SMALL GROUP MINISTRY: UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST WOMEN’S HERITAGE
WOMEN OF THE SOUTH
From Women of the
South, by Dorothy Emerson and Janet Bowering, Unitarian
Universalist Women’s Heritage Society Worship Service General
Assembly 2000, Nashville, Tennessee
Chalice
Lighting/Opening Words: Frances Ellen Watkins. Unitarian
(1825-1911)
We
come, but not to celebrate,
Amid
the flight and whirl of years,
The
deeds of heroes, on whose brows
Are
laurels, drenched with blood and tears.
Not
yet to tell of wondrous deeds
Performed
on fields of bloodless strife;
But
of the lonely precious things,
That
bless and beautify our life.
“For the
Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the ‘Old Folks’ Home,”
Annual Report for the Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored People,
1889, 13-14.
Topic/Activity:
Women have been influenced by, and have influenced others through
outreach to share the message of Unitarian Universalism:
Athalia Lizzie
Johnson Irwin (1862-1915) was born in Arkansas, the daughter of a
Baptist minister. After her marriage, she moved to South Carolina.
She became friends with the circuit-riding minister, Rev. Quillen
Shinn. She became a Universalist minister and circuit rider.
Rev. Hannah Jewett
Powell (1866-1954) served churches in Maine for 22 years before
being appointed by the Women’s National Missionary Association
to work in the mountains in North Carolina. She worked for 20 years
in the area, developing a variety of programs.
Annie Bissell Jordan
Willis (1893-1977) worked for a school and social work center for
children, especially African American children, in Suffolk, Virginia,
after her father had converted to Universalism after hearing Rev.
Quillen Shinn and becoming a minister.
Laura Matilda Towne
(1825-1901), from the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, was
inspired by Rev. William Henry Furness to become an abolitionist. She
went to Port Royal Sound, the Sea Islands, specifically St. Helena,
to help create opportunities for freed slaves.
Abby A. Peterson
(1856-1919), from Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts, was active on the
Board of The National Alliance of Unitarian and Other Christian
Women, which sent her to help in eastern North Carolina. Her work
resulted in a chapel and school at Shelter Neck.
Who or what has
influenced you in the direction of your life work?
How have you influenced
others?
How are you, or can
you, participate in Unitarian Universalist outreach?
Closing:
And now, as we
extinguish this chalice, this symbol of the common spirit that calls
us forward in our lives, may its light go with us to illuminate the
path ahead. May the flame of our heritage light the way through
whatever present challenges we face that we may truly live lives
endowed with power and transcribed with deeds of love.
Likes and Wishes:
How was this session for you?
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