Born March 3, 1819, in New York City, Alexander Crummell struggled against racism all his life. As a young man, he was driven out of an academy in New Hampshire, dismissed as a candidate for Holy Orders in New York, and rejected for admittance to General Seminary. Ordained in 1844 as a priest in the Diocese of Massachusetts, he left for England after being excluded from participation in diocesan convention.
Recently I preached on Herod’s killing of John the Baptist, an act of political violence that remains with us 2,000 years later. That same Sunday we were reminded that political violence continues to be an issue here with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and the murder of at least one person attending the rally. The implications of this act continue to resonate through our society as I write this.
Jonathan Myrick Daniels was born in Keene, New Hampshire, in 1939. He was shot and killed by an unemployed highway worker in Haynesville, Alabama, August 20, 1965. From high school to graduate school at Harvard, Jonathan wrestled with the meaning of life and death and vocation. Attracted to medicine, the ordained ministry, law and writing, he found himself close to a loss of faith when his search was resolved by a profound conversion on Easter Day 1962. Jonathan then entered the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
We have a new bishop. The Rev. Phil Labelle was elected on May 18th on the fourth ballot. It wasn’t a particularly close election. Of the four candidates, he led from the first ballot. It was mainly a matter of the two people with the fewest votes removing themselves from the race. Once that happened after the third ballot, it was over…
John Johnson Enmegahbowh, an Odawa (Ottawa) Indian from Canada, was raised in the Midewawin traditional healing way of his grandfather and the Christian religion of his mother. He came into the United States as a Methodist minister in 1832. At one point, Enmegahbowh attempted to abandon missionary work and return to Canada, but the boat was turned back by storms on Lake Superior, providing him a vision…
We have just returned from a week in New Jersey and New York. We spent a very pleasant time with Anne and Brian in the former. Then we met Dave, Kayla and Zahava at Kayla’s father’s impressive apartment in Manhattan. We spent some time at the Met and the World Trade Center memorial. It was good to get away for a few days, but I’m happy to be back.
Of Dame Julian’s early life we know little, the probable date of her birth being 1342. Julian first experienced visions when she was thirty years old. She had been gravely ill and given the last rites; suddenly, on the seventh day, all pain left her, and she had fifteen visions of the Passion. These brought her great peace and joy.
As we enter into Easter season, it’s appropriate to think about our future. In terms of the diocese, this revolves around the election of a Bishop. The Prayer Book (p. 517) outlines the role of the diocesan Bishop. “You are called to guard the faith, unity, and discipline of the Church; to celebrate and to provide for the administration of the sacraments of the New Covenant; to ordain priests and deacons and to join in ordaining bishops; and to be in all things a faithful pastor and wholesome example for the entire flock of Christ. With your fellow bishops you will share in the leadership of the Church throughout the world.”
James Lloyd Breck was one of the most important missionaries of the Episcopal Church in the nineteenth century. He was called “The Apostle of the Wilderness.” Breck was born in Philadelphia in 1818, and like many important Churchmen of his time, was greatly influenced by the pastoral devotion, liturgical concern, and sacramental emphasis of William Augustus Muhlenberg. Breck attended Muhlenberg’s school in Flushing, New York, before entering the University of Pennsylvania. Muhlenberg inspired him, when he was sixteen years old, to dedicate himself to a missionary life.
In the third century, many young men turned away from the corrupt and decadent society of the time, and went to live in deserts or mountains, in solitude, fasting and prayer. Antony of Egypt was an outstanding example of this movement, but he was not merely a recluse. He was a founder of monasticism, and wrote a rule for anchorites. Antony’s parents were Christians, and he grew up to be quiet, devout, and meditative. When his parents died, he and his younger sister were left to care for a sizable estate. Six months later, in church, he heard the reading about the rich young ruler whom Christ advised to sell all he had and give to the poor…
