Among the artifacts at the Smithsonian African American Museum is Absalom Jones’ (1747-1818) sermon from January 1, 1808. Congress had just passed the Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves, making it illegal to transport people of color to the states to sell as slaves. It marked a partial victory in the fight against slavery, and Absalom marked the occasion with “A Thanksgiving Sermon.”
Absalom was born into slavery in 1746. His owner sold his mom and siblings to a neighboring Delaware farmer and brought 16-year-old Absalom with him to Philadelphia. Absalom attended night school to learn to read and write, using the New Testament as his textbook. He married at 20 and purchased his family’s freedom with the help of Quakers. He joined a Methodist church, but when the leaders announced one Sunday that blacks had to sit in the balcony, Absalom led the processional out of the building and formed the African Episcopal Church of St Thomas, the first black church in Philadelphia.
Absalom began his Thanksgiving Sermon with the story of God telling Moses at the burning bush, “I have seen the misery of my people and have heard their cries” (Exodus 3.7-8). Absalom likened it to their hardship as slaves, “He has seen the affliction of our countrymen…He has seen the anguish that has taken place…He has seen them exposed as slaves.” Thirteen times in rapid-fire succession, he repeats, “He has seen.” Not only has God seen their misery, “He has come down to deliver our suffering… He has come down to the Congress of the United States.” His multiple references to “He has come down” remind me of Martin Luther King’s repeated use of “I Have a Dream” in his famous speech in the 1968 March on Washington. Absalom used repetition to great effect. God has seen their mission and come down. He concludes with an impassioned prayer, portions of which lead us to pray: