The Truth Marches On

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come. We invoke your presence this morning as we pause to look back over the way we’ve come and at the same time look ahead to where we need to go.

Shower your blessings upon us as we remember that everyone who is a child of God conquers the world and that the victory that conquers the world is our faith. Since nothing is impossible with you, we stand in awesome wonder at your servant, Sojourner Truth, who made the impossible seem routine.

We lift our voices in solemn praise as we pause to remember. We pause to remember the well-worn road traveled by Sojourner Truth; we pause to remember how enslavement did not hold back her intellect; how the praxis of inhumane and unjust laws couldn’t capture her indomitable spirit; and how exclusionary tactics couldn’t contain her desire to serve a higher power.

We pause to remember her powerful words; eloquent speeches and her bold stand for women’s rights, voting rights, freedom and the right to full participation and partnership in the American enterprise.

Thank you for giving us this day to honor a unique woman of firsts who risked her life to speak truth when speaking truth could cost you more than you were willing to pay. Thank you for this moment that reminds us that we can speak truth to power; remember that truth will prevail against the vilest lies; the truth that is liberating for the speaker and the hearer; the truth that continues a forward march harmonizing the discords of injustice.

A lifting truth that confronts fears and phobias; a living truth that breaks the chains of social, intellectual and physical incarceration; a truth that energizes and stirs up the multitude of gifts you’ve given us so that our daughter’s daughters and their daughters after them will be brave and bold articulators of truth, closing the gap between policy and praxis until justice flows like a mighty river.

In remembering, help us to renew our commitment to truth; champion a cause that has not touched our home but our hearts; be a voice for those who have not found theirs; support boldly the cause of freedom wherever we are so that our freedom won’t mean the enslavement of anyone else.

In remembering, give us your vision for the future. Help us to plow new ground, plant seeds in good soil so that the harvest will be for all of us not just some of us.

O God our help in ages past, continue to be our hope and strength for years to come. And the people of God say, Amen.

Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie
Prayer delivered in Emancipation Hall, U.S. Capitol Building
Unveiling of the bust of Sojourner Truth