To the EDS community:
As I reflect on this moment, I am convinced that we are in the midst of a movement of social action and responsibility demanding a Christian response - to follow Jesus faithfully in times like these. This past week, thousands responded to the call of MARCH (Multifaith, Antiracism, Change & Healing) who invited clergy from across the country to travel to Minneapolis for witness and action as state violence and violations of civil liberties continue to escalate in the Twin Cities.
At EDS, we are reminded of, and inspired by, the legacy of Jonathan Daniels, an Episcopal Theological School seminarian, who, in 1965, responded to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s call for clergy of all faiths to come to Selma, Alabama to support the marchers for voting rights. Daniels, as we know, was martyred for his witness, something Episcopal New Hampshire Bishop Rob Hirschfeld, recently suggested might again be necessary for Christian leaders, as the need for action over words is prioritized in the fight for justice in our communities across the United States.
EDS’s legacy of forming leaders of moral courage is centered on the heart of what it means to be Christian—to follow Jesus faithfully in times like these. We might learn especially from two aspects of Jonathan Daniels’ witness that stand out to me.
First, Jon embodied compassionate solidarity with the most vulnerable and those who suffer. He wrote, “We go to stand in often silent compassion with the captives and the blind and the oppressed.”
In a time where the cries of the vulnerable are so often drowned out by the noise of power, ambition, and self-interest, compassionate solidarity calls us to listen differently and to stand differently. It reminds us not to confuse the pursuit of justice with the pursuit of privilege, nor the longing for equality with the temptation of entitlement. It grounds us in faithful companionship with those who work for justice, healing, and freedom—even when such solidarity is costly.
Second, what stands out most powerfully in Jon’s life is not what he demanded of others—or even of God—but what he demanded of himself. His life was shaped by a deep and clear understanding of obedience to the Gospel, the Good News of God’s promise and dream for us.
In every age, and especially in our own, we are called to live accountable to the values of God’s vision for us: justice rooted in love and love expressed through justice. This calling feels especially urgent in this time marked by fear and the normalization of dehumanizing injustice.
Too often, our policies, institutions, and even our imaginations, settle for managing injustice—learning how to survive it—rather than daring to overcome it. We are told to stay home, to stay complicit, to not rock the boat, and as church leaders, to sanitize the Gospel message so as not to disturb major donors, or lose members.
The Gospel calls us to more. It calls us to chart a course toward God’s future:
A future where all are welcome.
A future where no human is illegal.
A future where every child is safe and fed and cared for, every voice is heard, and every person is honored as sacred.
A future where no power, no system, no ideology, no violence, is stronger than the love and justice of God.
In these deeply troubling and disorienting times we at EDS commit ourselves anew to living into the legacy of Jonathan Daniels and all who have borne faithful witness before us.
And we call upon the Church, and all who follow Jesus, to join us in:
- Standing in compassionate solidarity with those who are most vulnerable, which means engaging, each of us in our own local communities, building relationships with those on the margins and feeling least safe;
- Resisting giving in to despair and overwhelm, refusing the quiet acceptance of injustice;
- Examining not only the world around us, but the demands the Gospel places upon our own lives;
- and living, acting, and hoping as servants of God’s vision and dream for us.
May we have the courage to believe that God’s future is still possible—and the faithfulness to live as if it already matters now.
The Very Rev. Lydia Kelsey Bucklin
President and Dean