Get on Board

My church’s focus this year is on becoming “one.”  We’re not supposed to just be people that see each other at church on Sundays.  The goal is to create an environment of unity.  To function on one accord. 

In the past when I thought of unity, it generally involved the institution of marriage.  It evoked images of two single tapered lit candles coming together to light the flame of a fat candle.  Then the flames of the single candles were extinguished.  Because the two had become one.

Such a simple and beautiful image.  And so difficult to orchestrate in our everyday lives.  Unity has the power to change the world.  To right the wrongs in society.  To set captives free.  But we still won’t get on board.

I watched the movie “Harriet” back in November, and it stirred something within me.  Of course, I had learned of Harriet Tubman back in elementary school during Black History month.  She was the “conductor” of the Underground Railroad.  Harriet had already secured her freedom.  That wasn’t enough for her.  She wanted to offer the gift of freedom to those that she had left behind.

So, she traveled back to the enslaved south and led those who were in captivity to freedom.  Of course, the idea of freedom was appealing.  When you’re bound, you dream of being free.  But on the journey to a new life, the reality of the hardship of the journey would begin to set in.  People would panic and want to turn back.  Harriet didn’t send them on their way.  She would draw her gun and tell them, “You’ll be free or die.”

No turning back.  No other options.  They were a unit on their way to a set destination.  The fight and determination of Harriet Tubman led over 300 slaves to freedom.  She realized that she wasn’t alone in this world.  She knew how to be delivered, and she was desperate to give others the same opportunity that she had.

She didn’t do it alone.  The Underground Railroad was a network of individuals of all gender and race working together for the greater good of an oppressed people.  We won’t ever know the names of all the people who had a hand in such a life changing ministry.  They operated in the spirit of unity.  No one wanted to see their name on the program or on the back of the pew.  They realized that lives were at stake.  I wonder when we, the body of Christ, will realize the same.  #wepreach