Monday, May 3

From “Common Prayer: A Liturgy For Ordinary Radicals” (May 3, p. 264-265)

Septima Poinsette Clark (1898 - 1987)
Septima Poinsette Clark was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to a father who was an ex-slave and a mother who had been raised in the Caribbean. While her parents had very little formal education, they emphasized the need for Septima to go to school. Though Septima was eligible to teach after completing the eighth grade, her parents and teachers encouraged her to finish high school. After graduating she took a post as a teacher on John’s Island, off the coast of Charleston. There she began to notice the extreme disparity between the education of African-Americans and that of their white counterparts. This experience stayed with her and fueled her quest for educational reform. An avid social activist during the civil rights era, Septima traveled throughout the South to educate African-Americans about their voting rights. She worked closely with Miles Horton of the Highlander Folk School. Together they trained many civil rights activists, including Rosa Parks, in nonviolent resistance and local leadership. Although Septima was thrown in jail, threatened, fired from jobs, and falsely accused of wrongdoing, she never turned from her task of working against an unjust educational system. Septima Poinsette Clark has become known as the Grandmother of the Civil Rights Movement.

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Come let us sing to the Lord: let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.

Root us, Lord, in your life: the life that lasts forever.

Psalm 15
Lord, who may dwell in your tabernacle? : who may abide upon your holy hill?
Whoever leads a blameless life and does what is right: who speaks the truth from his heart.
There is no guile upon his tongue; he does no evil to his friend: he does not heap contempt upon his neighbour.
In his sight the wicked is rejected: but he honours those who fear the Lord.
He has sworn to do no wrong: and does not take back his word.
He does not give his money in hope of gain: nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
Whoever does these things: shall never be overthrown.

Root us, Lord, in your life: the life that lasts forever.

Numbers 3:1-13 Luke 4:1-13

Root us, Lord, in your life: the life that lasts forever.

Septima Poinsette Clark liked to say, “I have a great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking. I consider chaos a gift.”

Prayers for Others

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, forever and ever. Amen.

Like a tree planted by living water is the person who commits to your ways, O Lord. Nourish us with your disciplining love; prune our branches for growth. Teach us also to recognize good fruit and to recoil from the bitterness of the bad. Amen.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,
wherever he may send you.
May he guide you through the wilderness,
protect you through the storm.
May he bring you home rejoicing,
at the wonders he has shown you.
May he bring you home rejoicing,
once again into our doors. Amen

Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash