Readings

January 9: Julia Chester Emery, Lay Leader and Missionary, 1922

The Collect of the Day

Julia Chester Emery

God of all creation, who calls us to make disciples of all nations and to proclaim your mercy and love: Grant that we, after the example of your servant Julia Chester Emery, might have vision and courage in proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ, our light and our salvation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Julia Chester Emery

God of all creation, who dost call us to make disciples of all nations and to proclaim thy mercy and love: Grant that we, after the exampleof thy servant Julia Chester Emery, might have vision and courage in proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ, our light and our salvation, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Julia Chester Emery was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on September 24th, 1852. In 1876 she succeeded her sister, Mary, as Secretary of the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Board of Missions, which had been established by the General Convention in 1871.

During the forty years that she served as Secretary, Julia helped the Episcopal Church to recognize its call to proclaim the gospel both at home and overseas. Her faith, her courage, her spirit of adventure, and her ability to inspire others combined to make her a leader respected and valued by the whole church.

She visited every diocese and missionary district within the United States, encouraging and expanding the work of the Woman’s Auxiliary, and in 1908 she served as a delegate to the Pan-Anglican Congress in London. From there she traveled around the world, visiting missions in remote areas of China, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Hawaii, and then all the dioceses on the Pacific Coast before returning to New York. Although travel was not easy in those days, she wrote that she went forth “with hope for enlargement of vision, opening up new occasions for service, acceptance of new tasks.”

Through her leadership a network of branches of the Woman’s Auxiliary was established, which shared a vision of and a commitment to the church’s mission. An emphasis on educational programs, a growing recognition of social issues, development of leadership among women, and the creation of the United Thank Offering are further parts of the legacy Julia left to the church when she retired in 1916.

In 1921, a year before she died on January 9th, 1922, the following appeared in the periodical The Spirit of Missions: “In all these enterprises of the church, no single agency has done so much in the last half-century to further the church’s mission as the Woman’s Auxiliary.” Much of that accomplishment was due to the creative spirit of its secretary for forty of those fifty years, Julia Chester Emery.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

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Psalm

1May God be merciful to us and bless us, *show us the light of his countenance and come to us.

2Let your ways be known upon earth, *your saving health among all nations.

3Let the peoples praise you, O God; *let all the peoples praise you.

4Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, *for you judge the peoples with equity and guide all the nations upon earth.

5Let the peoples praise you, O God; *let all the peoples praise you.

6The earth has brought forth her increase; *may God, our own God, give us his blessing.

7May God give us his blessing, *and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.

Gospel

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Mark 10:42–45

42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43 But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Romans 12:6–13

6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. 9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.