
Recently,
at Virginia Seminary, a lecturer told the story of Sojourner Truth.
She was a slave who was freed on July 4, 1827. After being freed,
and with little more than the clothes on her back, she began walking
through Long Island and Connecticut , speaking to people in the
countryside about her life and her relationship with God.
One
day she had stopped at a well by the roadside to have a drink of
water. A woman approached her and, after talking for a while, asked
Sojourner her name. Born Isabella Baumfree, she thought for a moment
before she responded. She was aware that the slaves were given their
first names by their masters at birth and then usually took the
last name of the master. She decided in that moment to changer her
name.
She
decided her first name would be the word for what she was doing:
she became "Sojourner." She decided that her last name would be
taken from her new master: "Truth." Thus, she became "Sojourner
Truth:" one who pursues, or serves, the truth.
I
wonder, if we gave up the names we were given at our birth and decided
to name ourselves by asking and answering those two questions: what
would our name be?
What
are you doing? Who are you serving? What is your name? We pray Christ
Church is a community where the questions may be asked, and the
answers may be found.
Harrison McLeod+
Rector
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