The transatlantic slave trade stands as one of the most inhumane enterprises in history. At a time when the capitals of Europe and America championed the enlightenment of man, their merchants were enslaving a continent. Racism not the rights of man drove the horrors of the triangular slave trade. Some 12 million were transported, some 3 million died. Slaveries impact upon Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas and Europe was profound.

So started Tony Blair’s personal statement about slavery which he made this week. He made it as we begin the journey towards the 25th March 2007 which is the 200th anniversary of the Act of Parliament abolishing slavery. It had been legal for 450 years to sell individuals as goods and yet it took another 30 years before it finally came to an end. Mr Blair stopped short of issuing a full apology. This was probably to deter people from seeking reparation or compensation. Whether this was a good thing or whether he should have issued a full apology is a matter of debate, but the editor of the paper to which he gave this statement, the New Nation, one of the foremost black newspapers in the country, is satisfied. Michael Ibodo said:

it is pretty much as close to an apology as he can give taking into account the advice he has been getting from the Foreign Office of the threat of legal action. I am pleased with it.

Tony Blair goes on

It is hard to believe that what would now be a crime against humanity was legal at the time. Personally I believe the centenary offers us a chance not just to say how profoundly shameful the slave trade was, how we condemn its existence utterly and praise those who fought for its abolition but also to express our regret, our deep sorrow that it ever happened, that it ever could have happened and to rejoice at the different and better times we live in today.

The anniversary we will mark next year is the abolition of slave trade which took 2 years to get through the House of Lords. For 2 years their Lordships decided that their self interest outweighed the interest of millions of people. But when it did get through in 1807 it made it unlawful to capture and transport slaves with a fine of £100 per person caught on board on a ship. That 1807 legislation paved the way for the better known 1833 act which abolished slavery, giving slaves throughout the whole British Empire their freedom and paid compensation to the slave owners.

Hear those words again from the prophet Jeremiah read to us a moment ago:

The days are coming says the Lord when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land and this is the name by which it shall be called the Lord is our righteousness.

As we enter this period of reflection on slavery which we shall be holding for a while, there is an issue that for me is at the head level bigger than slavery. Slavery is something which now in the 21st century we all denounce. But I have to tell you and you probably are aware of this already but the Bible is not ambiguous about slavery. Paul writes one of his letters, the short letter to Philemon, urging a master to take back a runaway slave called Onesimus. Paul does not say to the slave owner “I’ve got Onesimus and I’m giving him his freedom” .He says “if you are a good master you will take your slave back”. Jesus too, especially in the Gospel of Matthew, talks about slaves and slavery without a hint of criticism, culminating in these words: “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master”. No suggestion whatsoever that slavery in and of itself is wrong. For me this is the bigger point with which we have to grapple. How do we use the Bible? How do we allow it to teach us and to inform our faith when we have so clearly moved on from beyond the teaching the Bible on this subject? Thank God we no longer have the same attitude to slavery as those who wrote the Bible. If we have to bring our reasoning and our questioning to this particular issue, the only conclusion as far as I can see is that we need to do the same with all other issues. We must use our God given reason, our God given understanding, our God given insight to search out and discern what the Prophet Jeremiah calls justice and righteousness.

Our search through the texts of scripture for what is good and right, holy and Godly, is not found by hurling particular verses at our opponents, at those who hold a different point of view to us. That proves little more than how many verses of the Bible we know by heart. Rather, in the words of Olaudah Equinao

After all what makes any event important, unless by its observation we become better and wiser and learn to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God.

Equinao is reflecting on one of the other Old Testament Prophets, the Prophet Micah. This phrase is echoed and used in the prayer we use in Advent and Lent at the Parish Eucharist. Words from the Prophet Micah

What is it that the Lord requires of you but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

So we come to Advent, the beginning of the year and our Advent Appeal, something that we have made something of a tradition of here at St Nicolas. But having raised £5000 this year for the Trust Bank in Peru we decided that we wouldn’t ask you for yet more money but rather instead we would ask you to give your attention, your time, your prayers and your concern to this issue of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. We are going to hold this event in our prayers both individually and corporately. We are going to aim to raise our own awareness of the issues. for neither the Church nor the Maiden Erlegh estate is untainted by this episode in our history.

“Set All Free” is the name given to an amalgamation of different Christian charities and we are going to work alongside this organisation to help us to remember, to reflect and to respond.
To remember:
the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade; the abolitionists, the black people, the white people, the female people, the male people; the role of the Church both in slavery and in its abolition
To reflect:
on the consequences of the slave trade on slavery generally; on the realities of racism in our society today; on the under development of African countries; on the impact on commerce
To respond:
to the legacies of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade; to take action to understand more fully what slavery means in the 21st century; to work towards some healing and reconciling within our own communities.

But as always as well with St Nicolas we don’t just want to do things in our heads, we want to do things in a practical tangible kind of way. So over this period of Advent you are being to invited to use the slips of paper and the pens that you will find in church and to add to our chain which we have under the altar: a chain which is not a Christmas decoration, but is to symbolise the chains that held the slaves bonded. You can write a thought, a comment, a hope, a memory, a name of someone that you know that had an impact on the abolition of the slave trade, you can just write the words "Set All Free” if that is appropriate, whatever you want to bring to our chain, and we invite you to put them in the basket either during the service or at the end of the service and they will be laminated and added to the chain. This is not just something we are doing today, it is something we shall be doing throughout Advent and into next year as we seek to raise our own levels of awareness on this issue of slavery and the realities of slavery in the 21st century. I would like to give you a minute or two to talk amongst yourselves or ponder on your own to consider what you might right on your slip of paper and invite you to write something and to bring it to the altar. I know that is not the tradition of a lot of people to do these things during a service and that is fine. If you would like to do that later when you have coffee that’s fine. The slips of paper will be around in Church when you come in during the week, add a slip of paper to the basket and we will build on it over the next couple of months.