This past Tuesday, we celebrated the feast day of Anna Ellison Butler Alexander. I must admit that, if I had ever known who Anna Alexander was, I had forgotten. And shame on me!

Anna Alexander was the first and only African-American consecrated as a deaconess in the Episcopal Church. She served in the Diocese of Georgia her entire career. She was born on St. Simon’s Island just after the Civil War, and spent her early years in Pennick, Darien, and Brunswick Georgia.  In 1894 while still teaching at Darien during the week, Anna founded a mission and school in Pennick, making a 40-mile round trip by boat and foot. She supported herself by taking in sewing, and managed to buy property in 1902, where her brother Charles Alexander and other men then erected a church.

In 1907, addressing the second annual meeting of the diocese’s council of colored churchmen, Bishop Cleland Nelson described Alexander as a “devout, godly and respected colored woman” and consecrated her as a deaconess. As such, Anna worked in the Altamaha River area for the rest of her life, teaching not only academic subjects, but also moral values. Alexander also became the agent for governmental and private aid for both black and white residents, and enlisted neighbors of both races to help. Anna Alexander’s birth date was never recorded, and she later gave various different dates, in part because she feared that she would be forbidden to continue to work in her final years due to her age. If they didn’t know how old she was, they couldn’t tell her to stop! In 1998, she was recognized as a saint by the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia and her diocese began advocating for larger recognition in the Episcopal Church thereafter.

Women, of course, have always had a profound impact on the course of God’s Kingdom here on earth. Throughout the Old Testament, there are numerous stories of godly women who stepped up when needed (and when godly men seemed sorely lacking). Jesus’ own ministry was characterized by uniquely gifted and strong women who demonstrated faithful servanthood and courageous leadership. The subsequent history of the church is plum-full of stories of other women who have proved their mettle. And, of course, here at St. John’s we are blessed with some of the most skilled and wise and willing women with whom I have ever worked.

The life and ministry of Anna Ellison Butler Alexander is but one more reminder of the vital impact of women upon the Kingdom of God. I am immensely grateful to be part of the Episcopal Church as, in the last fifty years or so, we are finally coming to the recognition that, when it comes to faithful, spirit-filled leadership on behalf of the Heavenly Kingdom, God shows no partiality with regard to gender (or race).

~Father Art