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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Azariah France-Williams, priest, author and broadcaster.

Good morning, in December 1860 the African-American Harriet Tubman made her last trip on the Underground Railroad. This was not a literal railroad with stations, tickets, and locomotives. Rather the Underground Railroad was a term to describe a vast network of abolitionists, emancipated slaves, safe houses, and people couriers. All of this to provide protected passage for enslaved people running away from captivity, to help navigate harsh territory, and find free states and cities in the north.

Ten years earlier Harriet Tubman had made her own escape, and found a free state to begin again. However the maxim ‘none are free unless all are free’ was one held by her and so she returned to the south, time and time again liberating the enslaved, and helping them avoid the hounds and hunters, sent to recapture them.

She was given the nickname ‘Moses’. She helped over 70 people escape from slavery, and therefore the families and lineages that flowed from those 70. She provided freedom and a future to many because she found a vocation in the midst of the suffering. She could have chosen to embrace her own liberty in a different way, to concentrate on making a future for herself rather than being concerned for those left behind. But instead she used her freedom, at great risk, to create freedom for others.

Liberating God, when we find peace for ourselves, may we be motivated to help others find peace too. When we are gifted with love, may love be our gift to the world. When we discover true freedom in life may that spur us on to be sources of liberation for others.

Amen