Bertha Venation
Exodus 1:8-14, 2:1-10
I will be attending the Ryan White All Titles Conference this coming week in Washington DC. The legislation that provides important HIV services to people all across our nation is named after a little boy who came to personify the epidemic before his death at 16. Now, our nation’s response to fight the spread of HIV bears his name. I know that many of us will say we are not old enough to remember Torch Song Trilogy – the 1980s play and film that brought love, tragedy, classic one-liners and unexpected heroes. Charles Pierce’s role as Bertha Venation was just one of several memorable characters. His acidic humor and over-the-top wardrobe inspired many a performer in my generation.
So what could Ryan White and a 1980s story about drag queens in New York have to do with Moses? They are all stories of resistance. I want to suggest to you that resistance is how the presence of God is manifested through those who are excluded from the economic or social power structures. All of these stories highlight people who refused to collude with fear – even when the consequences are enormous.
Moses owed his life to five women – four of them economically impoverished and enslaved – the other a daughter who undermines her father. These five females conspire to resist the evil of Pharaoh’s edict that all male Hebrew babies be killed.
The set-up to the story of Moses shows us the destruction fear can wield even in those like Pharaoh who seem to have absolute power. It also demonstrates the convoluted places we are taken if we allow fear to be our guide. Pharaoh was willing to enslave the entire Hebrew culture out of fear. And then he undermined the whole economic system that thrived on the enslavement of Hebrew workers simply out of fear that the Hebrews “might one day at some unknown time” side with an enemy against them. One might say that Pharaoh was a few bricks shy of a pyramid! But that’s what fear does to us.
Unlike the Borg mantra in the Star Trek series that “resistance is futile” the women of this story display an array of resistance techniques and refused to be assimilated into the dangerous and deadly will of evil. Resistance is not futile, but it can be subtle. Did you notice that Moses’ mother actually did exactly what Pharaoh ordered? After the failed order for the midwives to kill male babies on the birthing stool, Pharaoh commands that if a newborn was male, he should be thrown into the river. That’s what Moses’ mother did. Of course, she kept him for about three months and then when she threw him into the Nile, he was inside a floating basket, but Pharaoh hadn’t stated how the baby was to be thrown in the river. She had technically followed the order, maintaining resistance. And Pharaoh’s daughter would surely have known about the decree to exterminate male Hebrew babies, yet she saved this particular child. The story doesn’t tell us if she told her father this was a Hebrew baby or maybe he simply hadn’t noticed that she suddenly had a child and there was no evidence of her being pregnant. We’re left with a lot of questions, but certainly this story is about the courage to resist evil and the amazing perspective a child brings to any situation.
In a few moments we will all participate in the baptism of Amelia Isabel Lane-Outlaw. I’m sure her mothers can tell us that having a newborn in the house has changed a lot of things in their lives. Also this morning we are “birthing” a new chapter in the ministry of Rev. Steve Robertson. (I didn’t have a bare-chested picture of him laying on a baby blanket like Amelia.) He served as clergy for many years in the Lutheran Church and today we will affirm that ordination as clergy within MCC. In these two holy moments of baptism and ordination affirmation the words of the prophet Isaiah are instructive to us, “A little child shall lead them.” (Isaiah 11:6)
I read a story from Bishop John Shelby Spong recently where he and his wife Christine were attending their twin grandchildren’s “graduation” from Kindergarten. Their son, Brian, and his wife, Julieann, were not church-goers but didn’t mind the children, Colin and Katherine, attending with their grandparents. So the Spongs were surprised and greatly delighted when Julieann agreed to go with them for the first time to St. Martin’s. The children had attended this parish with their grandparents several times and seemed to feel comfortable there. When it was time to receive communion, the grandparents Spong and the children joined the line to go to the altar. Julieann was not yet ready to take this step. Just coming back to church that day was quite enough for her so she stayed in the pew. Colin did not understand why his mother was left behind and urged her forward. In a stage whisper that echoed around the sanctuary he said, “Come on, Momma.” She remained seated, however, and Colin and Katherine went to the altar with their grandparents to receive the bread and the cup. Everyone consumed their dipped communion wafer except for Colin. Instead he took a bite out of his. Bishop Spong noted that his bite consumed the part of the wafer that had been dipped into the wine! Then with resolute purpose Colin returned to his seat and fed his mother the other half of his communion bread. They watched though emotional and tear filled eyes, as Julieann received her first communion in years from the hands of her five-year-old son. Colin doesn’t know much about sacramental theology or ecclesiastical policy, but he does understand that no one is excluded from God’s table, especially those who, like his mother, have been hurt by religious leaders who want to limit God’s welcome in the name of their version of “true religion.”
“A little child shall lead them.”
In the struggle to defeat HIV, Ryan White became the national face of HIV even after his death as a teenager. In Torch Song Trilogy, life became complete with the addition of a child into the family. In the story of Moses, a group of powerless women resist the authority of the state to save the life of a child. Isaiah, Jesus and other prophets encourage us to approach God like a child. Whether in baptism, in ordination, in school, in life the qualities God seeks in us are trust, grace, love and awe. It is important for us to remember those qualities in our lives, especially we who call ourselves, All God’s Children.
Sources:
www.homileticsonline.com The Moses Footprint, August 2008
http://gayfortoday.blogspot.com/2007/07/charles-pierce.html http://www.bochynski.com/charlespierce/images/torch005.jpg http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2003/images/moses_found.jpg
