Readings: Ecclesiasticus 3:30-4:6 Psalm 123 Romans 12:6-13  Mark 10:42-45  Preface of a Saint (2) [Common of a Missionary] [For the Ministry] [For the Mission of the Church] PRAYER (traditional language)     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 example of 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, world without end. Amen. PRAYER (contemporary language)     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.  Lessons revised at General Convention 2024. Return to Lectionary Home Page Webmaster: Charles Wohlers Last updated: 9 November 2024

JULIA CHESTER EMERY, LAY LEADER AND MISSIONARY (9 JAN 1922)   Julia Emery is a 1994 addition to the Episcopal Calendar.  Her father was a New England sea captain. Two of her brothers became priests. One sister, Helen, cared for another sister who was ill, and made a project of providing hospitality in her New York City home for missionaries on leave. Another sister, Mary, was National Secretary of the Women's Auxiliary of the Board of Missions for its first four years, from 1872 to 1876.  At this point, Julia took over, and was National Secretary of the Auxiliary for forty years, from 1876 to 1916.  She visited every diocese in the United States, co-ordinating and encouraging work in support of missions. She traveled to London as a delegate to the Pan-Anglican Congress. She traveled to Japan, inland China, Hong Kong, and the Philippines to advance missionary work there, and to be able to report on it to the Episcopal women in the United States.  It was Julia who invented the United Thank Offering (UTO). This works (or used to work -- my political instincts tell me that not everyone today would be comfortable with the original arrangement) by giving each woman a small box with a slit in the top (a cardboard piggy bank), and encouraging her to drop a small contribution into it whenever she feels thankful about something. Once a year, the women of the parish present these at the Sunday service, and the money is sent to national headquarters to be used for missions.  by James Kiefer