What are Your Smooth Stones? Preached at Wollaston Congregational Church on June 20th, 2021 Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49 Today we heard the last part of the big story of our sermon series from the book of 1 Samuel. Our reading for today begins as the Israelites are engaged in a battle with their long-time enemies, the Philistines. The Philistines have brought out their champion, Goliath, who is so large that he is described as a giant. Goliath is clothed with weighty bronze mail, has a massive spear, and a shield-bearer goes ahead of him. He has challenged the Israelites to choose a man to fight him, one on one. The victor will determine the outcome of the battle and the losers will be enslaved by the winners. King Saul and the Israelites are terrified at the sight of the champion and do not know what to do. This is what is going on when the young shepherd boy, David, arrives on the scene. He has come to bring provisions to his brothers who are fighting for Israel. David takes in the situation and thinks back to his time caring for sheep on the hillside. David has used his skills with the slingshot to take the predators, lions and bears, that threatened the sheep. He convinces King Saul that he can use the same technique with the giant. But Saul is sure that David will need to be armed against the enemy. Saul takes off his own armor and offers his own sword for David to use. Since Saul is so tall and David is small, the armor does not fit and it is too heavy to wear. It would impede David rather than empower him. And so David goes to the wadi – the stream running through the valley – and picks up some smooth stones. He is ready to go. Goliath is amused by the sight of David coming for him with a small slingshot and no armor. Perhaps he’s even a little insulted. He asks "am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" David asserts that he does not need a sword or spear, as he comes in the name of the Lord. As the Philistine advances, David takes a stone and slings it, hitting Goliath in the temple and bringing him down, dead. David was equipped to defeat the giant without wearing Saul’s armor. This is the way that God has prepared David to be a warrior and the future king of Israel. David wins the day because he remains true to the way God made him, wearing his own clothes. He does not try to be anyone else. The story of David and Goliath has been told for generations in many different ways. One way it was told was in a poem written by Phillis Wheatley around the time of the American Revolution. Phillis Wheatley was born in Senegal/Gambia around 1753. [1] She was kidnapped from her family at the age of 7 and transported to America via “the Middle Passage” on a ship named the “Phillis.” She was purchased by John Wheatley at the auction block in Boston, to serve as a domestic slave at the age of 8. Phillis served John Wheatley’s wife, Susanna, who noticed that Phillis was an intelligent child, even though she was small. The Wheatley family provided an education for Phillis, so that she learned to read and write in Latin and Greek as well as English. She became a poet and was the first black American woman to be published. Her first book was “Poems or Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” published in 1773. The poem “Goliath of Gath” tells the story of David and Goliath. In Wheatley’s telling, the story concerns slavery. The losers of the battle will become the slaves of their enemy. David saves the Israelites and delivers them to freedom. As a petite young woman, Wheatley became an 18th century David. Words were the smooth stones Phillis Wheatley used against the giant of slavery. Wheatley attended the Old South Meeting House in Boston, where she was baptized. Old South Church, United Church of Christ in now located in Back Bay and they celebrate Phillis Wheatley Sunday every year in May, promenading to the statue of Phillis at the Boston Women’s Memorial on Commonwealth Avenue. The year that I served Old South as ministerial intern, the entire congregation walked out, after the morning service to eat cupcakes at the Memorial. The day is designated “hat Sunday”, everyone wears their finest hats, to honor the ladies of the African American church and their custom of wearing fine hats to church. Yesterday was Juneteenth: June 19th, also known as Black Independence Day. June 19th is the day that marks the end of slavery in Texas in 1865 – the last state to make that commitment. This year, 2021, is the first time that this milestone has been observed as a federal holiday. It is appropriate to that we remember Phillis Wheatley today. We are also celebrating the young people of Wollaston Congregational Church today, and the scholarships that have been awarded. These scholarship funds were established by the former Wollaston Congregational minister, Rev. Elden Zuern, and another Phyllis: Phyllis Winslow. Phyllis was a member of our church who graduated from Andover Newton Theological School at the age of 80. She proved that we are never too old to learn. The students we celebrate today have gone up against a giant disruption to their education during this past year of pandemic. In spite of the challenges to work and learning that COVID presented, they are all planning to continue their education in the coming school year. Each student has demonstrated their commitment to our church in their application. They each speak of smooth stones that they were equipped with by being a part of our faith community. They show that they are dedicated to being the person God created them to be, without the need for someone else’s armor. We are all proud that Connor has now graduated from North Quincy High School and will go on to Michigan State University. He will major in business. Connor told us that growing up in Wolly Cong helped him to learn how to make a difference in the world through volunteering. He put this learning into practice last year, when he dedicated his Eagle Scout project to the church, painting and restoring the social hall downstairs. It is beautiful, and as the groups who use our building are beginning to re-gather again, they will enjoy the hall this summer. Connor plans to begin a business one day, and will apply the principles he learned here in the church. He says “Employees would find it rewarding to volunteer for good causes, clients of businesses would prefer to know that they are doing business with a good corporate citizen.” Connor, your smooth stones are a commitment to volunteering and community service. Hannah is continuing her education at Florida State University and is majoring in Public Health. She remembers Sunday School and coffee hour at Wollaston Congregational, which gave her the basis of her faith. At church, she learned how important it is to love what you are doing, and we can celebrate that she has chosen to love and serve the community through Public Health. We have certainly learned, this past year, what a valuable and necessary field of kind work that is. Hannah, your smooth stones are your commitment to the health of the community. Izzy is also continuing her education at Norwich University, majoring in Exercise Science. She says that her earliest memories are from this church, and remembers watching Veggie Tales in Sunday School. I wonder if she saw the one about Dave the shepherd and the Giant Pickle. Izzy says that “Being surrounded by such a positive community at church has led me to implement that attitude into my everyday life.” We are proud that Izzy is using the gifts God gave her – a dedication to sports and exercise – as her smooth stones, to make the community a healthier, happier place. Megan’s first day at WCC was my first day here too. She came along to the church with her family friend, Mary. Megan had moved to Boston to begin her first job in early intervention through music therapy. Megan has subsequently moved back to Pennsylvania, to be with Sophie and to continue her work, but now she plans to take additional counseling courses to become a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Pennsylvania. We’ve missed Megan while she’s been gone, and so we’ve been so glad she has joined us on our Zoom services over the past year. Megan says “WCC has been the first church in which I truly feel ‘at home’. I have been accepted for who I am in all facets and have been encouraged to grow in my faith and community since the first day I came with Mary to a service.” Megan, you grow ever more true to who God intends you to be, and how God intends you to show your gifts in the world. The smooth stones of your abilities in music and therapy will help hurting families and their children to heal. Abby came to WCC as a youth member and says that she learned the importance of community here. It’s encouraging to know that Abby thinks of WCC as a safe environment where she developed her professional skill, her smooth stones of: “public speaking, social engagement, event management, and documentation through photography.” Abby is pursuing a Masters of Photography and Integrated Media at Lesley University, which will lead her to new ways of developing and connecting with community. Today we have heard examples of people of all ages choosing to remain true to whom God made them to be. They have honed the smooth stones of their gifts and skills to serve the community in their own unique ways. Our world faces the giants of our time: the COVID pandemic, climate change, racism, epidemics of loneliness and disconnection. Whether we are as old as Phyllis Winslow, or as young as Phillis Wheatley, God calls us and equips us by Christ’s life-giving Spirit to defeat these foes. This is WHY we are church … May all God’s people say, Amen [1] https://www.biography.com/writer/phillis-wheatley
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