By Bobby Coverston 

In today’s reading Rick Warren powerfully reminds us that God wants all of us.  Our heart, soul, mind and strength.  Not 75%, not 90%, not even 99%.  He wants all of us.  Not to dominate, or control, but to engage and connect.  

Pastor Warren tells the story of Bill Bright writing out a contract between himself and God stating, “From this day forward I am a slave to Christ…”  A slave to Christ.  Just saying the word slavery has some serious baggage in our American history and culture.  How can we celebrate and promote a concept that stirs up such emotion, and negative connotation?  

As soon as I hear that word I think of atrocious abuse that humans inflicted on other humans that can only be forgiven in God’s economy because in our limited human capacity, it is simply unforgivable.  Men, women and children of all ages being ripped from their cultures and norms and forced into a system where they had no rights, no voice, where they were seen as property, not people and treated as such.  

Bought, sold, traded, beat, raped and more. How can this possibly be the language we use when talking about our surrender to Christ as Bill Bright did?  It’s disturbing.  

But… maybe the image doesn’t have to be so cruel when talking about being a slave to Christ.

Harper and I have fallen in love with the PBS show “Finding Your Roots,” where Henry Louis Gates Jr. weaves the stories of the family trees of well-known celebrities, sometimes reaching as far back as the turn of the first century.  One particular story applies to our topic.  

Keenan Ivory Wayans had his family tree unpacked and found that his great great grandfather, Ben Pleasant, was a slave to the governor of South Carolina, John Manning.  Governor Manning had roughly 600 slaves. What a monster, right?  As the story goes, we find that Ben had become Governor Manning’s right-hand man of sorts.  While traveling to Canada, Governor Manning took Ben with him. A group of zealous abolitionists kidnapped Ben, forcing his emancipation and set him up with a “free” life in Canada.  

At his first opportunity, Ben Pleasant made his way BACK to South Carolina, BACK to the plantation of Governor John Manning, and BACK to his held position as the governor’s right-hand man.  He even managed the affairs of the estate in the governor’s absence, which basically means he made sure the duties of the other slaves were upheld.  He no longer HAD to be there, he WANTED to be there.  

By no means does this diminish the cruelty that was happening to slaves at that time.  This was a rare story indeed, but a profound one nonetheless.  There had to have been some kindness and fondness to the governor that made him willingly return to what the rest of the world was calling slavery.  

Ben Pleasant has helped me understand and take to heart today’s reading.  He has helped me redefine “surrender:” to willingly subject myself to the will of another.  And in so doing, I engage in a profound act of freedom.  He displayed this act to the will of another man.  We get to do this free will act of surrender before almighty God, who has already said he loves us, cares for us, will provide for us, never turn his back on us, forgive us, redeem us, sanctity us, justify us, consecrate us, lift us up, bear our burden for us, and yes, even die for us.  

Our challenge today (and every day) is to lean into the part of the Lord’s prayer that says, “Not my will, but yours be done, on earth as it is in heaven”.

 Bobby Coverston is music pastor at Green Bay Community Church