Title: At the Stern

Scriptures: Psalm 9:9-20, Mark 4:35-41

6/22/03 2nd Sunday after Pentecost

Rev. Joy R. Haertig

I am intrigued by the image of the sleeping Jesus at the stern of the boat. As I see it, the image creates a metaphor for putting Christ at the stern of our own lives, and calling on him as a source of peace and strength when the storms of life get rough or take us by surprise.  

Bill O'Brien tells the story of finding out that his wife had a tumor on her brain that took away the use of the right side of her body.  He writes: “My initial response was, “God, we are drowning - don't you care?”

And then early one morning [he] read Psalm 84 and the first two verses jumped off the page: “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.  As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs.”  Bill wrote that at reading those lines a sense of peace began “to settle in even before we knew what the outcome was to be.  The miracle of God's presence, accompanied by the power to live in any situation, was all we needed.”

In Bill's view, the miracle he became aware of was not that God took away his wife's tumor, but the gift of knowing that God was there as a strength-giving presence that would help them cope and direct their choices with whatever was ahead.

For me, Bill brings up the two most important aspects of having Christ at the stern of our lives.  First, putting God in the steering portion of our lives can be a life-giving source of comfort.  It can enable us to ride the waves a bit easier.  It also means that we will be challenged to put our faith into action particularly during challenging times. Whether we are in a personal “storm” or a societal one, life-giving comfort and the courage to act are two important aspects of having Christ at the stern of our lives.

This morning I would like to use this story of Jesus in the storm as an excuse to share with you a part of our Congregational -UCC history that you might not know about.  It is the story of the Amistad, a 19th century ship caught in the “storm” of slavery and civil rights in 1839.  It is a part of our history as a denomination that reflects how our UCC commitment to justice has been a part of our denomination for over 160 years.

Film producer, Steven Speilberg created a film to tell the Amistad story, but failed to mention the Christian faith and actions that were a part of it.  Perhaps some of you have seen the film, I noticed it was recently broadcast on TV as well.

It took place in 1839, it was an international story which was the first human rights case to be argued in the U.S. court system on behalf of Africans.  In the words of Judge Constance Baker Motely, “The Supreme Court's Amistad decision is the first legal milestone in the long, difficult struggle in the courts by persons of color for equal justice under law.”

There were 53 African people illegally kidnapped in Mendi (present day Sierra Leone) and sold into slavery.  They were shackled and carried aboard the Portuguese slave vessel Tecora and taken to Cuba, where they were fraudulently classified as Cuban slaves.  After their purchase, they were transferred to a cargo schooner, La Amistad, for transport to another part of the island.  Three days into the journey the Mende people revolted, led by a 25 year-old rice farmer named Sengbe Pieh.  

After the ship was taken by the Mende people, the two Spaniard leaders were ordered to return the ship toward the rising sun - back to Africa - but at night they secretly turned around and headed up the coast of North America.  They sailed for two months, losing ten of the Africans from lack of food and water.  Eventually they made their way to Long Island Sound and were seized by the U.S. Navy off the coast of Connecticut.

The Africans were jailed in New Haven on charges of murder.  The two Spaniards asked the court to hand over the Amistad to Spanish officials.  They also demanded that the cargo - which meant the black men and a few children that they claimed to own as slaves - would be handed over as well.  

Things did not look promising in court for the African people.  Judge Andrew Judson who oversaw the case did not have a background that suggested he would be sympathetic to the Africans.  In 1831 he had instigated a law restricting schools for blacks in Connecticut and then prosecuted a young white schoolmistress, Prudence Crandall, for admitting black girls to her school in Canterbury.  

After hearing the story, Judge Judson decided that the African men should be charged with mutiny and murder and the children held as witnesses.  But Connecticut attorney Roger S. Baldwin and former president John Quincy Adams successfully argued for the African's release before the U.S. Supreme Court, proving that they had never been slaves, nor were they ever Spanish subjects and therefore not governed by Spanish cargo laws.

The Mende defendants understood the court proceedings because their society had a legal system of its own.  The 25 year-old rice farmer, Sengbe Pieh said these words during his testimony: “At this moment, I am calling back to all my ancestors, to the beginning of time.  I am asking them to join me, because they are the whole reason I have existed at all.”

The Supreme Court ruled that the Africans, who had never been slaves, were entitled to their freedom and allowed to return home.

Besides the courage of the Mende people and their legal defense team, there was a coalition of white and African American free men and women abolitionists who were working together for justice behind the scenes.  Many of these were congregationalist's, putting their faith into action.  African American abolitionist James Pennington was an escaped slave himself and was the pastor at the First Colored Congregational Church in Hartford and was one of the most ardent supporters of the Mende people.  Lewis Tappan, a wealthy Connecticut merchant raised the money to care for the Africans while they were in prison, to pay for their legal defense and to help them return home after they were freed.  Tappan's home was burned down in protest of his position.

This coalition of faithful people became Christ's comforting presence for a frightened people.  Clearly Christ was in the stern of their hearts, guiding them in their ability to work for justice right beside the Mende people whose courage and dignity was unfailing.  Even the storm of racism did not capsize them.

One of the exciting adventures that has been a part of our United Church of Christ these past few years, in memory and celebration of this important event, has been the re-creation of the Amistad ship.  Volunteers man the ship and over 300,000 adults and children have toured it and learned about the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade and be inspired by the vision of freedom which guided the Mende people and their U.S. supporters.  This summer it is on a Great Lakes tour for those of you that might be traveling eastward, you might want to look up more information on the web.

When Christ is invited into the stern of the heart, the miracle his life-giving presence and power can equip us to work together for healing and justice.  (Resources for this story came from the UCC web page)

Let us pray…