Micah 7:7-15
Acts 3:1-10
John 15:1-11
“Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me” (Micah 7:8)
Micah reminds me of another poetic, prophetic voice: Maya Angelou. Consider this poem from her, titled “Still I Rise.”
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Angelou’s unnamed “you” is named by Micah as “my enemy.” Now, who this enemy is can vary, should vary. That’s the power of poetry. For Angelou, it almost certainly is those who would exercise racial and/or gender privilege over her. For Micah, it is likely a rival nation in the ancient near east – a Babylon or Persia, something like that. For you, though, it needn’t be any of these things. For you, it needn’t even be human. It can be a circumstance, a situation, a misunderstanding, a broken system in your life. All of these things can feel like “my enemy” and each can be addressed as “you.”
The blessing of these poems – both Micah’s and Maya’s – is that affirmation and encouragement to “rise.” And when you rise, as disciples of Jesus Christ, your rising will always share in His resurrection we celebrated just a few days ago.
He is risen. He is risen, indeed. Amen.
