Hi Blog

It has been a long time since I have posted.

But I have been meaning to write for the last 2 weeks ago. I officiated at a funeral and had another conversion of how real God is and how God can be experienced in the little things we do. The funeral service was for Claudia Samuda, a past teacher at The Hampton High School for Girls.

First off, her sister chose as the first testament reading Isaiah 61:1-3. This is the same passage of scripture that Luke speaks about in chapter 4 and verse 17. Luke says the scroll was given to Jesus and he unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

I did not ask why it was chosen, but I cannot recall hearing the passage read at a funeral service. I have often wondered why that passage from Isaiah was included. Most other readings spoke about heaven, life after death, a better day coming, new mercies, or some variant of these.

But that we are anointed????

No way!

Where is the comfort in that?????

The other passage chosen was 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. I didn’t want to preach on that. I decided to challenge myself and to read the Isaiah passage again. I do believe my sermon was good, (persons said Amen through it – means what was being said resonated with them) but it paled in comparison with the testimony of Samudaism.

The Eulogy which comes before the service starts, took the cake. No other sermon was necessary. When it was finished I had to rewrite the beginning of the sermon. The girls who were taught Sociology by Miss Samuda developed a theory called Samudaism. It was a way of being that was exemplified by this great lady and holy being.

Miss Samuda righted all wrongs the came across. One student said she found her difficult to understand, because she was different. She was chummy but there was a line you couldn’t cross. She had the gift of discernment. (my theological reflection). She summed up a situation quickly and solved the problem. Her students had to do well. She told them they couldn’t swat sociology, they had to understand and apply the principles. They were to make them come alive. She encouraged them all, removed their little or big inhibitions. When she came up on a problem, she told others how to solve it, if they were ever in a similar situation.

So I rewrote Isaiah 61:1-3 so it reflected Samudaism.

Samudaism says:

The Spirit of God is on me, because God anointed me.
He sent me: to preach good news to the poor in spirit; to heal the brokenhearted, to announce freedom to all who find themselves captive – captive in low self esteem, in need of a better approach to life tasks, God sent me to declare that we are free to be ourselves and not bound by others.
to pardon all who feel imprisoned, not only formally but in their hearts.
God sent me to announce the year of his grace—
and to comfort all who mourn or are in trouble.
God sent me to care for their needs,
to give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes,
Messages of joy instead of news of doom,
a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.

I couldn’t help thinking how Christlike Claudia was. She had found her purpose and she lived it. She felt and acknowledged God’s anointing. I never met Miss. Samuda, but in death she has inspired me to live my own purpose.

May we all find our way to God.