Harriet Tubman and The Liberators of Light!

"Liberate The Light" was the theme of a Sunday 'Sacred Sharing' Gathering I held in Santa Monica in April of this year. As we finished a prayer blessing, a member of my Circle walked in with an unexpected guest under her arm -- a Bible from Abolitionist times, reputed to have travelled with Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad.

Harriet Tubman was a runaway slave from Maryland, 'The Moses of her people', a bold, courageous, fearless icon of liberty, freedom and justice, a woman who risked her life time and time again to free slaves and bring them to safe sanctuary in the free states and Canada. The journey she made was along 'The Underground Railroad' -- code for a secret network of 'safe houses', tunnels, roads and people, both black and white, that helped slaves to freedom.

We sat in a Circle -- the 5 of us - three women, two men.Two of us were African American, three of us were white. I was awed by God in that moment. Here we were about to begin sharing about our journey to liberate more Light in our lives by dropping old fears and forgiving old beliefs and in walks my friend with the Bible. My friend had not received the email about the gathering and did not know our theme. But here we were focused on liberating more Light and in she walked with a Bible that was reputed to have travelled that ancient road to freedom.

The Bible had been found in a garage sale many years before in Virginia by a wealthy family that had recognized its value. My friend had formed a friendship with the owner of the Bible and told me about it. I was intrigued. I had always felt a great connection to the Abolitionist period -- I don't know why. Maybe just because my father spoke with admiration of John Brown, the famous white abolitionist who was a rebel and whose life and death was dedicated to the fight to abolish slavery in the South.

We set the Bible down on a small table in the middle of our Circle. It was old and weathered with beautiful lithographs of Jesus and the angels. John, one of the regular members of our Circle opened the Bible to John 8:32: Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

The irony was not lost on us. This Bible definitely had a presence, a voice and a message.

As I stared at it, I heard these words: There are many great ones that have come before you, who have suffered far greater adversities, unspeakable tragedies. This moment - now - is your opportunity to free yourselves of the fear, divisiveness, separation, racism that wreaked havoc in our lives, stripped us of our humanity, rent our souls.

When I think about why it came to our gathering -- why that morning and why to our Circle....I don't know that I have any answer that feels right- even all these months later. It certainly reminded us all of what once had been, how so many had suffered at the hands of ignorance and fear --and what still remained to be acknowledged, forgiven, healed. The Bible's arrival was telling us it seemed that there was still work to be done -- and that we had to do it together. Black and white, Irish, Scottish, French Canadian, Jewish, German, Christian, Muslim, Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran,Buddhist. We were all on this road together. The way it was meant to be.