A History of Endurance

Welcome to the Knox Talks blog. Here you can find recent and past sermons relating scripture to a wide variety of topics. I would like to thank Shelley Rose for transcribing my notes into text for the blog.

A History of Endurance

Scriptures: Isaiah 40:21-31

My previous charge was in Chatham, Ontario which is very proud of being one end of the Underground Railroad, that network of volunteers who ferried people fleeing slavery in the Southern United States to the relative safety of Canada

Chatham has a better history of integration than many other parts of Canada and in my congregation we had several black families, which included the chair of the Executive Council and the chair of the Ministry & Personnel Committee. Yet, for all of that, there was a town up the road that had a law on the books until the 1960s requiring all black people to be outside of the town limits by sunset each day.

The underground railroad is something Canada is proud of. As good as that part of our history was, it might help us to forget our previous history when slaves escaped from owners in Eastern Canada to cross south into northern US States that were abolitionist well before Queen Victoria got around to it.

An often neglected element of this history is that in New France indigenous people were press-ganged and enslaved. But they could be rescued by their friends and if they escaped, they could survive in the wilds of Canada.

Colonial leaders advised farmers to buy their slaves from the markets that brought people in from Africa because they were cut off from home and family and had less hope of escape in this alien climate. It sounds like the intended effects of residential schools – a deliberate separation from language and culture.

White Canadians often get wrapped up in the issue of slavery when we think about Black History month, but I don’t want to dwell on that.

Remembering that our society used to do this and justified it by claiming that Africans were somehow inferior has made a huge difference to what has happened since.

Canada has not often been a welcoming place and over time our black communities have been treated badly in most of our provinces, despite their deep, historic roots going back before Confederation in some cases.

A case in point was Africville, a black settlement in Halifax. First records of it date back to 1848 and after 120 years of being under-serviced, without water or sewage services despite paying taxes, it was destroyed in the 1960s by the city of Halifax and notoriously, its church, the centre of the community, was bulldozed on November 20, 1967 in the middle of the night.

The church has often been an important part of the way these communities have managed to overcome racism, restrictions on employment, expropriation and expulsion, targeting by police and social services that in some forms continue to this day.

The gathering of people of faith remains a significant source of strength and hope and a wonderful place to celebrate community and culture. It’s amazing how much of the Bible deals with oppressed people seeking out God, like our lesson from Isaiah today, first delivered to a people being taken into captivity in Babylon.

And as inspirational as we may find it to sing about rising up on Eagles’ wings, just try to imagine what that promise must mean when every authority is raising its hand against you.

One of the original purposes of Black History Month was to ensure that Canadian history took note of the contributions of black citizens that we weren’t taught in High School history classes. And so, over the years, historical displays and TV specials have taught us about Black Canadians who have made a difference.

Lately, a number of people have raised the concern that learning history isn’t enough; we are in a changing world and we have to take seriously the present and future as well. Current attitudes our culture has towards people of African Descent may include good feelings about the Underground Railroad and certain athletes and famous musicians, but it also may feel challenged by Hip-Hop music and culture, art forms and clothing styles and even the ways people may speak.

In Canada, we are finally shaking off the idea that racism is an American issue that Canadians can ignore. We are realizing that assumptions of cultural superiority are just as real here as south of the border. We just haven’t confronted it as openly.

On top of that, we are becoming aware of the number of new people who are coming here from many African countries. The underground railroad was never part of their history and we have to be aware of our own tendency to generalize unfairly, making assumptions about how many people are refugees and whether they are bringing their fights from home to our shores and worse, assumptions about needing to be scared because their young people will all join gangs and start dealing drugs. Do we have the same fears about young people coming as refugees from Ukraine?

Black history in Canada has included slavery in the past and all of the inter-generational trauma that brought and that we have not addressed. It includes racism that was once open and acceptable and is still present, although we denounce it and express shock when, for example, racist graffiti was sprayed on Parkdale United Church. The present still includes racial profiling and other kinds of racism that are too slowly being weeded out of our systems.

And through all of these challenges the black community has generated hope, faith, and a vision for the future. They are an example of the strength of a community as they have supported each other and drawn on God for strength and hope in the face of serious opposition. They have endured some terrible wrongs and have celebrated some wonderful joys.

New opportunities and challenges will continue to arise: one example is of a new congregation being formed of people who speak Swahili who have come from countries all across Africa. The people themselves live across Ottawa and we may not be central enough to offer them the space they want and the public transit they need, but it’s wonderful to learn that a new congregation is being formed in the United church. I would be fascinated to discover what happens in their service of worship.

I have heard it said many times in recent years that in this age when so many of our traditional churches are facing decline, that the revitalization of Christianity will come from Africa and people of African descent.

It is high time that we make a point of learning about Black History, because we may find within it a glimpse of our own future as people of faith. Maybe more than a glimpse: maybe inspiration as we learn some valuable lessons from people who have managed to get through some very challenging times and have found new and creative ways to rise up on Eagle’s wings.

Amen.