Anything but “Ordinary” Time
July and August at St. John’s
Although the calendar insists we are in “Ordinary Time,” anyone who has spent five minutes at St. John’s knows there is nothing remotely ordinary about this season. Our parish life is buzzing, blooming, occasionally sprinting, and always stretching toward what God is doing next. In a time when the world feels loud and the pace feels brisk, Hear Their Voices offers us a grounding rhythm—a way to remember that we are part of a much larger story filled with courage, mercy, and holy imagination. These weekly glimpses into faithful lives help us steady our own, reminding us that growth, transformation, and hope rarely arrive all at once. They come through listening, learning, and letting the wisdom of others shape our own walk of faith. And honestly, a little inspiration from the saints never hurts when “Ordinary Time” is anything but.
Today we begin this summer’s Hear Their Voices series, a pilgrimage through the lives of faithful people whose witness still echoes—sometimes gently, sometimes like a brass section—into our world today. Some of these voices come from A Great Cloud of Witnesses, our church’s lovingly curated collection of holy troublemakers, quiet saints, and steadfast servants. Others are people who simply lived goodness with such conviction that history couldn’t help but take notice. Many never sought the spotlight, yet their faithfulness has become a gift we now inherit. Each week, we’ll listen for what their lives might be saying to St. John’s in 2026, and we invite you to read, reflect, and share your own stories. If there is someone whose voice you believe we need to hear, please let Laura, Sarah, or Mark know—our cloud of witnesses is always hiring.
Hear Their Voices: Maria Stewart
Maria W. Stewart, an African American born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1803, was both a trailblazing abolitionist and the first American woman of any race known to have delivered a public address on a political subject. Orphaned at the age of 5, Maria became a servant in the home of a clergyman. While she learned the foundations of Christianity, Maria was unable to obtain an education until she left the home at the age of fifteen and began to attend a “Sabbath School.” Maria devoted herself to her studies over the next several years, then married James Stewart, a veteran of the War of 1812, at the age of 23. Maria and James lived comfortably in the free Black community established in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood until James’ untimely death. Left destitute after unscrupulous white businessmen reportedly cheated her of the money James left her, Maria found her voice as a member of the abolitionist movement.
In 1832, inspired by her faith, Maria joined forces with noted abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison’s The Liberator ran several of Maria’s essays and then published a longer work entitled, Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, the Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build. Maria also published a reflection on her work and God’s call entitled, Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart: presented to the First African Baptist Church and Society. In September 1832, Maria addressed a mixed race and mixed gender audience at Boston’s Franklin Hall. Calling out the abuse heaped on Native Americans, African Americans, and women, Maria urged African Americans to stand up against slavery and claim the same civil and political rights afforded to whites. She called on black women to lead resistance to oppression. Throughout her speeches, Maria invoked Holy Scripture using biblical imagery in her condemnation of slavery, colonization, and campaigns to send free African Americans back to Africa.
Maria’s fiery rhetoric generated a great deal of controversy on many fronts, and she left Boston after just four speeches. After serving as a teacher in New York, Maria later moved to Baltimore and then Washington. Active in Washington’s Episcopal community, Maria organized an Episcopal Sunday School to teach basic literacy to free and enslaved African Americans. She then succeeded Sojourner Truth as Matron of the Freedmen’s Hospital (now Howard University Hospital).
Maria died in 1879.In 2019, the Episcopal Church added Maria to A Great Cloud of Witnesses (previously known as Holy Women, Holy Men) and designated December 17th as the feast day she shares with William Lloyd Garrison. You can read about Maria in: A Great Cloud of Witnesses, the National Park Service website, The Women’s History Project, and RPM Ministries. Her work is also featured in All We Say: The Battle for American Identity, A History in 15 Speeches by Ben Rhodes (Random House 2026).
