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Morning Meditation
February 28, 2026
Anna Julia Haywood Cooper
Reading: Psalm 10:12-19
Rise up, O Lord;
lift up your hand, O God;
do not forget the afflicted.
Why should the wicked revile God?
why should they say in their heart, "You do not care"?
Surely, you behold trouble and misery;
you see it and take it into your own hand.
The helpless commit themselves to you,
for you are the helper of orphans.
Break the power of the wicked and evil;
search out their wickedness until you find none.
The Lord is King for ever and ever;
the ungodly shall perish from his land.
The Lord will hear the desire of the humble;
you will strengthen their heart and your ears shall hear;
To give justice to the orphan and oppressed,
so that mere mortals may strike terror no more.
Meditation by Jeremy O’Neill
One of the joys of reading, singing, or praying the Psalms is how personal they are. If we think of our Book of Common Prayer as a collection of personal prayers written for communities to share, we can think of the Psalms in the same way. They are prayers from a community that hopes for God’s righteousness to prevail. You can hear the voice of the Psalmist waiting and trusting in God.
I must confess that I am not very good at waiting. I am much more inclined to want to do something than I am to trust that everything will be worked out. I also must admit that I sometimes have problems with the rhetoric of “waiting and trusting in God.” I feel that it can lead to a sort of quietism that is counterproductive, especially with so much to do and so much wrong with the world today. Trusting in God is great, but that does not absolve us of a responsibility to stand up, speak up, and try to make a difference.
Today, the Episcopal Church remembers Anna Julia Haywood Cooper. Her story is worth reading about, and a brief bio can be found here, but the highlights are that she was committed to education and committed to changing the world around her. Her life involved both prayerful waiting as well as direct action, and while her faith and belief in education for all reminds me of the Psalmist, it also reminds me of the parable Jesus tells of the woman who keeps nagging until even the unjust judge does something right. Anna Julia Haywood Cooper faced mountains of racial injustice and yet she persisted.
So maybe waiting and action aren’t so different after all. Maybe we can trust in God and still be persistent advocates for God’s people. And maybe, with God’s help, we will teach each other how to better be in community and in faith, together.
Prayer
Almighty God, who inspired your servant Anna Julia Haywood Cooper with the love of learning and the skill of teaching: Enlighten us more and more through the discipline of learning, and deepen our commitment to the education of all your children; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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