Annual Meeting 1999 -- The Ministry of Valerie Tutson

Valerie is a storyteller, a Christian, and a Connecticut native: but more than any of these she is one endowed by God with great gifts of making light and life appear before others. For three days her stories and songs brought the delegates to their minds, to their memories, to their feet, to their hearts, and to their tears. Each of her appearances was wondrous: frequently hilarious, always strikingly insightful, and profoundly moving. She was a great blessing to all those gathered.

The Story of Esther

Throughout the meeting Valerie brought the Esther story to life. On Friday evening she became Mordechai, the forgotten savior of Emperor Xerxes' life, as he introduced the story of his refusal to bow to Haman and the Vizier's terrible genocidal plan of retribution: the slaughter of the Jews. He told of Esther's entrance into the court, and of the secret they kept that she was a Jew. Now, however, he declared that he could not keep silent, but would wail outside the palace until Esther heard and took action. "I am a quiet man," he said, "but wailing is for such a time as this."

On Saturday one of Esther's servant girls appeared, complaining that she had not eaten for three days as Esther had decided to fast and pray about the crisis. "Esther decides to fast -- and that means I have to fast, too! Ohhhhh!" she moaned. She described Esther's painful alternatives: leave it alone and let the Jews die; or dare to confront the Emperor uninvited, which could have deadly consequences for her.

Later that day the servant girl briefly reappeared to joyfully proclaim that she had been able to eat again; "Esther decided to go to Xerxes!" she exulted. "And of course he held out his scepter to her," welcoming her to his presence despite the lack of summons.

But the greater part of the story on this occasion was told by Haman's wife, who had sent her husband to dinner at the palace by Esther. She told quite matter-of-factly about the great gallows Haman had prepared for Mordechai, but she was worried for her husband. She thought there was something odd happening, and was anxious for her husband to come home.

Finally, on Sunday, Valerie concluded the story during the closing Festival Worship from Esther's lips. The modest young queen told of her pride in her people in resisting those sent to kill them, and of how glad she was to be in a place where they could help them. "Perhaps I was placed where I am," she said, "for such a time as this."

At the Amistad

On Saturday afternoon Valerie joined those blessing the Amistad at Mystic Seaport, again taking the voice and telling the story of a person from another time. For this occasion she became Margru, a small girl who was one of the African captives aboard the original vessel in 1839. This story brought tears to many eyes in the gathering below, as she poured out the story of her capture, delivery to slavers, terrible voyage across the Atlantic, and sale in Havana. She spoke as if in a letter to her mother, with a little girl's voice and words, and a little girl's simple understanding of right and wrong.

Of the slave market in Havana, Margru said, "It was a market, Mama, but they were selling people -- selling me..."

She continued with the story of the trip aboard the schooner Amistad, whose crew tormented the captives with stories of how they would be killed. She told of Sengbe's use of a nail to free himself and the other captives from their bonds, and their capture of the vessel. She described the long, frustrating voyage as they tried to steer east toward Africa and the crew turned the prow north each night, eventually resulting in their capture by an American revenue vessel. Once more she and her companions found themselves imprisoned.

"But there are people here who say they are going to help us, Mama. They say that we should be free... They say the ship we were on is called Friendship. I hope we have found real friends here."

Leading the Songs

The breaks between business at Annual Meetings have always been welcome; a few minutes to stretch, and frequently to sing, are very refreshing to body and spirit. Valerie Tutson's touch, however, made those moments magical.

She taught songs in Zulu, English, and even Spanish (with some help from some of the delegates) -- but these songs drove out the cobwebs with a force of praise and joy that transcended the differences in language. Moderator Gordon Rankin at one point called for her to come back and lead "the energy song" again. The delegates joined her in singing, shaking about, and waving their hands in the air with a will and huge smiles.

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