I. I am writing on the feast of Pentecost, often referred to as the birth of the Church (cf. Luke and Acts).  I, nonetheless, took time away from writing to participate in the 11:15am liturgy at the National Cathedral, at which Presiding Bishop Michael Curry preached. At the heart of Bishop Curry’s homily was the idea that Pentecost does indeed constitute the real birth of the Church, a revolution that needs to be taken very seriously because of its power to change the world. This revolution is the return of Jesus in the coming of the Holy Spirit. Over and over, Bishop Curry made this point: to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to have Jesus in our midst as we seek and practice justice, compassion, love, truth, and authenticity. But the Bishop also made it very clear that WE are the revolution because we are the ones who are filled with the Holy Spirit and given new awareness and wisdom. It is a revolution that comes from within.

II. To be filled with the Holy Spirit means that we must LISTEN to the Holy Spirit speaking to us, precisely what Bishop Curry was pointing to: to listen to and really hear the Holy Spirit speaking is at the heart of the Pentecost revolution. Hearing the Holy Spirit is where the Church began, just as it was where the Episcopal Church intensified its efforts in the 19th century to bring the Word to God’s people of all kinds. To listen and really hear is to witness, to mission, to evangelize. And so we come to the life and times of Jackson Kemper, whom the church celebrates on May 24.  

III. Jackson Kemper studied theology with Henry Hobart and Benjamin Moore following graduation in 1809 from Columbia College (soon to be named Columbia University). He was ordained a priest in 1814 by his mentor, Bishop William White, the Bishop of Pennsylvania and the Rector of the three united Episcopal parishes in Philadelphia, Christ Church, Saint Peter’s and Saint James. By then, however, Kemper was already deeply engaged with parish ministry at Saint James and at Christ Church; from all indications, he was very successful there. Kemper was active in the formation of the Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania and made several missionary trips beyond the Allegheny Mountains in Western Pennsylvania on behalf of the Society.  Eventually, Kemper became Assistant Rector of the united churches and served in that role for twenty years. Already, it would seem there was a clear path for Kemper’s calling as a priest, though it was not yet fully apparent where that path would take him.

IV. Having been elected as a delegate to several General Conventions, at the 1820 General Convention, Kemper became one of the managers of the new “Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society in the United States for Foreign and Domestic Missions.” This position, as one of the managers of a very new and important “Mission Society,” seems to have been the first sign from the Holy Spirit that Kemper’s ministry would put him on a path that led him away from parish ministry and toward evangelism and mission work.

V. This is a good place to conclude Part One of this story of Jackson Kemper. There is much more to tell, as the epigram above suggests. In Part Two, one crucial question will be to ask ourselves how Jackson Kemper as priest and Bishop can be seen as a model for ministry and service in 2021, especially post-COVID-19. 

Part Two will appear on Friday, June 4.