers, and from tribal leadership. If Edward Blyden’s life were to be judged based on the realization of one West African State it would be deemed a failure. However, despite this unfulfilled dream, his life and impact is far from a failure.
In his work to realize this dream he accomplished so much. In his most famous work, Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race, Blyden broke down walls of prejudice across Europe. The reaction of critics in Europe was one of astonishment and almost disbelief that a book of such undoubted literary and scholarly merits, could have been written by a person of African descent. While this seems ridiculous today, it was something that no one before Edward Blyden had done. Historian and biographer Hollis Lynch writes: “Blyden was one of the few (people of African descent) to make a significant impact on the English-speaking literary and scholastic world in the nineteenth century.”[ii]
In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus entered the temple and turned over the tables of the money changers. This action and his anger were a calculated response to an unjust system. The money changers were notorious for the ways in which they took advantage of the poor. What enraged Jesus was that this system was supported and maintained by the religious leadership. They were using the law in order to protect their personal interests. Jesus is confronting this practice which bares no resemblance to the living and loving teachings of God. This encounter is a harsh reminder of what can happen when religious practice no longer bears witness to God and seeks to protect the institutions of religion.
In his life and work of Edward Wilmot Blyden called on the church, his church, to live out its message. It was a call not well received by a church convinced of white supremacy and was blinded by self-preservation. In many ways, the church today has finally caught up with this visionary and prophet of our faith. However, there is still much to be done since the sin of racism and the blindness of self-preservation continues to infect the practices of Christianity.
The life and witness of Edward Wilmot Blyden is an inspiration and one which this brief sermon can hardly do justice. It is however one which ultimately points to an important truth. It is a reminder that the church is not the gospel. It is a reminder that the church is not the message. Given the history of the church, this is good news. It is good news which reminds us that our call is not about self-preservation. Our call is to bear witness to the one who is the gospel, who is the message, who is the good news; Jesus Christ. Amen.
[i] Edward Wilmot Blyden: Pan-Negro Patriot 1832-1912 Hollis R. Lynch. Oxford University Press 1967. p. v.ii
[ii] Ibid. p.54
February 19th 2006
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“The Life and Witness of Edward Wilmot Blyden”
Matthew 21:12-17
This morning we could spend a great deal of time simply on the many achievements of Edward Wilmot Blyden. Though he is virtually unknown in the United States, there is so much about his life and witness which is worthy of our time. During his life, Edward Wilmot Blyden served as an ordained Presbyterian Minister who “spent his whole life championing and vindicating his race.”[i] His accomplishments include serving as: Liberian Commissioner to Britain and the United States, Professor of Classics at Liberia College, Liberian Ambassador to the Court of St. James in the United Kingdom, Secretary of State of Liberia, Accomplished author and newspaper publisher.
However, I believe that the many accomplishments of this driven man are not the most interesting or pertinent for us this morning. Today, as we look to his witness there is something else which demands our focus. Edward Wilmot Blyden was uncompromising in his crusade to undermine the prevailing belief, at the turn of the century, that people of African descent were inherently inferior to people of European descent. This belief led him to openly challenge many of the practices of the Christian church. His challenges not only placed him in conflict with white church leadership, but also with leaders in the black church. These challenges have an important legacy with real modern relevance.
Edward Wilmot Blyden was born on August 3rd 1832 on the island of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. It is written that he was a precocious child who had a natural aptitude and love for learning and for his faith. Edward had natural gifts and the willingness to work to perfecting his talents. Edward’s earliest mentor was young Presbyterian Minister by the name of John P. Knox. (Good name for a Presbyterian minister…)
Knox noticed the deep spirituality and keen intelligence in Edward Blyden. However Knox was not the only one who could see that young Edward was destined to become a minister. So, when Knox returned the United States, he offered to take Edward with him to see to his theological education. Edward accepted.
When Rev. Knox sought to enroll Edward in his alma mater Rutgers Theological College, Edward was denied admission because he was black. This was Edwards’s first experience with such overt racism and it left quite an impression. However, it did not extinguish his passion for learning or his call to ministry. So, with the assistance Knox and other Presbyterian Ministers, Edward Blyden left the United States to study in Liberia.
In 1851, at the age of nineteen, he arrived in Monrovia Liberia. In order to pay for his education at the Alexander school, Edward took a part time job as a clerk for a merchant. Edward immersed himself in his studies and excelled in; mathematics, classics, geography and Hebrew. Because of his clear gifts, a local benefactor made arrangements so that Edward could quit his job and devote himself full time to study. By the time he was twenty-one, he was a licensed lay preacher and at twenty-six he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister and appointed Principle of the Alexander school.
By the time he had become principle of the school, Edward Blyden his reputation as a top notch scholar was widely known. However, because of the limited resources of the school and his teachers, he was, in many ways, self taught. Once Edward became principle of the Alexander school he petitioned the mission board for better support for supplies and facilities. Unfortunately, many of his requests fell on deaf ears. As a result, he often had to find the necessary supplies anywhere he could. Though this was not his greatest frustration with the institutional church it was indicative of a bigger struggle.
Edward Blyden was a Presbyterian Minister who was quite vocal in his criticism of the practices of his own church. His many challenges were well founded. Edward saw the church’s rejection of everything African for what it truly was: racist. Edward saw, in the actions of the western missionaries, a fear of all local customs and practices. The outright rejection of all local customs showed an ignorance of the foundations of Christianity. His extensive study had shown him how Christianity emerged from a culture more closely related to the African continent than to Europe.
While this might seem like an elementary idea to us, Edward Blyden faced a church which taught its mission personnel that: “the African mind… (is) blank or worse than blank, filled with everything dark and horrible and repulsive.” It was this sort of teaching which Edward was facing. The church was teaching people of African descent to accept themselves as inferior which worked to destroy all racial pride. This has, no doubt, led many people of African descent to give up on the church for its complicity in this evil.
Edward Blyden’s criticism of Christianity always had to do with its practice and not with its essence. In other words, he was clear to separate the practice of Christianity from the teachings of Jesus. Edward Blyden simply rejected ‘christianity’ which propped up, however subtly, white supremacy. In fact, Edward Blyden had much praise for the way in which Christianity had lead to the Haitian people’s self-emancipation from the imperialism of France.
After years of struggling with the mission board, Edward Blyden gave up his ordination in the Presbyterian Church. At that occasion, he said he would no longer be a Presbyterian minister but a “minister of truth.” In his writings about this incident, it is clear he was parting ways with an institution which refused to repent of its continual racist practices. He no longer could support an institution which assumed the natural inferiority of African peoples. Unfortunately it took nearly fifty years after the death of Edward Blyden for our academic institutions to ‘catch on’ to the truth of his criticism. Some of our local congregations have yet to fully repent of their own complicity.
Edward Wilmot Blyden was a visionary, a reformer and an idealist, which is a volatile combination. He had one grand vision of which he pledged his life. Edward Blyden’s hope was to be a catalyst for the development of one West African State. He believed this state would be a beacon which could show the world that people of African descent were not inferior to the white race. In his work he ran into resistance from church leaders, European colonizers, and from tribal leadership. If Edward Blyden’s life were to be judged based on the realization of one West African State it would be deemed a failure. However, despite this unfulfilled dream, his life and impact is far from a failure.
In his work to realize this dream he accomplished so much. In his most famous work, Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race, Blyden broke down walls of prejudice across Europe. The reaction of critics in Europe was one of astonishment and almost disbelief that a book of such undoubted literary and scholarly merits, could have been written by a person of African descent. While this seems ridiculous today, it was something that no one before Edward Blyden had done. Historian and biographer Hollis Lynch writes: “Blyden was one of the few (people of African descent) to make a significant impact on the English-speaking literary and scholastic world in the nineteenth century.”[ii]
In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus entered the temple and turned over the tables of the money changers. This action and his anger were a calculated response to an unjust system. The money changers were notorious for the ways in which they took advantage of the poor. What enraged Jesus was that this system was supported and maintained by the religious leadership. They were using the law in order to protect their personal interests. Jesus is confronting this practice which bares no resemblance to the living and loving teachings of God. This encounter is a harsh reminder of what can happen when religious practice no longer bears witness to God and seeks to protect the institutions of religion.
In his life and work of Edward Wilmot Blyden called on the church, his church, to live out its message. It was a call not well received by a church convinced of white supremacy and was blinded by self-preservation. In many ways, the church today has finally caught up with this visionary and prophet of our faith. However, there is still much to be done since the sin of racism and the blindness of self-preservation continues to infect the practices of Christianity.
The life and witness of Edward Wilmot Blyden is an inspiration and one which this brief sermon can hardly do justice. It is however one which ultimately points to an important truth. It is a reminder that the church is not the gospel. It is a reminder that the church is not the message. Given the history of the church, this is good news. It is good news which reminds us that our call is not about self-preservation. Our call is to bear witness to the one who is the gospel, who is the message, who is the good news; Jesus Christ. Amen.
[i] Edward Wilmot Blyden: Pan-Negro Patriot 1832-1912 Hollis R. Lynch. Oxford University Press 1967. p. v.ii
[ii] Ibid. p.54
Sunday, February 12, 2006
The Life and Witness of Catherine Fergeson
WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
February 12th 2006
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“The Life and Witness of Catherine Ferguson”
Matthew 19:13-15
This week we continue our life and witness sermon series celebrating black history month. Our witness today is one which is not well known in American history. However, the impact of her life has had far reaching effects even if her name and work is virtually unknown.
Catherine Ferguson was born on a ship in 1779. The ship was in route to New York from Virginia. Catherine and her mother were slaves of the Williams family. The Williams were not only slave owners but they were also Presbyterians. The patriarch of the family, R.B Williams, was an elder in one of the New York City Presbyterian churches. As a result, Catherine’s religious influence came not only from her devout mother but also through the catechisms of the Presbyterian Church.
At the age of eight, Catherine was faced with a major trauma. She was separated from her mother when the Williams sold her to another family. As was the case with many, Catherine never saw her mother again. Later in her life, Catherine spoke about the terror of that moment. She said: “I remember that before we were torn asunder, she knelt down, laid her hand on my head, and gave me to God.”
A few years later, it appears that Catherine began attending a different Presbyterian church. When she was fourteen, Catherine went to the pastor and told him of her desire to join the church. After sharing her desire with the pastor, she made a public profession of faith and partook of communion. Catherine claimed the promises made on her behalf by her mother when they were last together.
About the same time that Catherine joined the church, a widow by the name of Isabella Graham joined the same Presbyterian Church. Isabella was an immigrant from Scotland. Her family was quite wealthy and very involved with benevolent causes. The details of their relationship are unclear. However, it is certain that they did know one another. In fact, when Catherine was seventeen years old, Isabella loaned her the money to purchase her freedom. Isabella then gave her a paying job to assist in her transition to freedom. Though she paid back the loan in less than a year, Catherine continued to work for Isabella until she got married.
After Catherine was married, she spent the next few years raising two children and caring for their home. However, her life took a drastic turn when illness took the life of both her young children. Shortly after their death her husband disappeared from the picture. There is no historical record or mention of him after their death.
The traumas of her early life had a significant impact on the rest of her life. The impact would have a ripple effect through the lives of countless other people. As you might imagine, there is some debate about the factuality of the claim to fame. However, Catherine Ferguson’s claim to fame is that she founded the first Sunday school in New York City.
Catherine lived in New York City during the time which followed the Revolutionary War. The aftermath of the war had devastating effects on the city. Historian Raymond Mohl writes that the war turned New York into a “ravaged and partially destroyed seaport town.” There was increased stress on the resources of the city because of the increased immigration. The city faced desperate poverty and social chaos. Faced with these realities many benevolent societies began planning their work. However, Catherine Ferguson simply got to work.
Catherine’s response was to gather as many children as she could from the alms-house and from other places and bring them into her home. She would care for them until she was able to find them a good home or until they were adults. During her life she brought forty-eight children, white and black, into her home. Catherine not only cared for their physical needs but also for their spiritual needs. Each Sunday, she would gather not only the children living in her home but any child who would normally be running the streets, into her home for religious education.
In order to support the children and her work Catherine would occasionally partner with some of the benevolent societies in the city. However, she was never afraid to refuse their “help” when it came with the expectation of control or was overtly paternalistic. Catherine would simply do what she had always done and raise money as a domestic worker. She was also known for baking the finest cakes in town. She seemed willing to do whatever it took to fulfill her God given mission.
At the Sunday gatherings, in her home, Catherine would invite traveling missionaries, pastors and other religious scholars to teach the children. They were instructed in reading and writing often using the catechism and the bible as the guide. It was not uncommon to find some of the finest educators and pastors in the city teaching in her home. These lessons continued in her home until there was simply not enough room for all the children. As a result she was approached by the local Presbyterian Church about using their space for the classes. As a result, the first Sunday school in New York City began.
For all who knew Catherine Ferguson it was evident that this was her calling in life. It was a calling by God which was forged out of the depths of her greatest pain. The loss of her mother and her own children fostered an unyielding compassion for children who were cast aside by society. Yet most amazing aspect was throughout her life she never learned to read or write. Her own limitations never got in the way of making sure the children in her care would learn what she never did.
Catherine Ferguson’s life and work is a testament to her faith in God. For more than forty years, up to the last day of her life, she continued to work for the well-being of children. Those who knew her said that wherever Catherine Ferguson lived, the whole the neighborhood changed. There was no secret to her work, it was really quite simple: The love of God had touched her heart and she shared this love with all God’s children. She made sure that no child she came into contact with would be kept from knowing Jesus.
Catherine Ferguson lived a life which embodied Jesus call to his disciples. Let the children come to me! Throughout her life she would gather them up and make sure they would know the ways of God. Because of her work, Catherine Ferguson is credited with founding the first Sunday school in New York City despite being unable to read or write.
Her life and witness is a call to all of us. Her witness calls us to take a close look at our own lives and our own sense of God’s calling in our life. It is a call to reexamine the excuses we use that stand in the way of the amazing work God has in store for us. If Catherine Ferguson had said, “No Lord, I cannot read how I can make sure the children learn?” How much poorer would the world have been? So what are our excuses? What are the excuses that are holding you back? Whatever they might be, let the life and witness of Catherine Ferguson so inspire you that today, you are willing to cast them aside and trust that God has a plan. Amen.
February 12th 2006
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“The Life and Witness of Catherine Ferguson”
Matthew 19:13-15
This week we continue our life and witness sermon series celebrating black history month. Our witness today is one which is not well known in American history. However, the impact of her life has had far reaching effects even if her name and work is virtually unknown.
Catherine Ferguson was born on a ship in 1779. The ship was in route to New York from Virginia. Catherine and her mother were slaves of the Williams family. The Williams were not only slave owners but they were also Presbyterians. The patriarch of the family, R.B Williams, was an elder in one of the New York City Presbyterian churches. As a result, Catherine’s religious influence came not only from her devout mother but also through the catechisms of the Presbyterian Church.
At the age of eight, Catherine was faced with a major trauma. She was separated from her mother when the Williams sold her to another family. As was the case with many, Catherine never saw her mother again. Later in her life, Catherine spoke about the terror of that moment. She said: “I remember that before we were torn asunder, she knelt down, laid her hand on my head, and gave me to God.”
A few years later, it appears that Catherine began attending a different Presbyterian church. When she was fourteen, Catherine went to the pastor and told him of her desire to join the church. After sharing her desire with the pastor, she made a public profession of faith and partook of communion. Catherine claimed the promises made on her behalf by her mother when they were last together.
About the same time that Catherine joined the church, a widow by the name of Isabella Graham joined the same Presbyterian Church. Isabella was an immigrant from Scotland. Her family was quite wealthy and very involved with benevolent causes. The details of their relationship are unclear. However, it is certain that they did know one another. In fact, when Catherine was seventeen years old, Isabella loaned her the money to purchase her freedom. Isabella then gave her a paying job to assist in her transition to freedom. Though she paid back the loan in less than a year, Catherine continued to work for Isabella until she got married.
After Catherine was married, she spent the next few years raising two children and caring for their home. However, her life took a drastic turn when illness took the life of both her young children. Shortly after their death her husband disappeared from the picture. There is no historical record or mention of him after their death.
The traumas of her early life had a significant impact on the rest of her life. The impact would have a ripple effect through the lives of countless other people. As you might imagine, there is some debate about the factuality of the claim to fame. However, Catherine Ferguson’s claim to fame is that she founded the first Sunday school in New York City.
Catherine lived in New York City during the time which followed the Revolutionary War. The aftermath of the war had devastating effects on the city. Historian Raymond Mohl writes that the war turned New York into a “ravaged and partially destroyed seaport town.” There was increased stress on the resources of the city because of the increased immigration. The city faced desperate poverty and social chaos. Faced with these realities many benevolent societies began planning their work. However, Catherine Ferguson simply got to work.
Catherine’s response was to gather as many children as she could from the alms-house and from other places and bring them into her home. She would care for them until she was able to find them a good home or until they were adults. During her life she brought forty-eight children, white and black, into her home. Catherine not only cared for their physical needs but also for their spiritual needs. Each Sunday, she would gather not only the children living in her home but any child who would normally be running the streets, into her home for religious education.
In order to support the children and her work Catherine would occasionally partner with some of the benevolent societies in the city. However, she was never afraid to refuse their “help” when it came with the expectation of control or was overtly paternalistic. Catherine would simply do what she had always done and raise money as a domestic worker. She was also known for baking the finest cakes in town. She seemed willing to do whatever it took to fulfill her God given mission.
At the Sunday gatherings, in her home, Catherine would invite traveling missionaries, pastors and other religious scholars to teach the children. They were instructed in reading and writing often using the catechism and the bible as the guide. It was not uncommon to find some of the finest educators and pastors in the city teaching in her home. These lessons continued in her home until there was simply not enough room for all the children. As a result she was approached by the local Presbyterian Church about using their space for the classes. As a result, the first Sunday school in New York City began.
For all who knew Catherine Ferguson it was evident that this was her calling in life. It was a calling by God which was forged out of the depths of her greatest pain. The loss of her mother and her own children fostered an unyielding compassion for children who were cast aside by society. Yet most amazing aspect was throughout her life she never learned to read or write. Her own limitations never got in the way of making sure the children in her care would learn what she never did.
Catherine Ferguson’s life and work is a testament to her faith in God. For more than forty years, up to the last day of her life, she continued to work for the well-being of children. Those who knew her said that wherever Catherine Ferguson lived, the whole the neighborhood changed. There was no secret to her work, it was really quite simple: The love of God had touched her heart and she shared this love with all God’s children. She made sure that no child she came into contact with would be kept from knowing Jesus.
Catherine Ferguson lived a life which embodied Jesus call to his disciples. Let the children come to me! Throughout her life she would gather them up and make sure they would know the ways of God. Because of her work, Catherine Ferguson is credited with founding the first Sunday school in New York City despite being unable to read or write.
Her life and witness is a call to all of us. Her witness calls us to take a close look at our own lives and our own sense of God’s calling in our life. It is a call to reexamine the excuses we use that stand in the way of the amazing work God has in store for us. If Catherine Ferguson had said, “No Lord, I cannot read how I can make sure the children learn?” How much poorer would the world have been? So what are our excuses? What are the excuses that are holding you back? Whatever they might be, let the life and witness of Catherine Ferguson so inspire you that today, you are willing to cast them aside and trust that God has a plan. Amen.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
The Life and Witness of Howard Thurman
WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
February 5th 2006
Communion Sunday
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“The Life and Witness of Howard Thurman”
Matthew 6:1-12
Until last summer, I had never read any of the writings of Howard Washington Thurman. I had learned that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was influenced by his book Jesus and the Disinherited and as a result I went looking to see what might be contained in the pages of that rather short book. As I worked my way through this work, I was deeply moved. It occurred to me that this book seemed to be a rather long response to a single question he was once asked. When he was traveling on his way to India he was asked this question by someone while in Ceylon, the modern day Sri Lanka. This was the question:
I had not planned to ask you this, but after listening to your lecture I am convinced that you are an intelligent man. What are you doing here? Your forebears were taken from the west coast of Africa as slaves, by Christians. They were sold in America, a Christian country, to Christians…Since that time you have been brutalized, lynched, burned and denied most civil rights by Christians, and Christianity is unable to have any effect upon your terrible plight. I think that an intelligent young Negro such as yourself, here in our country on behalf of a Christian enterprise, is a traitor to all of the darker peoples of the earth. How can you account for yourself being in this unfortunate and humiliating position?
This question and his answer were instrumental to the development of Howard Washington Thurman. However, for now I will not tell you his answer.
Howard Thurman was born in a two room house in the segregated town of Daytona Florida in 1900. Because his mother worked long hours to support the family, and his father was died, his grandmother played a major role in his development. Howard’s grandmother, who had been a slave, was unable to read or write. However, her driving motivation was to make sure her grandchildren were educated.
Howard was clearly influenced by his grandmother. By the time he was in the eighth grade Howard worked in a dry cleaning shop. During his lunch hour, he would do his lessons and meet with the school principle to take his examinations. As a result of his hard work and sharp mind he was the first African American to receive an eighth grade certificate from the Daytona public schools. Since there were no high schools which he could attend in Dayton, Howard made arrangements to live with a cousin in Jacksonville so he could attend school. As he left home his grandmother left him with these words:
I want to tell you something, and you remember it all your life: Look up always; down never. Look forward always; backwards never. And remember, everything you get you have to work for.
Howard Thurman took his grandmother’s words to heart. He excelled in high school and then as a student at Morehouse College. Howard had a passion for learning and would often read in every free moment he could find. Howard knew that his love for learning had come from God. “When I was born,(Howard said) God must have put a live coal in my heart, for I was His man and there was no escape.”
Upon graduation from Morehouse College, he planned to pursue graduate work in theology at Andover. However, Andover did not accept Black people for the study of religion. So Howard pursued his theological education at Colgate-Rochester where he not only excelled, but finished top of his class. Upon completion of his degree a professor said to him:
Howard Thurman, you have the capacity to become one of the great original creative thinkers; to influence the religious thought of our nation, perhaps the whole world.
After graduation Howard took his first call to serve as pastor of a church in Oberlin, Ohio. There, he was able to grow as a pastor and continue to develop his keen intellectual pursuits in a college environment. However, it was not long before Howard was led by his insatiable curiosity and intellect to find other pursuits. He had become acquainted with the work of a Quaker theologian by the name of Rufus Jones. Howard asked Dr. Jones if he could come and study the history of mysticism.
During the year, Howard began to understand the ways in which his intellect and spirituality were more deeply connected than he had ever known. He took these insights and in the following year, Dr. Howard Thurman accepted an appointment to teach Philosophy of Religion at Morehouse and Spelman Colleges in Atlanta. This rising academic star soon found himself Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Systematic Theology at Howard University in Washington D.C.
In 1935, Howard Thurman and his wife Sue traveled with a group to India, Burma, and Ceylon under the auspices of the World Student Christian Federation. It was a life-changing experience. While traveling through India they had the opportunity to have an audience with Mahatma Gandhi. However, the most unforgettable event was when Dr. Thurman’s climbed the mountains of the Khyber Pass to watch the sunrise.
In the quiet moments before the dawn, Howard Thurman was able to wrestle with his thoughts. During this trip he had been challenged on a number of occasions about his Christian convictions. It was in those moments at the top of the mountain, that Howard decided He could stay part of the Christian tradition. Howard dedicated himself to work to make Christianity live for the weak as well as the strong. He decided that Christianity must be a faith for all peoples, whatever their color, whatever their economic status.
Upon his return to the United States, Dr. Thurman did not make any immediate changes. In fact, it would be another few years before he was able to realize his vision for the church. In 1943 he received a message from a professor of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco who was also a Presbyterian Minister.
This minister had begun a new church whose goal was to become a truly interracial faith community. This minister had sent word to a number of people with the hopes of locating a young black divinity student who might want to be part of such a venture. It was evident to Dr. Thurman that this plan, while well intentioned, was flawed. Having an established pastor try to share power with someone just out of divinity school was a recipe for disaster even before factoring in the racial dynamics. So, Dr. Thurman agreed to go himself.
Howard Thurman saw this fledgling church as an opportunity to live out the vision he had from atop the Khyber Pass.
The first few years at the Church for the Fellowship of all Peoples were not easy. There was always a concern about numbers and money, however what they lacked in numbers and funds they made up for with enthusiasm. There was a real commitment to living out the gospel as good news for all people. This was a radical work, particularly in 1943. They broke barriers in worship, pastoral care and their witness to a deeply divided community. It was in this work that Dr. Thurman found his life’s calling. It was in this work that Dr. Thurman lived out his answer to the question he faced during his time in Ceylon.
When confronted by the very direct question regarding the practice of Christianity, Howard Thurman said:
I think the religion of Jesus in its true genius offers me a promising way to work through the conflicts of a disordered world. I make a careful distinction between Christianity and the religion of Jesus… My judgment about slavery and racial prejudice relative to Christianity is far more devastating than yours could ever be. From my investigation and study, the religion of Jesus projected a creative solution to the pressing problem of survival for the minority of which he was a part. When Christianity became an imperial and world religion, it marched under banners other than that of the teacher and prophet of Galilee.
The life and witness of Dr. Howard Thurman is one built on the life and witness of Jesus Christ. His ability to point to the life-giving message of the gospel despite the imperial baggage is quite remarkable. He was able to live out the core teachings from the Sermon on the Mount. His unique witness calls us all to revisit out own assumptions. It is an invitation to reject all forms of Christianity corrupted by the imperial influence. May we indeed follow his lead and live these words… (Read Matthew 5:1-12 again). Amen.
February 5th 2006
Communion Sunday
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“The Life and Witness of Howard Thurman”
Matthew 6:1-12
Until last summer, I had never read any of the writings of Howard Washington Thurman. I had learned that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was influenced by his book Jesus and the Disinherited and as a result I went looking to see what might be contained in the pages of that rather short book. As I worked my way through this work, I was deeply moved. It occurred to me that this book seemed to be a rather long response to a single question he was once asked. When he was traveling on his way to India he was asked this question by someone while in Ceylon, the modern day Sri Lanka. This was the question:
I had not planned to ask you this, but after listening to your lecture I am convinced that you are an intelligent man. What are you doing here? Your forebears were taken from the west coast of Africa as slaves, by Christians. They were sold in America, a Christian country, to Christians…Since that time you have been brutalized, lynched, burned and denied most civil rights by Christians, and Christianity is unable to have any effect upon your terrible plight. I think that an intelligent young Negro such as yourself, here in our country on behalf of a Christian enterprise, is a traitor to all of the darker peoples of the earth. How can you account for yourself being in this unfortunate and humiliating position?
This question and his answer were instrumental to the development of Howard Washington Thurman. However, for now I will not tell you his answer.
Howard Thurman was born in a two room house in the segregated town of Daytona Florida in 1900. Because his mother worked long hours to support the family, and his father was died, his grandmother played a major role in his development. Howard’s grandmother, who had been a slave, was unable to read or write. However, her driving motivation was to make sure her grandchildren were educated.
Howard was clearly influenced by his grandmother. By the time he was in the eighth grade Howard worked in a dry cleaning shop. During his lunch hour, he would do his lessons and meet with the school principle to take his examinations. As a result of his hard work and sharp mind he was the first African American to receive an eighth grade certificate from the Daytona public schools. Since there were no high schools which he could attend in Dayton, Howard made arrangements to live with a cousin in Jacksonville so he could attend school. As he left home his grandmother left him with these words:
I want to tell you something, and you remember it all your life: Look up always; down never. Look forward always; backwards never. And remember, everything you get you have to work for.
Howard Thurman took his grandmother’s words to heart. He excelled in high school and then as a student at Morehouse College. Howard had a passion for learning and would often read in every free moment he could find. Howard knew that his love for learning had come from God. “When I was born,(Howard said) God must have put a live coal in my heart, for I was His man and there was no escape.”
Upon graduation from Morehouse College, he planned to pursue graduate work in theology at Andover. However, Andover did not accept Black people for the study of religion. So Howard pursued his theological education at Colgate-Rochester where he not only excelled, but finished top of his class. Upon completion of his degree a professor said to him:
Howard Thurman, you have the capacity to become one of the great original creative thinkers; to influence the religious thought of our nation, perhaps the whole world.
After graduation Howard took his first call to serve as pastor of a church in Oberlin, Ohio. There, he was able to grow as a pastor and continue to develop his keen intellectual pursuits in a college environment. However, it was not long before Howard was led by his insatiable curiosity and intellect to find other pursuits. He had become acquainted with the work of a Quaker theologian by the name of Rufus Jones. Howard asked Dr. Jones if he could come and study the history of mysticism.
During the year, Howard began to understand the ways in which his intellect and spirituality were more deeply connected than he had ever known. He took these insights and in the following year, Dr. Howard Thurman accepted an appointment to teach Philosophy of Religion at Morehouse and Spelman Colleges in Atlanta. This rising academic star soon found himself Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Systematic Theology at Howard University in Washington D.C.
In 1935, Howard Thurman and his wife Sue traveled with a group to India, Burma, and Ceylon under the auspices of the World Student Christian Federation. It was a life-changing experience. While traveling through India they had the opportunity to have an audience with Mahatma Gandhi. However, the most unforgettable event was when Dr. Thurman’s climbed the mountains of the Khyber Pass to watch the sunrise.
In the quiet moments before the dawn, Howard Thurman was able to wrestle with his thoughts. During this trip he had been challenged on a number of occasions about his Christian convictions. It was in those moments at the top of the mountain, that Howard decided He could stay part of the Christian tradition. Howard dedicated himself to work to make Christianity live for the weak as well as the strong. He decided that Christianity must be a faith for all peoples, whatever their color, whatever their economic status.
Upon his return to the United States, Dr. Thurman did not make any immediate changes. In fact, it would be another few years before he was able to realize his vision for the church. In 1943 he received a message from a professor of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco who was also a Presbyterian Minister.
This minister had begun a new church whose goal was to become a truly interracial faith community. This minister had sent word to a number of people with the hopes of locating a young black divinity student who might want to be part of such a venture. It was evident to Dr. Thurman that this plan, while well intentioned, was flawed. Having an established pastor try to share power with someone just out of divinity school was a recipe for disaster even before factoring in the racial dynamics. So, Dr. Thurman agreed to go himself.
Howard Thurman saw this fledgling church as an opportunity to live out the vision he had from atop the Khyber Pass.
The first few years at the Church for the Fellowship of all Peoples were not easy. There was always a concern about numbers and money, however what they lacked in numbers and funds they made up for with enthusiasm. There was a real commitment to living out the gospel as good news for all people. This was a radical work, particularly in 1943. They broke barriers in worship, pastoral care and their witness to a deeply divided community. It was in this work that Dr. Thurman found his life’s calling. It was in this work that Dr. Thurman lived out his answer to the question he faced during his time in Ceylon.
When confronted by the very direct question regarding the practice of Christianity, Howard Thurman said:
I think the religion of Jesus in its true genius offers me a promising way to work through the conflicts of a disordered world. I make a careful distinction between Christianity and the religion of Jesus… My judgment about slavery and racial prejudice relative to Christianity is far more devastating than yours could ever be. From my investigation and study, the religion of Jesus projected a creative solution to the pressing problem of survival for the minority of which he was a part. When Christianity became an imperial and world religion, it marched under banners other than that of the teacher and prophet of Galilee.
The life and witness of Dr. Howard Thurman is one built on the life and witness of Jesus Christ. His ability to point to the life-giving message of the gospel despite the imperial baggage is quite remarkable. He was able to live out the core teachings from the Sermon on the Mount. His unique witness calls us all to revisit out own assumptions. It is an invitation to reject all forms of Christianity corrupted by the imperial influence. May we indeed follow his lead and live these words… (Read Matthew 5:1-12 again). Amen.
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