“Kujichagulia”
Matthew 2:1-12
A Sermon by the Reverend Odette Lockwood-Stewart
Our text begins... In the time of King Herod. Herod was called “King of the Jews.” He grew wealthy and built massive buildings off the poverty of the Jewish people while serving the Roman Empire.
In the time of King Herod,...wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” Herod was threatened by this question. His power was subverted by the birth of a Jewish child. So he gathered intelligence and hatched a plot to destroy the child. He told the wise men: Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.
These wise ones, dignitaries from another land and culture followed the star until they found the Christ Child. They gave gifts to honor him.
In a dream they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they returned home to their own country by another way.
At Epworth through the season of Advent our theme has been, “Home by Another Way” ... drawn from this morning’s Scripture reading.
Through art, spiritual practices, study, song and spoken word, we’ve nurtured dreams and encouraged the choice to go home another way.
The very first Sunday of Advent I remember Nicholas testifying about the times in his own life that he defied Herod in different guises, including the Herod within himself – by choosing another way home.
I am grateful that today members of our community lead us in recognizing the observance of Kwanzaa. A new way home for many in this community. Kwanzaa is a week-long cultural holiday from December 26th to January 1st established by and for people of the African Diaspora.
In the mid 1960s Kwanzaa was created to affirm, restore and empower roots of African identity and culture following 250 years of slavery followed by systemic suppression.
Today we reflect on the second Kwanzaa principle, kujichagulia, or self-determination: “to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves instead of being defined, named, created and spoken for by others.”
Kujichagulia is a claimed cultural value ... it also is a fundamental human right and essential capacity. I once learned from a wise woman, that “The greatest power we have is the power to choose to whom and to what we give the power to define who we are.” The greatest respect we can show is to honor that self-determination and self-definition in other people and cultures.
As human beings, as citizens, and as followers of Christ, the tendency to speak for others is an insidious temptation. In subtle and blatant ways we presume to speak for others, we presume to know better ... for partners, family, even those we do not know. The most dangerous expression of this is when people with power presume to speak for the needs and experiences of those without power. And the power dynamics shift depending on who is in the room.
It’s not surprising that one of the most challenging and basic exercises in couple or group counseling is to practice listening by repeating what you hear another person say to their satisfaction before you can respond. It’s scary how often we get it wrong. We misunderstand, or misrepresent even a direct statement from one person we know well... let alone the words, actions, needs, or truths of people we do not know.
This morning I commend to you a simple spiritual practice in self-awareness and listening. Just for today. Let us try to refrain from “speaking for” another – even in our minds. If we find ourselves beginning to “speak for” someone else ... let’s pause for mercy and wisdom, praise God, and begin again to listen more deeply.
Self-definition and self-determination are not individual qualities. They are profoundly communal and powerfully political realities. Children are being targeted.
When we affirm a people’s right ... to define themselves, name themselves, create for themselves, and speak for themselves we respect relationships, decisions and power with social, political, and theological implications.
Just over one week ago in this sanctuary there was a prayer vigil witnessing to the murders of 57 people in Mindanao, in the Philippines – 57 women, children, journalists, seeking self-determination through free elections. Political power threatened is dangerous.
I hope you will see the film Invictus in which Nelson Mandela, after 27 years in prison, begins to lead South Africa to exceed its own expectations of itself. While in prison, he drew inspiration and strength from the poem Invictus that begins,
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul. (William Ernest Henley)
Self-determination for oneself is an affirmation of personal dignity and responsibility. Self-determination for others is a call to respect and justice at every level of human relationship.
Honoring together the African cultural harvest and witness of Kwanzaa helps us all to remember that all of our celebrations of Christmas arise from cultural particularity adopted and adapted to new contexts.
Kelvin Sauls, who wrote the contemporary reading on Kujichagulia we heard earlier in the service, is a clergy brother in this conference originally from South Africa who now works in United Methodist Global Ministries. Hear this call:
I am my brothers’ keeper and my sisters’ protector
I must define myself through you, God:
you formed me in my mother’s womb
I must become myself through you, God...
You will never leave me or forsake me.
Every person is created in the image of God. We did not create ourselves and we are accountable to our creator for our choices.
On the last day of Kwanzaa, January 1st, meditation rather than resolutions, centers on questions: Who am I? Am I really who I am? To whom and to what do I belong?
Wise ones from the East, knowing where they were, who they were, chose another way home. They used all their gifts of culture and memory and imagination. Honoring Christ, let us claim who we are and where we are. Let us choose our way home.
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