JONATHAN MYRICK DANIELS

Saturday, August 12, 2017

The Rev. Catherine A. Munz
St. John’s Northampton

LAST FRIDAY EVENING, MY FRIEND, DIANA BUTLER BASS, WHOM SOME OF YOU MET A FEW YEARS AGO WHEN WE ALL WORSHIPED AT FIRST CHURCHES.

DIANA, POSTED A PLEA ON FACEBOOK.  THAT  CAME FROM ANOTHER FRIEND OF HER’S WHO WAS TRAPPED IN A CHURCH, SURROUNDED BY POLICE, WHILE HOODED KKK MEMBERS RALLIED AROUND THE OUTSIDE OF THE CHURCH WITH LIT TORCHES.

A SCENE FROM 1963?  NO, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA 2017.ESCALATING YESTERDAY.

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AND JESUS  (IN TODAY’S GOSPEL) SAID:  “Come.” 

So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 

AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME THAT CHARLOTTESVILLE, WAS RACHETING UP A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE GATHERED,  AT THE  The David Ruggles Center for History and Education IN FLORENCE.  WE WERE THERE TO REMEMBER JONATHAN MYRICK DANIELS.

THE ANGLICAN CHURCH STOPPED CREATING SAINTS AFTER THE REFORMATION,

EXCEPT THOSE WHO ARE IN THE BIBLE.  INSTEAD WE HAVE CREATED FEAST AND FAST DAYS. WHERE WE REMEMBER PEOPLE WHO HAVE MADE IMPORTANT WITNESSES TO THEIR FAITH.

JONATHAN MYRICK DANIELS, IS REMEMBERED EVERY YEAR ON AUGUST 14TH.

I SPEAK OF HIM TODAY, AS SOMEONE, WHO LIKE PETER,  HEARD JESUS SAY “COME, JOIN ME, GET OUT OF THE BOAT.”

JONATHAN  WAS BORN IN KEENE, NEW HAMPSHIRE - IN 1939. HIS PARENTS WERE CONGREGATIONALIST.  SOMETIME, IN HIS TEENS HE JOINED THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

WHERE HIS BOY SCOUT TROOP MET.        HE WAS EVEN AN ACOLYTE!

HE DID WELL IN SCHOOL, GRADUATED FROM VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE,

AND STARTED AT HARVARD WITH THE INTENTION OF STUDYING  ENGLISH LITERATURE.

TOWARD THE END OF HIS FIRST YEAR,  AT AN EASTER SERVICE, AT CHURCH OF ADVENT, IN BOSTON, HE HAD A CONVERSION EXPERIENCE THAT CALLED HIM 

TO SEEK ORDINATION.  A YEAR LATER HE STARTED AT EPISCOPAL THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL IN CAMBRIDGE.

WHAT MADE HIM INTERESTED IN RACIAL JUSTICE  - WE’LL NEVER KNOW FOR SURE.

BUT HE JOINED THE NAACP EARLY ON, AND THEN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

AT ONE POINT HE SAID “ I BEGAN TO KNOW IN MY BONES AND SINEWS THAT I HAD BEEN TRUELY BAPTIZED INTO THE LORD’S DEATH AND RESURRECTION. . .  WITH THEM, THE BLACK MEN AND WHITE MEN (NOW I WOULD ASSUME WOMEN TOO), WITH ALL MY LIFE … WE ARE IN INDELIBLY AND UNSPEAKABLY ONE.”

WHEN MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.  ASKED STUDENTS AND CLEGRY TO JOIN HIM IN SELMA ALABAMA,TO HELP REGISTER BLACK PEOPLE TO VOTE JONATHAN FELT A STRONG CALL OF HIS OWN. CONVINCING THE SEMINARY TO GIVE HIM A SHORT LEAVE OF ABSENCE.

ONCE DANIELS GOT TO ALABAMA, HE MOVED IN WITH A BLACK FAMILY, WORKED WITH THE LOCAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH FOR INTEGRATION OF THE CHURCH,  BY TAKING YOUNG BLACK PEOPLE TO CHURCH WITH HIM.  THE CHURCH WAS NOT WELCOMING.

HE WORKED TO ASSEMBLE LIST OF FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL AGENCIES 

THAT COULD PROVIDE ASSISTANCE FOR THOSE IN NEED. HE TUTORED KIDS. HELPED POOR PEOPLE APPLY FOR AID, AND REGISTERED VOTERS.  

AFTER HELPING THE EFFORT FOR A SHORT TIME, HE WENT DEEPER IN HIS INVOLVEMENT.HE RETURNED TO SEMINARY TO ASK FOR AN EXTENSION, WHEN HE SAID : “SOMETHING, . . .HAPPENED TO ME IN SELMA, … 

I COULD NOT STAND BY IN BENEVOLENT DISPASSION ANY LONGER WITHOUT COMPROMISING EVERYTHING I KNOW AND  VALUE.

THE IMPERATIVE WAS TOO CLEAR THE STAKES TO HIGH, MY OWN IDENTITY WAS CALLED TOO MARKEDLY INTO QUESTION.”   

EARLIER THAT AUGUST (1965) THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT WAS APPROVED BY CONGRESS.

ON AUGUST 14 DANIELS JOINED A GROUP OF  29 PROTESTERS AT FORT DEPOSIT ALABAMA TO PICKET STORES LABELED “WHITES ONLY”.”   ALL OF THEM WERE ARRESTED AND TAKEN TO NEAR BY HAYDENVILLE. THE NEXT DAY 5 JUVENILES WERE ALSO ARRESTED.  THE REST OF THE GROUP WAS HELD FOR SIX DAYS, REFUSING BAIL UNTIL EVERYONE COULD BE RELEASED.

FINALLY, ON AUGUST 20TH, EVERYONE WAS RELEASED, WITH NO AVAILABLE TRANSPORTATION TO GET THEM BACK TO SELMA.  IT WAS A HOT DAY, AND WITH A LONG WALK AHEAD, JONATHAN, A CATHOLIC PRIEST, RICHARD MORRISROE, AND TWO TEENAGED GIRLS, WENT TO A STORE TO GET SOMETHING COLD TO DRINK. 

WHEN THEY ARRIVED, A MAN NAMED TOM COLEMAN WAS THERE WITH HIS SHOTGUN, 

BARRING THEIR ENTRANCE.  WHEN HE AIMED IT AT ONE OF THE YOUNG TEENS, RUBY SALES,  DANIELS PUSHED HER TO THE GROUND  THE GUN WENT OFF, KILLING HIM IMMEDIATELY.

THEN COLEMAN AIMED AT THE OTHER GIRL, JOYCE BAILEY, THE PRIEST PUSHED HER DOWN, AND WAS SHOT - BUT NOT KILLED.

COLEMAN WAS INDICTED FOR MANSLAUGHTER, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ALABAMA 

THOUGHT THE CHARGE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MURDER.  

BUT THE LOCAL TRIAL JUDGE REFUSE TO WAIT FOR THE REV, MORRISROE,TO  RECOVER ENOUGH TO TESTIFY.

COLEMAN CLAIMED SELF DEFENSE, WAS ACQUITTED BY AN ALL WHITE JURY 

(BLACKS COULD NOT YET VOTE,THEREFORE WERE NOT ALLOWED ON THE JURY).

COLEMAN NEVER SPENT A DAY IN JAIL,  AND HE NEVER REPENTED.

COLEMAN LIVED TILL HE WAS 86, AND DIED IN 1997.  

SINCE THAT TIME, IN 1991 THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH DESIGNATED JONATHAN MYRICK DANIELS AS A MARTYR, AND AUGUST 14 AS HIS DAY OF REMEMBRANCE.

THE DIOCESES OF ALABAMA  AND THE CENTRAL GULF COAST HAVE A YEARLY PILGRIMAGE IN HAYDENVILLE TO COMMEMORATE DANIELS AND ALL THE MARTYRS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

KEENE, NEW HAMPSHIRE HAS NAMED A SCHOOL AFTER HIM.

THERE ARE MANY OTHER MEMORIALS IN HIS NAME.

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I HAVE BEEN PLANNING TO TELL YOU THIS STORY FOR A FEW WEEKS NOW.  I DO IT EVERY YEAR AT THE WED. SERVICE.

IT HAS BEEN 52 YEARS SINCE JONATHAN DANIELS DIED,  AND AS MUCH AS WE WOULD LIKE TO SAY  “IT’S ALL BETTER NOW, - IT’S NOT” THE LAST TWO DAYS IN CHARLOTTESVILLE VIRGINIA TELL US THAT.

YET, THERE ARE VICTORIES:

RUBY SALES, WHOSE LIFE WAS SAVED BY JONATHAN DANIELS WENT ON TO ATTEND EPISCOPAL DIVINITY SCHOOL. SHE is the founder and director of the Spirit House Project,  DEDICATED TO JONATHAN DANIELS. She is one of 50 African Americans to be spotlighted in the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

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YESTERDAY’S EVENT AT THE DAVID RUGGLES CENTER IN FLORENCE. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE OF THE DIOCESE SPONSORED THE TIME OF REMEMBRANCE AS WE WALKED AROUND FLORENCE.

WE TALKED ABOUT DANIELS, AND SOJOURNER TRUTH, AND HOW FLORENCE MA., WAS A PART OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.THERE WERE ABOUT 20 OF US,  ALL OF US LEFT SAYING “I DIDN’T KNOW THAT.”

I STAND IN AWE OF THE COURAGE SO MANY CIVIL RIGHTS WORKERS HAD.  PEOPLE RISKING EVERYTHING FOR THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS.

NOT JUST WHITE PEOPLE,  BUT PEOPLE OF COLOR,  BUSINESS OWNERS, HOMEOWNERS AND VISIONARIES.

I WONDER IF I COULD EVER HAVE THAT KIND OF COURAGE.

WHEN JESUS TELLS PETER TO GET OUT OF THE BOAT,  PETER SINKS AS SOON AS HE THINKS HE THINKS HE CAN WALK ON WATER ON HIS OWN STEAM.  AND MAYBE THAT IS THE TAKE AWAY FROM THIS GOSPEL.

I DON’T KNOW THE SOLUTION TO RACISM IN OUR COUNTRY, BUT I KNOW THAT 

1, WE CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT GOD.

2. WE CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT EACH OTHER.

3. WE CAN’T DO IT STANDING STILL, WE HAVE TO STAND UP TO IT.

AND LASTLY WE CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT THE COURAGE TO GET OUT OF THE BOAT.

LET US PRAY:

O God of justice and compassion, you put down the proud and mighty from their place, and lift up the poor and the 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 the just one, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 WIKIPEDIA INFORMED SOME OF THE FACTS ON JONATHAN DANIELS.  ALONG WITH HOLY WOMEN, HOLY MEN,  (ESPECIALLY THE COLLECT AT THE END)

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON RUBY SALES GO TO http://spirithouseproject.org

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TOM COLEMAN GO TO http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/22/us/thomas-coleman-86-dies-killed-rights-worker-in-65.html  

Jonathan Daniels quotations taken from sermon offered by the Rev. Harvey Hill