The Example of Pauli Murray
“For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:26-28
July 1 is the day in the Episcopal Church that is set aside to honor and remember Pauli Murray. She was an activist for women’s rights and civil rights, a lawyer, an academic, a poet and an Episcopal priest. She was ordained deacon in 1976 and ordained priest in 1977, one of the first generation of women priests and the first African American woman ordained an Episcopal priest.
Pauli Murray was from a mixed race family, with ancestors who were slaves and who were slave owners. She was from the north and from the south. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and after her mother died when she was just three years old, she was raised by her maternal grandparents and aunt in Durham, North Carolina. Pauli had worked for civil rights and experienced racial discrimination. In 1940, in Virginia, she and a companion had moved from the broken seats in the ‘colored section’ at the back of a bus to ‘whites-only’ seats and were subsequently arrested when they refused to move. In 1944, she graduated first in her class from Howard University law school and experienced gender discrimination. It was the practice for the person who was first in the Howard University law school class to be offered a graduate fellowship at Harvard University, but Harvard did not accept women, so she was turned down for the fellowship. She completed post graduate work at the University of California-Berkeley’s law school. As a lawyer, she argued cases for civil rights and for women’s rights. As an Episcopal priest, her mission was for reconciliation. She served for a number of years at a parish in Washington, D.C., where she focused on ministry to the sick.
This is a very brief overview of the life and ministry of Pauli Murray, who worked to break down those barriers which are created not by God, but by human beings. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he told them that we are all one in Christ Jesus. We are all children of God no matter the color of our skin, our gender or our background. Let us each honor the life and ministry of Pauli Murray as we intentionally live into what Jesus has taught us, that all human beings, all children of God are one. In these times of deep division in our world and in our community, let’s focus on that great commandment from Jesus:
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34-35
