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Meditation for August 14th, 2024
The Feast of Jonathan Myrick Daniels
Reading: Luke 1:46-55
And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor 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 by Jeremy O’Neill
What does our faith call us to give up? What does our faith call us to take on?
As Episcopalians, we tend to want to shy away from these questions. It can be tempting to restrict our faith only to what we do on Sunday mornings, and ignore the other obligations of the Christian life. Today, the feast of Jonathan Myrick Daniels, calls us to ask what we might be willing to do for our faith and what we might be willing to do for others.
Daniels’ story speaks for itself in many ways, so it is worth a brief recap. Daniels was a seminarian at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he was inspired by his faith and the public request of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to travel to Selma, Alabama to join in the Civil Rights march taking place there. Inspired by the cause, Daniels requested permission to stay in Alabama the remainder of that semester, only returning to Cambridge for final exams.
While in Alabama, Daniels participated in protests and connected those in need with resources, all while working to integrate a historically white-only Episcopal Church. On August 14th, 1965, Daniels and 28 others were arrested for protesting at segregated stores in Fort Deposit, Alabama. They were bailed out on August 20th. That day, Daniels entered a store to buy a cold soft drink with Roman Catholic priest Fr. Richard F. Morrisroe and black high school students and activists Ruby Sales and Joyce Bailey. There they were confronted by road construction supervisor and part-time deputy sheriff Thomas L. Coleman, who pointed a loaded shotgun at Sales.
As Coleman fired, Daniels famously pushed Sales out of the way and used his body to protect her, absorbing the impact from the weapon. Daniels was killed instantly, while the three people he was with survived. Coleman was never sentenced for the shooting after being acquitted by an all-white jury.
When speaking of this story, Sales said that, “it was ingrained in everybody in the movement that we were each other’s keepers.” This event reminds us that human beings can be capable of violence beyond our understanding. The Good News is, human beings can also be capable of compassion and love beyond our understanding. Daniels’ faith called him to put his body on the line in protection of his neighbor. When we see Jesus on the cross, we see this same capacity for both violence and self-emptying love. May this story inspire us to consider what in this life is worth risking everything. May we ask where Christ is in times of suffering and injustice. Finally, may the radical love of someone like Daniels giving up their life give us hope for a love-filled future.
Prayer
O God of justice and compassion, who puts down the proud and the mighty from their place, and lifts up the poor and afflicted: We give you thanks for your faithful witness Jonathan Myrick Daniels, who, in the midst of injustice and violence, risked and gave his life for another; and we pray that we, following his example, may make no peace with oppression; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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