The Soil Remembers

Scripture: Leviticus 25: 1-19 (CEB)

Southern Song

by Margaret Walker (1915-1998)

I want my body bathed again by southern suns, my soul

reclaimed again from southern land. I want to rest

again in southern fields, in grass and hay and clover

bloom; to lay my hand again upon the clay baked by a

southern sun, to touch the rain-soaked earth and smell

the smell of soil.

I want my rest unbroken in the fields of southern earth;

freedom to watch the corn wave silver in the sun and

mark the splashing of a brook, a pond with ducks and

frogs and count the clouds.

I want no mobs to wrench me from my southern rest; no

forms to take me in the night and burn my shack and

make for me a nightmare full of oil and flame.

I want my careless song to strike no minor key; no fiend to

stand between my body's southern song—the fusion of

the South, my body's song and me.

Meditation:

My story begins in the cane fields of Southern Georgia. It was there among the red clay dirt that my ancestors, Black women who conjured life out of the soil, learned how to grow. More than farmers, they were divine stewards of the Earth. In their plaited hair and callous hands resided centuries of wisdom transferred down in their bones from their foremothers. They were the descendents of women from the coast of West Africa who were stolen from their homelands to serve as chattel. The exploitation of my foremother’s labor would become the foundation for advancing the brutal blood-soaked aspirations of a new nation whose values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness would never be extended to them.

Despite the intentions of those who sought to kill their dreams by binding them to land, the women of my matrilineal line -Sally, Carrie, Helen, Harriet and Christine- always found pathways back to their love of the Earth. Among the skinny pines, they found beauty. In the barren fields, they planted gardens that would feed generations of their children. Resting in the bosom of the Earth as their Mother, they knew that the Spirit of the Living God with them bearing witness to their joy and pain, offering a refuge for their sorrow, and carrying their prayers in the wind.

For the women of my family, the gift of Jubilee was not the far off promise of liberation from a death-dealing economic system designed for their suffering. There was no freedom to be found in that. No, the miracle of Jubilee was the invitation to rest and let their personal and spiritual fields lay fallow. To lay in a field and count the stars under the watchful eye of the same Moon that sustained their loved ones was a taste of tenderness reaching across the generations to remind them they were not alone.

The same tenderness that anchored my beloved foremothers is available to us today. Even as the wellbeing of our planet is under threat from climate change and those who would seek to plunder the land for profit, it is not too late for us to raise our hands and hearts to protect the sacred ground we call home. Our actions today will have an impact not only on ourselves but also on the generations yet to come.

Song: “Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)” by Marvin Gaye

Reflection Questions:

1. What fields in your life are you being called to lay fallow during this Lenten season?

2. How might you cultivate a practice of rest as a liberative tool in your life?

Call to Action:

Go outside. Take 10 minutes in silence to breathe in the air and allow the sounds of nature to minister to your soul. What is the Spirit saying to you?

About the Author

Rev. Jen Bailey (she/her) is the Founder of Faith Matters Network, a Womanist-led organization focused on equipping spiritual leaders and community organizers with tools for spiritual sustainability. She is also the author of the recently released To My Beloveds: Letters on Faith, Race, Loss, and Radical Hope.

Stay connected to Jen:

IG: @revjenbailey

FB: Jennifer Bailey

Website: www.reverendjen.com

These Black Lent devotionals were originally curated by IG: goodneighbormovement.

Acres of Ancestry (2020) by Jess Hill

Source: https://www.jessica-hill.com/work?lightbox=dataItem-kw6tiahj