The Measure You Give; the Measure You Get: Remembering Alexander Crummel

 Homily preached on the feast of The Rev. Alexander Crummell, Thursday, September 10, 2020 at St.

Thomas' Church, Bath, NY.

Jesus said to them, "Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?  For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.  Let anyone with ears to hear listen!" And he said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.  For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away."

            It is good to have on our calendar today the remembrance of the Rev’d Alexander Crummell.  Crummell was born free in New York City in 1819.  He was ordained a priest in 1844 in the Diocese of Massachusetts, but decided to study further in England because, among other things, he was excluded from participating in any diocesan functions.

            Crummell was an intellectual at heart and he thrived at Cambridge. Once he earned his degree he went to teach at Liberia College in the relatively new settlement of former American slaves.  After the Civil War, he returned to the United States.  He was the founder and first rector of St. Luke’s Church in Washington, DC for many years and was one of the founders of the organization that eventually became the Union of Black Episcopalians.  He founded it to fight against the creation of a separate missionary diocese for Black parishes across the country.  He won that fight.

            He is most well known outside church circles as the organizer of an intellectual society called the American Negro Academy. one of his protégés in that society was W.E.B. Dubois.

            DuBois devoted one of the chapters of his famous work, The Souls of Black Folk, to Alexander Crummell.  It is largely the story of his difficult road to ordination and then the even more difficult road to practice his ministry.  DuBois begins the chapter,

 This is the history of a human heart—the tale of a black boy who many long years ago began to struggle with life that he might know the world and know himself.

            I find Dubois’ description of Crummell’s seeking ordination to be especially moving. Here’s part of it:

 A voice and a vision called him to be a priest—a seer to lead the uncalled out of the house of bondage [but] there swept across the vision the temptation to despair.

 They were not wicked men—the problem is not the problem of the wicked—they were calm, good men, Bishops of the Apostolic Church of God, and strove toward righteousness. They said slowly, “It is all very natural—it is even commendable; but the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church cannot admit a Negro.”  And when [he] still haunted their doors, they put their hands kindly, half sorrowfully, on his shoulders, and said, “ Now—of course, we—we know how you feel about it; but you see it is impossible—that is—well—it is premature. Sometime, we trust—sincerely trust—all such distinctions will fade away; but now the world is as it is.

            More than a hundred years later, religious leaders—including two Episcopal bishops—would say essentially the same thing to Martin Luther King.  The world is as it is; you must slow down.  His response was the well-known Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

            And in all that time the Church was not listening to its Lord, who said now is the time.  There is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret except to come to light.

            Racism lurks throughout our history both as a nation and as a Church. It is something we white folk would rather stay hidden and secret because we are afraid of what a public accounting might mean for us.  But Jesus said be brave, have courage. Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given. Do the hard work and reap the reward. If you choose not to, of you choose to do nothing, nothing is what you will get.

  Coda

            I also heard those words—”some day…premature…the world is as it is—in my own ordination process as an openly gay man.  I took comfort and strength from Jesus words:  nothing is hidden that will not become known.