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Morning Devotion for the Season After Pentecost
August 14, 2023
Jonathan Daniels
The Invitatory
The mercy of the Lord is everlasting: O come, let us adore him.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Reading: Luke 1:46-55
And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
In the summer of 2015 Stephanie Spellers led a group of General Seminary students on a pilgrimage through several Dioceses to explore how the Church might revitalize itself. We began this journey in the Diocese of Alabama, during which time we went to Hayneville for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Jonathan Daniels. Daniels was a seminarian at Episcopal Theological Seminary, when In March 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, asked students and others to join him in Selma, Alabama, for a march to the state capital in Montgomery in support of his civil rights program. Daniels decided to go. On Friday, August 13 Daniels and others went to the town of Fort Deposit to join in picketing three local businesses. On Saturday they were arrested and held in the county jail in Hayneville for six days until they were bailed out. After their release on Friday, August 20, four of them attempted to enter a local shop, and were met at the door by Tom Coleman with a shotgun who told them to leave or be shot. After a brief confrontation, he aimed the gun at a young girl in the party. Daniels pushed her out of the way and took the blast of the shotgun himself. He was killed instantly.
On August 14, 2015 I joined many on the grounds of the Hayneville courthouse where Coleman was tried and acquitted. Bishop Curry and the Eucharistic participants held a commemorative service in the same courtroom where Coleman was acquitted. Earlier I walked through Hayneville, first to the jail where Daniels had been held; and then to the site where Varner's Cash Store once stood, now a small office. What struck me was the porch was so small that there was little space between where Coleman and Daniels must have stood when they confronted each other. That shotgun blast must have been shockingly powerful.
It was hearing the Magnificat in Evening Prayer that inspired Daniels to go to Alabama. He wrote, quoting,” ‘He hath showed strength with his arm. … He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things.’ I knew then that I must go to Selma. The Virgin's song was to grow more and more dear in the weeks ahead.”
I can well imagine that in the muted quality of Evensong The Magnificat touched Jonathan Daniels, as it did Mary, leading her to move from the angel Gabriel’s greeting to her acceptance to bear the Son of God. No wonder Daniels identified with her as he adopted a response of his own willingness to listen and receive the message. Gradually, he gained his own trust bolstering his decision to go to Alabama with full faith and obedience. In addition, the words, “For with God nothing will be impossible,” must have also become a source of both solace and strength. The promise is strengthening. Perhaps it, too, gave Daniels more confidence, enabling him to proceed. There is a sense, defying all odds, that the world feels more safe and more hopeful. Daniels hopefully came to have deep gratitude for God’s immeasurable love and care.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
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