December 15, 2024
Luke 3:7-16
I. Intro - Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers
-I am a baby quilter. Like English Paper Piecing most
-Enjoy quilts and think it should be regarded as an art form
-Interested to see in Advent material an article for further reading about quilting
-Decorator Caitilyn Higgins tells the story of quilters from Gee’s Bend, (Boykin) Alabama
-Unlike most quilts that are “perfectly measured and ultra-precise”[1] Gee’s Bend quilts
“were often created out of necessity – crafted from old dungarees, worn feed and flour sacks, hand-me-down fabric remnants, or other secondhand materials – and intended to keep their families comfortable and warm in homes that lacked running water, telephones, or electricity…the quilts really were an act of love. Every piece of fabric used was appreciated, and even visible stains or discoloration served as reminders of loved ones who often left nothing else behind.”
-One quilt made by Missouri Pettway was sewn from the clothing of her husband, Nathaniel, after his death in 1941, about which she told her daughter, ‘I going to take his work clothes, shape them into a quilt to remember him, and cover up under it for love…”
-After the Civil War, Boykin remained mostly unchanged.
-Enslaved people had technically been emancipated but forced to work as sharecroppers
-When cotton prices fell 1920s and 1930s debt ran rampant for -Eventually the entire town was foreclosed on
-Residents of Gee’s Ben in particular were left destitute
-Eventually the women of Gee’s Bend took the lead in keeping town afloat
-In a small Baptist church more than 60 quiltmakers founded the Freedom Quilting Bee, the county’s first Black-owned business and one of the first Black women’s cooperatives in America.
-Began to sell quilts across the country and eventually landed major contracts with brands like Bloomingdales and Sears
-these contracts didn’t last
-trends moved on
-”quilting continued, but the fanfare subsided.”[2]
-Leap forward to 1998 when an art collector stumbled upon Gee’s Bend quilts
-”he hoofed it to Alabama, unannounced, and began knocking on doors and buying up quilts.”[3]
-A few years later art collector displays collection of quilts
-immediate critical acclaim. “The response is glowing; the demand is instant. The quilts tour through every prestigious art museum in every major city in America.”[4]
-Following this “more than 50 Gee’s Benders came together to form the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective, an organization designed to help the women sell and market their work.”[5]
-Quilts appeared on postage stamps in 2006
-Quilters signed licensing deals left and right,
-work was printed on tumblers, calendars, scarves, pet-safe rugs, and more
-Not the end of the story
-some controversy and disagreement about whether or not the art collector fairly compensated the quilters
-In 2014, Wilcox County was the poorest county in America,
-Boykin was the poorest section of the county
-Improvement and revitalization plans are in place including on-going quilting retreats and festivals
-Sharing because writer Caitlyn Higgins ends this way saying she finds this story poignant because “The quilters started with so little – just a few scraps of fabric – but they developed a fresh, unexpected, and timeless visual vernacular that survived through slavery, through the antebellum South, through the Jim Crow era, and that continues to inspire today. Their use of color, pattern, and texture – it’s all masterful. The work is just as exciting and vibrant today as it was in the 1800s.”[6]
II. Exegesis
-Gee’s Bend quilters artwork is regenerating an impoverished and neglected region
-they’re doing the good that’s theirs to do
-Same suggestion J the B makes in Luke story
-J isn’t “just a primary character in Jesus’ birth story, but also a key player in his ministry. He is not the Messiah, but he paves the way for the One who will baptize with water and spirit. He does the good that is his to do.”[7]
-Standing on the banks of the Jordan, “John harshly denounces the perpetrators of economic disparities, but he also provides them paths for redemption.”[8]
-gives this advice 3 times
-when crowd asks “What should we do?” John says, The person who has two shirts must share with the person who has none. And the person with food must share with the one in need.
-to tax collectors he says, Stop overcharging people. Only collect what you must turn over to the Romans.
-to the soldiers, Don’t extort money from people by throwing around your power or making false accusations, and be content with your pay.
-advice is personal and practical
-it differs but “the core message is the same: do the good that is yours to do.”[9]
-John follows up pointing to the one who is to come: I baptize you with water, but One is coming—One far more powerful than I, One whose sandals I am not worthy to untie—who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is coming like a farmer at harvesttime, tools in hand to separate the wheat from the chaff. He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire, and He will gather the genuine wheat into His barn.
-John’s instructions “resonate with Isaiah 58 where the prophet calls people to rebuild the ancient ruins…raise up the age-old foundations…[and will] be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.’”[10]
-both passages invite us “to bring forth restoration through ordinary actions: feeding the hungry, serving the oppressed, and comforting the afflicted. It’s about the cumulative power of small acts that weave together to create a fabric of communal flourishing.”[11]
III. Transition
-Rabbi Rami Shapiro in Wisdom of Jewish Sages offers interpretive translation of Micah 6:8 that’s powerful
- “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
-breath of fresh air that reminds us small, ordinary actions matter
-they add up
-”it makes a difference when you are kind to a person who is lonely, when you compost, when you show up to a rally, or when you go to therapy and don’t pass on generational trauma.[We] can’t solve all the words’s problems. But [we] can do something that matters. We must trust that we each have something to offer and that others parts of the community will bring what we cannot.”[12]
-As Christ-followers the question we’re called to ask, rooted in hope and action, is “What is mine to do?”[13]
IV. Frederick Buechner
-writer and theologian
-died in 2022 after writing 39 books
-1993, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC
-”The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”[14]
-This Advent, as we anticipate and wait, what is God’s still small voice in your heart calling you to do?
-all called to be active in God’s story
-all have a roll to play and work to do
-might seem impossible or impractical as we consider the world’s labor pains
-how humanity groans around us and “the barrage of global crises”
V. Good News
-GN is we aren’t called to the world’s saviors, “but we move towards the One who invites us into the work and labors alongside us.”[15]
-”Advent reminds us that Christ came into a world fraught with the very same issues of injustice and inequality that we face, and he did not turn away. Instead, he showed us a way forward: engaged action rooted in compassion.”
-what makes you come alive? How does that meet a need?
-might seem small, insignificant, “but when we look at the lineage of Christ and the history of God’s people, we see lots of ordinary, flawed people giving their small and shaky “yes” to God.”[16]
-our good work, no matter how small, “is a thread in the fabric of God’s ongoing creation story - one where love overcomes, peace prevails, and new life emerges.”
-Blessing: “You are uniquely situated to bring light into the world. May you find courage this season to do the good that is yours to do. It matters. May you see the ripples of your actions expand outward, touching lives and mending the fabric of our shared humanity.”[17]
[1] Caitlyn Higgins, “Critics Deemed Them ‘The Most Miraculous Works of Modern Art America Has Produced - So Why Aren’t The Artists a Household Name?” via Style by Emily Henderson, June 19, 2024,
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Sanctified Art “Words for the Beginning: Sermon Planning Guide,” The Third Sunday of Advent, pg. 13.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC, (HarperOne, 1993).
[15] Sanctified Art, ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
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