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It is indeed an honor, a joy and delight to share with you on this incredible Tuesday morning where there's a lot of rain to let us know that God is in the work of growing things and so

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we're appreciative to be here on this uh incredible experience . Uh, y'all know I'm Methodist and we also can be Episcopal and Presbyterian, so I must make sure I establish a little protocol because that's the appropriate

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thing to do. So I would first say if I were in church to the chief apostle of our lives, the Holy Ghost, and to the incredible president of this institution, uh, the Reverend Doctor

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Jose Irizarry, to Dean and Margaret Aymer, to the faculty and the staff, the students assembled here , I'm appreciative of the invitation extended to me by the Latin and African and African diaspora student groups that

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have extended this invitation to me to come and share on this Martin Luther King Eucharistic moment. I feel like at this point. Uh, the current executive pastor of the seminary of the Southwest in that I

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bought my choir, my acolytes, my cross bearers , and everywhere, but I'm appreciative that our president , President Dean uh Bader Say, our academic dean Ben King, um, our director of chapel,

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uh, Professor Nathan Jennings, our dean of community life, all of the faculty, the staff, the students from the seminary of Southwest, will y'all stand so they can see that we took up most

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of their sanctuary today. I cannot say thank you enough for finding the time to end class as early students you can tell me thank you in your own personal ways for that gift, uh, but finding

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time to come on over in the midst of the rain, um, and so with that we're gonna go ahead and jump into this word as best as possible whoever I forgot to say thank you to,

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please note thank you. Oh, I should say this, uh, you know there are 3 people here, uh, that serve that we crossed paths before I. Got to this place and so I

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wanna say thank you to them uh as they've been people who have prayed for me when I discerned whether or not I was coming into Austin. So first I need to say to my brother, uh,

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the Reverend, uh, he doesn't like to know people know he's a reverend, but the Reverend Doctor Rodney Carruthers, who is the New Testament professor here . To the Reverend Doctor Carol Hazel, who is

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you all's preaching professor, um, the both of them were my TAs when I was in seminary. Uh, uh, uh, uh, Doctor Carruthers was TA in the New Testament course with, uh

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, Michael Joseph Brown and your preaching professor. She allowed me along with Mark Jefferson and Melda Sampson sit in their doctoral intensives for me to discern if preaching was a calling on my life, um, and

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so I'm grateful for their two witnesses that have helped me discern to come here. And Dean Margaret Aymer , her dad, he was the president of Hood Theological Seminary, which is the AME Zion Seminary in

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Salisbury, North Carolina, and we used to have a joke that he was holding my spot because I wanted to become the president of the school that my denomination founded and so I'm grateful for his witness and

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the stewardship that he had of the institution and now the joke is with President Lattimore that. He's holding my spot until I'm ready to become the president of the institution. With that being said, my brothers

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and my sisters, our text for this morning is coming from the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 1 verses 15 to 21, and I'll be reading from the New Living translation. I've been told by your

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dean of chapel, uh, Doctor Eric Wall to be myself. He didn't know how dangerous that was and so. I'm gonna take heed and follow his instructions because that's what I love to do as a

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Methodist. The Bible tells us that then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives Shira and Pua. When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they

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deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him. If it is a girl, let her live. But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king. Orders they allowed the

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boys to live too so the king of Egypt called for the midwives. Why have you done this? he demanded. Why have you allowed the boys to live? The Hebrew women who were not like the

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Egyptian women, the midwives replied, they are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time. I love this holy lie that is documented here in the scripture. So God

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was good. To the midwives and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful and because the midwives fear God, he gave them families of their own. Then Pharaoh gave this order to his

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people throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River , but you may let the girls live. My brothers and my sisters, my siblings in Christ, if I had to tag this text this morning,

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I would tag it. We've come this far by faith. Well, we're here to celebrate the legacy , the work the witness of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior, and we know him. We

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know him well. We know the things that he valued, the things that he talked about, the things that he cared about. We know him because of the quotes that we have now documented. He

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used to tell us injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice. The arc of the moral universe is long, but

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it bends towards justice. Thank you Jesus. Freedom is never a voluntarily it's given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling

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block in his stride towards freedom is not the white citizens counselor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who was more devoted to the order than the justice. Hate cannot drive. Without hate only love

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can do that. I had decided to stick with love. Hate is too great of a burden to bear. The ultimate witness of violence is that there is a descending spiral begetting the very thing that seeks

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to destroy. Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and ennobles those men to wield it. It is a sword that heals love. Love is the only force capable of transforming any.

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The enemy into a friend, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King had a philosophy of justice, a philosophy of nonviolence, a philosophy of preaching truth to power . He was a young man who matriculated through Morehouse

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College and served God in Atlanta, Georgia. Y'all know I got a little expression and love for the city of Atlanta. It's good to celebrate a person who love collard greens, black-eyed peas, macaroni and

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cheese, a little fried chicken from Busy Bee around the corner from Morehouse. Doctor Martin Luther King's philosophy of justice was deeply rooted in Christian theology, the ethic of nonviolence, and the democratic ideal of equality

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. His vision was not merely about racial integration, but it was also about building a society grounded in dignity, love, and collective liberation. He believed that justice as love was an action, that there

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had to be a moral urgency of justice. We couldn't just wait for it. To come to us that nonviolence as a path to justice was what we all needed to do. He believed that justice as

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a systemic change was worthy of fighting for not just individual morality. He believed that faith and hope were catalysts to justice, that the belief of the art of history bends toward justice. Yeah, king,

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he thought that justice was more than fairness. It was a full realization of human dignity. His philosophy reminds us that justice does not happen by accident. But that it requires courage, collective struggle, and

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an unwavering commitment to love and truth. His legacy calls us not to only believe in justice but to work for it in every aspect of our lives which brings us to our text on this morning. My

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brothers and my sisters, y'all already know how this goes. There's no way I would celebrate a man without acknowledging a few women because there's no way that victory can be won with just men with their hands

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to the plow. Exodus 1:2 tells. The story of the 70 years from Joseph, the reign of the new Pharaoh, who did not know Joseph. The Hebrews had grown in number in their slavery,

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had remained true to the faith of God, and had become a threat to the rule of the new Pharaoh. In verse 10, we find out that Pharaoh is afraid. He's afraid that the Israelites will

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rise up, perhaps because of the old kingdom. He believes that they will be overthrown in number. They ain't even do nothing. The threat of their potential was rings to his heart. So to deal

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with them, he sets in the work making them do things that are just out beyond their capacity, but he soon finds out that there's nothing beyond their capacity because they got a Yahweh on their side.

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Indeed they were able to make brick without straw. These people were able to show who God is and their strength even in a sad and bad situation, so he grew so afraid. That he threatened to

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suspend and he he that he grew so afraid that the supposed minority of individuals would become the majority that he puts a decree out to kill all the baby boys. Now, interestingly enough, he somehow must

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have forgot that the sisters too had a brain and power. And I must ask the question for all of us who somehow along in life have been overlooked , marginalized, or dismissed. When will we begin

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to realize that we are no longer the minority, that we indeed are the majority. And if I had to have a sub subject to this, I would say that our our culture cannot be. Cancel

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, what is that culture I'm talking about? I'm talking about the culture of love and justice and equality and equity that culture cannot be canceled. I don't care what the executive orders are, the culture of

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employment and health care stability, joy and peace and victory, it cannot be canceled. Now victory has never been won. Crisis has never been resolved without a woman being involved. And so while we recognize

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the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, we must also pay attention in our own lives to the unsung heroes , the hidden figures. The civil rights movement was not just a movement led by MLK and Malcolm X

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and Abernathy, Stokely Carmichael. There was Ella Baker , Daisy Bates, Fannie Lou Hamer, Dorothy Height , Diane Nash, Stephon Clark, Joan. And Richardson, Mahalia Jackson, Paulie Murray, Prathea Hall

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, Mamie Mobley, Claudette Copeland, there were others who helped to make sure that while Dr. King was at the microphone, somebody made sure that the doors of the church remained open. And in 2013

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, 3 radical black organizers, Alicia, Patrice and Opal created a black-centered political will and movement building project called Black Lives Matter outside the church. They did this in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin's murderer

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George Zimmerman. The project is now a member-led global network of more than 40 chapters. Our members organize and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on black communities by the state and vigilantes. Black Lives

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Matter is an ideological and political intervention in the world where black lives are systemically and intentionally targeted for demise . Well, I wonder where they got their model from. Huh, sounds like it happened somewhere in

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Exodus where Pharaoh commands that the Hebrew wives Shira and Pua, Shira was named who means to be fair and beautiful and pua's name who means little girl. They were demanded to kill every baby boy. The

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Hebrews probably needed more than just two midwives, so these 2 may have been the leaders of their midwives guilt, which is why they're named to be a midwife in that culture was much more than just helping

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a mom give birth to deliver. But a midwife gave input on conception, pregnancy, birth, and caring for the child. This model of being able to make sure from the cradle to the grave you

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had justice I believe that the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement followed the model that had given it to us here in Exodus chapter one. God is in the midst of us as a Holy Spirit moving

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in the midwife in our lives, specializing in bringing life out of death and order out of chaos and hope out of despair. Dare I ask you who in your life is the midwife helping bring life to

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you? Who is working silently behind the scenes to birth hope in your life? Who is helping you to deliver your dreams to reality to bring them forth in faith? Maybe it's time that you just pause

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and thank God for the silent heroes, the unsung heroes in your journey. So then, what is it that we're supposed to learn from this text? I'm so glad you asked in your sanctified mind and

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holy imagination. What we ought to learn from this text is something very important. What we discovered here is that there comes a time when the people of God must decide. Will we bow to Pharaoh or

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will we stand for liberation? Will we obey the commandments of the empire or will we honor the call of God? This is the choice that the Hebrew midwives are facing. Pharaoh, the most powerful ruler

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of the time, gave them an order heal the Hebrew baby boys in a generation. Destroy a future , but these women, these holy descendants chose to fear God rather than fear the pharaoh, and because

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of their faith they became midwives to liberation. Doctor King was a modern day midwife to justice like Shipo . He stood before the empire that demanded submission, an empire that demanded silence, an empire that called

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for black folk to know their place. He stood in the gap as a midwife and yet. He did not bow and yet we're still trying to see if the dream will ever come of reality. He

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preached, he marched, he strategized, he was no naive dreamer. He was a radical truth teller who understood that faith without struggle is dead. But you all know, as a woman of style,

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I must remind you that he did not stand alone just as the midwives work behind the scenes to ensure that justice was born, so did two other black women. Their resistance like the midwives was an act

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of faith. So today we honor Doctor King. We do so by looking to this biblical tradition, recognizing that women and people who resist empire, who stand in the face of oppression and who declare,

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I ain't gonna let nobody turn me around is a work of God. The text tells us just a few things and I'll be out of your way. That we must have the courage to birth, liberation

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, Exodus 1 and 17. The text tells us that the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded. Now this is when , this is when uh their fear of punishment somehow

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gets dismissed. Their reverence for God and for justice is outweighed their fear. These women understood that Pharaoh's word was not the final word. Doctor King understood the same thing when he preached, Give us the

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ballot in 1957. He wasn't just talking about voting . Right he was talking about birthing a new future . He knew that justice just doesn't happen it must be delivered. It must be pushed into existence and

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we discover in this text that these women who set up a plan of action might have become the nonviolent motion and methodology that he employed. You'll never hear that they raised their hand or raise their voices.

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They just made a decision, a decision to become collaborative in a way as sisters to make a decision to save a future of people that they didn't even know. We learned then that holy defiance in the

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face of empire is a work of God. Exodus chapter 1 verses 18 to 19. When Pharaoh questioned the midwives, they responded with wisdom and strategy. They told him the women, the Hebrew women are

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vigorous and give birth before we arrive. Uh, well, where were they then? Where were they supposed to have been? Somehow they knew that that uh story that fable, that fib, uh,

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I don't know about anybody else but I grew up in a household where I couldn't say lie, but that story. They shared it because they knew that it would buy them the time they needed to make

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sure justice had prevailed. Now whether or not it was true really is not the point. The point is that they outmaneuvered Pharaoh without compromising their faith. Doctor King understood that resisting oppression required both faith and

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strategy. He studied Gandhi, organized economic boycotts, and built coalitions. His leadership was not just about moral courage. It was about disciplined, intentional action . And let's be clear, the backbone of this

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movement was that of women while he was at the microphone, those who were organizing were led by Ella Baker. She taught us that strong people don't need strong leaders. She knew that grassroots organizing was the

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key. Diane Nash, who was just 22, helped lead the freedom rise. These women, like the midwives, were wise enough to navigate the systems of oppression and patriarchy. And bold enough to resist

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them. My brothers and my sisters, they are just two things I need you to know that while you're trying to live out this life of justice, the first thing you need to know is watch how

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you live. Be quiet. Everything doesn't have to be publicized to published on social media. In my sanctified imagination they held a hush harbor meeting just like my ancestors who came across the waters, not so

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much by choice. They had a meeting where nobody could see them and strategize how they would find freedom . They decided that they would maintain their integrity and make sure that they would make a plan that nobody

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heard about. They didn't go and tell everybody what they were doing. There's something about the silent work of God that does not require a broadcast. They lived in such a way that when they made a

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decision and were questioned about it, nobody could cancel what it is that they decided to do because of them being hypocrites. See, there's something we must be careful about the next generation has a good handle

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of posting of what exactly it is that they're doing . There's a good way of telling people exactly where you're gonna show up and then be shocked when supposedly the enemy shows up. It's interesting now that people

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wanna tell everything but somehow forget what they used to do and used to say. It's interesting how people are shocked that when they publicize what they're doing somehow their past shows up and now they're part of the

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cancel culture. I think there's something to be said about planning in silence and covering yourself and allowing God to have God's way because you don't need credit for God's work anyway. The next thing I need you

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to know is that you ought to know where your help come from. Now, just in case you're unfamiliar with my preaching style, here's why I'm turning to good black preaching. I need you to know

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that there's something special about knowing and fighting for justice that you can't do it by yourself. Your hands are too small to handle God's business and your arms are too short to box with God. The ship

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for ship run for knew exactly where their help had come from. They knew that help was not coming from the Pharaoh and their help was. Not coming from other individuals. They knew that their help was

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coming from God. So when Chipra and Pua realized that they were going to make sure that God had God's way, they obeyed God and not man. That's verse 17. It says that they feared God

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. I need you to know that that fear is not just any type of fear, it's a reverent fear. It relates to honor and respect and all . The word of God outweighed the word of the

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king. They knew that as Hebrew midwives that Pharaoh was powerful, but they knew that. God was more powerful, my brothers and my sisters. The joy that overtakes me when I know I can't handle

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a situation is because I can rely on knowing where my power comes from. My power comes from a God who still sits high and looks lower and because that God still lives, I give God praise.

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I'm excited to testify to you to let you know that these midwives decided to lean on the power of God. These women knew that God would honor their . Resistance because they were honoring God. Pharaoh can

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take their lives, but God can take their souls , and that's what they decided just like my ancestors before I'd be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my lord and be

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free. It's that God who showed up for my people across the Middle Passage and that God who showed up for my people and plantations in Augusta, Georgia . It's that God that I still serve today.

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Well my brothers. And my sisters, I declare to you that we have seen miracles, but we've got more miracles we need to see. The text lets us know that because the midwives feared God,

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he gave them families. In other words, God blessed their faithfulness. Pharaoh thought he was writing history . He thought he had had the final word, but here's the irony. We remember the names of

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Shira and poor, but we do not know Pharaoh's name because God honors those who stand on the side of justice. Doctor King understood this very well in his final sermon. I've been to the mountain top

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, he said. I don't. Know what will happen now, but it really doesn't matter with me now because I've been to the mountain top and I don't mind. I've seen the promised land. I

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may not get there with you, but what I want you to know tonight that there is a people who will get to the promised land. He knew that the work of liberation was bigger than one person

00:19:48.830 - 00:20:00.030

, bigger than one moment and I need you to know that it's bigger than us. It's long. It's inter intergenerational labor of love. Defiance and my brothers and my sisters, when we don't know how

00:20:00.030 - 00:20:11.830

to fix it, we gotta know that God is in the business of fixing all matters and I like the Shira and poor, the midwives, I declare like Lucille Clifton, we also must declare, won't

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you celebrate with me what I've shaped into a kind of life I had no model born in Babylon, both non-white and woman. What did I see to be expected. Of myself I made it up here

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on this bridge between star shine and clay, my own hand holding tight, my other hand come celebrate with me that everything, every day something has tried to kill me and failed. My brothers and my

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sisters, the good news is that despite what the enemy has thrown your way, our collective testimony is that we are here today and that we are survivors that while we thought we would lose our mind,

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God kept us intact when we didn't. Have enough money God paid the bill. When we didn't know the doctor's diagnosis, God showed up as a healer and despite the hell we're going through, God is

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still good on this Tuesday morning. My siblings in Christ, we stand on the shoulders of those who refuse to bow. We are here because of the midwives and the movement makers, because of ancestors who

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prayed us through, because of freedom fighters who kept their hands to the plow, and so we close on this wonderful day. I invite us. To lean into the faith that has carried us we may

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still have pharaohs in the land. We may still have empires that demand our silence, but we've come this far by faith and we will not turn around and we lift up today that we've come this far

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by faith, leaning on the Lord, trusting in His holy word. He's never failed us yet, and the saints would holler 00. Become this. By faith, so let us go forth in that

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faith. Let us be the midwives to justice. Let us be the holy descendants and let us like our ancestors before us, refuse to let anybody turn