Today’s Bible reading and an excerpt

Read Jude 1:20-23

Have mercy on those who doubt. Save some by snatching them from the fire.

More thoughts for meditation about Lucretia Mott

Lucretia Mott (January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was a Quaker minister and activist in church reform, women’s rights, and the abolitionist movement. Considering slavery an evil to be opposed, she and others refused to use cotton cloth, cane sugar, and other slavery-produced goods as part of their protest. Her Pennsylvania home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. By the end of her life, Lucretia saw the legal end to slavery in the US but it would be forty years before the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution gave women the right to vote.

Mott’s fight for women’s rights included education. Her most famous work: Discourse on Woman, was published in 1849. Her leadership led to the founding of Moore College of Art and the Medical College of Pennsylvania, both in Philadelphia. She was one of the founders of Swarthmore College.

It is hard to imagine an equivalent to the battles Lucretia Mott was fighting and the tools she had. Her convictions led to more than a critique of society, more than personal changes, but to a Spirit-led mass movement that resulted in much fruit.

Quotes:

• We too often bind ourselves by authorities rather than by the truth.
• It is not Christianity, but priestcraft that has subjected woman as we find her.
• The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation because in the degradation of woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source.
• Any great change must expect opposition, because it shakes the very foundation of privilege.
• I have no idea of submitting tamely to injustice inflicted either on me or on the slave. I will oppose it with all the moral powers with which I am endowed. I am no advocate of passivity.
• It is time that Christians were judged more by their likeness to Christ than their notions of Christ. Were this sentiment generally admitted we should not see such tenacious adherence to what men deem the opinions and doctrines of Christ while at the same time in every day practice is exhibited anything but a likeness to Christ.

Want more?

Historical marker background [link]

Bio from the Unitarians [link]

A note from Penn Press [link]

Video from series on Philadelphia Women:

Suggestions for action

Lucretia Mott is such an inspiring example. What movement is God starting with us? Will we have the faith and courage to follow through?