September 17

Ettie Rout, Hildegard of Bingen, Harriet Tubman's escape, the Camp David Accords, and Occupy Wall Street.

Author

David Barnhart
September 17, 2025

On this day in 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped enslavement in Maryland and fled to Philadelphia. She would later return to Maryland to free the rest of her family. 

And on this day in 2011, the Occupy Wall Street demonstration began in New York in Zuccotti Park. It marked a turning point in the way we talk about oligarchy and capitalism, popularizing such concepts as “the 99%” and “the people’s megaphone.” 

Today marks the death of Ettie Rout, New Zealander sexual health educator and activist, whose birth we marked on February 24.

Today is the Feast Day of Hildegard of Bingen, nun, naturalist, artist, musician, and mystic. She challenged the patriarchal monastic hierarchy of her day, and continues to inspire Christian mystics with her writings.

Reflection:

Some selected quotations from Hildegaard of Bingen:

“Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings. Now, think. What delight God gives to humankind with all these things . All nature is at the disposal of humankind. We are to work with it. For without we cannot survive.” 

“The fire has its flame and praises God. The wind blows the flame and praises God. In the voice we hear the word which praises God. And the word, when heard, praises God. So all of creation is a song of praise to God.“ 

“The soul is not in the body; the body is in the soul.” 

“The Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening, all creativity. This Word manifests itself in every creature.”

Prayer: Source of all Life, help us humans to understand that we are all part of the same glorious life-event, and to see praise of you erupting from every particle of creation. Amen.