Sunday, May 30, 1993
Liturgical Color: White/Gold
Pentecost
Almighty God, on this day, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, you revealed the way of eternal life to every race and nation: Pour out this gift anew, that by the preaching of the Gospel your salvation may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Pentecost
Through Jesus Christ our Lord; according to whose most true promise, the Holy Spirit came down from heaven, lighting upon the disciples, to teach them and to lead them into all truth, giving them boldness and fervent zeal constantly to preach the Gospel to all nations; by which we have been brought out of darkness and error into the clear light and true knowledge of you, and of your Son Jesus Christ.
Most liturgical texts are from the Book of Common Prayer (2019) of the Anglican Church in North America.
The New Coverdale Psalter, © 2019 by the Anglican Church in North America. Used by permission.
Social Reformer
Anglican Commemoration
Psalms 144, 145, 146
Psalms 147, 148, 149, 150
Josephine Butler (1828–1906) was an Anglican social reformer whose prophetic witness grounded radical social transformation in Christian theology. Her relentless campaign against the Contagious Diseases Acts—legislation that subjected women suspected of prostitution to invasive, mandatory medical examination without legal recourse—mobilized public opinion and ultimately secured parliamentary repeal in 1886. Butler established rescue homes for exploited women, articulated a theology of human dignity rooted in the Incarnation, and pioneered a distinctively Christian feminism that challenged both patriarchal institutions and complacent religious respectability.
Josephine Grey Butler was born in 1828 to a prominent English family and educated at home with exceptional rigor. In 1852, she married George Butler, an Anglican cleric and reformer. After the death of their young daughter in 1863, Josephine experienced a spiritual crisis that redirected her energies toward the plight of vulnerable women. When Parliament passed the Contagious Diseases Acts (1864, 1866, 1869)—legislation authorizing police to forcibly examine women suspected of prostitution—Butler became the leading voice against this institutional violation. She organized meetings, published exposés (The Constitution Violated, Woman's Work and Woman's Culture), corresponded with international reformers, and mobilized working-class women as advocates for their own dignity. Her theology grounded this activism in Christological conviction: the Incarnation affirms the worth of every human body and spirit. Butler's rescue homes offered practical hospitality and spiritual formation to women exiting prostitution. She worked across denominational and class boundaries, building alliances with Quakers, Methodists, and working-class activists. The repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts in 1886 vindicated her decade-long campaign. Butler continued lecturing and writing on Christian ethics, human dignity, and women's spiritual authority until her death in 1906.
Josephine Butler exemplifies the prophetic Anglican voice grounded in incarnational theology and committed to defending the dignity of the most vulnerable. Her work pioneered a distinctively Christian feminism and established a model of faithful activism in which theological conviction drives social transformation. She is venerated in contemporary Christian feminism and in the witness of those defending exploited and marginalized persons.