An Ancestor’s Refrain

Matthew 1:12-17

In late Spring and early Summer, my mother would drive two hours each way to pick up her mother and bring her to stay with us in mid-Missouri. When granny was in town, my parents had extra hands around the house, my momma and I had a shopping buddy, and we could all enjoy granny's ham and beans. Granny's summer visits were a childhood ritual we all looked forward to, but they often began with one tradition: granny helping my momma plant her outdoor pots.  

 You could always tell the difference between when my granny planted my momma's pots versus when anyone else planted them. Granny knew the plants. She knew by their roots which would grow well together and who needed the most space. She knew by their leaves the appropriate amount of light and water for each of them to thrive. And she knew by their pollen which ones would require less maintenance for my momma and survive Missouri heat. 

 However, I never really knew how precious my granny's communication with the plants was until I wanted to plant a garden for myself. Granny seemed to connect with the Spirit of the plants, while my relationship with them felt more unsteady. She always said the plants would talk to us as we cared for them, yet some days, I felt I couldn't understand the language. 

 In recent years, even as dementia robs us of her blessed memories, my granny's hands still remember. The dirt still speaks to her Spirit. The leaves still utter their testimonies. Their scent continues to bring her joy. Even with a disease that ravishes her mind, when she's communing with the plants, my granny recognizes the Spirit. She connects to the presence of God found in the crevasses of her hands. 

 The sacredness of the dirt always connects us back together—generations after generations, young and old, ailing and healing—because the earth speaks in tongues as she communicates with her Creator. The dirt has her own refrains, just as our elders and ancestors do. In her native language, the dirt murmurs to creation that some things are only capable by Spirit. When my granny's hands are in the dirt, the Spirit speaks to those intermingled in the ground with her.

 In Jesus' genealogy, we witness the ancestors' refrains. Each name in Jesus' lineage is a testament to the refrains spoken into their lives by the Spirit. As I read the litany of fourteen generations in the Gospel of Matthew, I pause at Zerubbabel. "And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of

Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor." (Matthew 1:12-13)

 The names of Jesus' lineage draw us into places of remembrance, and Matthew 1:12-13 demands that I remember. If we breeze through the names too quickly, they may not catch our attention. But when I pause at Zerubbabel, I remember his refrain, the one connected to his Spirit. I remember the words uttered to him in Zechariah 4:6, "This is the Word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts."

 Beloved, the litany of names leading to Jesus, has power because the Spirit dwells among them. The refrain to Zerubbabel is a testament to the Spirit. It bears witness to when Zerubbabel receives a message from God reminding him that even with the obstacles faced against him, provisions come from the Spirit and the Spirit only. 

 When I read Zerubbabel's name in Jesus' genealogy, I remember the refrain—not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. This refrain was never exclusively for Zerubbabel—the Spirit always had us in mind. At some point in this journey, all of us, generations after generations, young and old, ailing and healing, need this refrain. It is our reminder that some things are only capable by the Spirit. 

 Jesus' genealogy is full of the Spirit's refrains: wisdom, guidance, encouragement, and direction to help us journey into our next. The ancestors knew them and listened to them. They knew that the child who came from the Spirit would become our refrain. They knew that the angel of the Lord appearing to Joseph would become our refrain. They knew Mary would carry the Messiah who would become our refrain.

 When my granny's hands are in the dirt, her Spirit connects to these refrains, and she remembers the power of the Spirit. Even as we trace back the knowledge of tilling the ground from generation to generation, creation was speaking way before us. She spoke a language with the Spirit to remind us of the Spirit, drawing us back to the joy of the Spirit. 

REVEREND MAHOGANY S. THOMAS is a womanist theologian, pastor, and teacher. 

Rev. Mahogany is the former Executive Minister of Peoples Congregational UCC in Washington, D.C. Before Peoples, Rev. Mahogany served as the Minister of Youth and Families at First Church UCC in Middletown, Connecticut. Her prior ministry experiences also include First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn (UCC), Trinity UCC in Chicago, and one of the most creative and diverse churches in the country, Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. 

Rev. Mahogany received her Bachelor of Arts from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, and graduated summa cum laude. Her undergraduate studies focused on Religious Studies, emphasizing sex and gender in the Christian tradition. While at Westminster College, Rev. Mahogany held various positions in the banking industry, culminating as an Assistant Branch Manager at Central Bank of Boone County. 

A graduate of Yale University, she earned a Master of Divinity focusing on Homiletics, Womanist Theology, and Practical Theology and the intersections of the Black Church. At Yale, she was also a recipient of the Andover Newton Seminary Diploma Program and Black Church Studies Certificate. 

Rev. Mahogany is the recipient of several prestigious awards from Yale University, highlighting her gifts for public speaking. She was awarded the Charles Merrick Award for Effective Public Address, especially in preaching, and the Henry Hallam Tweedy Award for the student with exceptional promise for pastoral leadership. Likewise, she received the newly established Martin B. Copenhaven Preaching Prize from Andover Newton Seminary.

She is passionate about radical proclamation and has spoken around the world. She wrote her first sermon at seven on an airplane and continues to enjoy preaching and teaching wherever the Spirit takes her. She has furthered her studies in homiletics as a member of the Prophetic Preaching Lab under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III and Auburn Seminary. 

Most recently, Rev. Mahogany was invited to offer the final keynote for the Anti-Racism in Practice: Working with a ‘Love Ethic’ Conference based in the U.K. Her keynote address was entitled, “In Search of Our Delight: Exploring bell hooks’ Love Ethics as Spiritual Praxis.” She also participated as a panelist for “Candid Conversations: What’s Love Got To Do With It?” with Tidal Equality, a consulting firm based in Canada.  

In both her teaching and radical proclamation, Rev. Mahogany is passionate about orienting our world towards healing. Rev. Mahogany is a native of Columbia, Missouri, and an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ (UCC).