The second match-up of the Elate Eight pits a renowned preacher and bishop against a tireless lay woman. Both were spiritual giants, although at six foot six and nearly 300 pounds, Brooks was also a physical giant.
To get to this point, Phillips Brooks defeated Simeon and Catherine of Siena while Julia Chester Emery was victorious over Charles Henry Brent and F.D. Maurice. Don't forget you can see all the previous match-ups to refresh your memory about the contestants by going to the bracket page and scrolling down.
Yesterday saw Lydia sneak past Basil the Great in another squeaker 51% to 49%. Yowza! Fortunately there was no great scandal with this battle as there was in the Charles Wesley/Thomas Merton match-up. To put everyone at ease, please know the Supreme Executive Committee keeps Jimmy Carter on retainer as an impartial election observer. Also, one member of the SEC used to work for IBM so BIG FATHER is always watching.
Maple Anglican has released his daily Archbishops' Update featuring everyone's favorite Lent Madness colour commentators. which you can watch here. And we're getting closer to our goal of 10,000 likes on Facebook before the Golden Halo as we're now pushing 9,740. Spread the word!
Phillips Brooks
Phillips Brooks’ Trinity Church was the first Episcopal Church I ever entered. It was 1980, and The Empire Strikes Back had been released that summer (retain this important detail). I was on a college orientation trip to Boston with 400 other freshman, and one stop was Copley Square. Trinity Church beckoned and, as I stepped inside, the spectacular sacred space of Brooks’ imagination stunned me. Christian and Missionary Alliance churches didn’t look anything like this.
But enough of this reverie! Let’s get to the saintly kitsch!
A cursory search for Phillips Brooks treasures on Zazzle turns up the usual pithy quote-bedecked beer stein and travel mug, both a whopping $29.95, and sporting a particularly Victorian-sounding epigram: “Jesus Christ, the condescension of divinity, and the exaltation of humanity.”
The young children in your life might like this O Little Town of Bethlehem stocking stuffer pop-up book on Amazon.A visit to the web store of the Phillips Brooks Elementary School in Menlo Park, California, turns up the requisite long-sleeved t-shirt for only$29.99.
But where are the items of devotion for a man whom Peter Gomes described as the most famous American preacher since Cotton Mather? Where are the commemorative goods for the first American minister to be invited to preach at Westminster Abbey? The man who had 15,000 Bostonians turn up for his funeral.
Where, where you ask? The answer, in a word, is Ebay.
My first find is this rather spectacular lithograph with a quote from one of Brooks’ sermons can now be yours for $89.99 OBO. “O, do not pray for easy lives! Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks!” it begins.
That first search led to dozens, nay, tens of dozens of vintage Brooks books and memorabilia. For just $3.00 you
can own a lovely volume from 1908 titled, Jewels of Phillips Brooks. It contains color plates and pithy quotes from his sermons and is way better (and cheaper) than a coffee mug.
There is even a Phillips Brooks precursor to Forward Day by Day published shortly before his death, a “yearbook” that offers “day by day guidance to live a meaningful life, for yourself and for others.”
One of the most remarkable finds is this 1953 wall calendar that commemorates Phillips Brooks. 1953! Such was the appeal of his preaching and wisdom and the longevity of his reputation that 60 years after his death people were still buying calendars upon which to note their dentist appointments. You can own this “used not abused” calendar for a mere $12.99 plus $3.00 for shipping.
But now we must return to Copley Square in 1980. Somehow upon entering the church I missed the famous statue of Brooks by the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens that was installed in 1910. Saint-Gaudiens had intended to place a stylized angelic figure behind Brooks. But, alas, he died in 1907 before it was completed. However, a group of artists decided a depiction of Jesus would be better. Unfortunately they designed the creepiest Jesus ever cast in bronze, whom I would have immediately identified, having seen The Empire Strikes Back three times that summer, as Emperor Palpatine.
Here’s what I believe: The real and loving Jesus steered me clear of the creepy statue-Jesus and led me into 
Trinity Church, because having seen it first, I would have turned around and gone to get a coffee at the old Harvard Book Store Cafe on Newbury Street. Instead I entered and the beauty and peace of that sacred space lodged itself in my heart and opened a door for a new way of thinking about the mystery of God.
Thank you, Phillips Brooks. Without your life and witness and your perseverance in building that stunning church, I might have turned out to be a CMA missionary in some remote, buggy place with spotty Internet and poisonous snakes.
-- Heidi Shott
Julia Chester Emery
Although her influence in the Episcopal church was far-reaching (remember how as national secretary of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Board of Missions for the Episcopal Church from 1876 to 1916 she visited EVERY DIOCESE and set up more than 5,600 chapters of what is now the Episcopal Church Women (ECW)? How she visited missions all over the Far East as well? And how she championed the canonical office of deaconess? And how she created the United Thank Offering (UTO)?), Julia Chester Emery’s actual likeness appears on … basically nothing. As Forward Movement notes: "She was a modest and self-effacing Victorian lady who was so careful to stay out of the limelight …"
Still, as such a major figure in the church and in the world through her encouragement and support of missionaries (we know that she was a major inspiration for all sorts of wonderful things. For instance, look at all these Julia dolls! Clearly she is the model for the cute baby, the adorable toddler wearing Crocs, AND the demure teen. Clearly she is the model for the “My Friend Julia” machine washable doll!
(OK, and this last doll is actually inspired by Christina the Astonishing, who, sadly, did not survive the first round even though lots of people wanted to see what sort of kitsch she inspired, so here you go.)
She also clearly inspired the trucking industry! How many people can say that?
Also, check out this toast rack in the “Julia” pattern from Royal Winton china. Perfect for holding your Virgin Mary and/or Jesus toast. (There are salt and pepper shakers, teapots, and other lovelies in the Julia pattern, too.)
Naturally, Julia also inspired such important and useful items as key chains. See?
Now, all of these other Julia-inspired items are available for purchase, somewhere. (Well, maybe not the truck.) However, there’s another Julia item that is unique and priceless, and I own it. It’s almost like a relic. This is a raku pottery UTO box (circa 2000) made by my son when he was in elementary school.
So vote for Julia and send her to the round of the Faithful Four!
-- Penny Nash
Vote!
[poll id="102"]
115 comments on “Phillips Brooks vs. Julia Chester Emery”
Had to support Brooks because the family's mens clothing line might need it.
So I couldn't support Julia; how childish.
Um, thanks Mollie?
I voted for both of them in rounds 1 and 2, so once again I am forced to make a choice between two people whom I greatly respect! Phillips Brooks' writings speak very loudly to me, so I will have to go with him, even though I have Julia Chester Emery's little blue box in my window. Unfortunately, I can't split my vote.
Phillips Brooks: “If you limit the search for truth and forbid men anywhere, in any way, to seek knowledge, you paralyze the vital force of truth itself.
In the best sense of the word, Jesus was a radical. His religion has been so long identified with conservation -- often with conservatism of the obstinate and unyielding sort -- that it is almost startling for us sometimes to remember that all of the conservatism of his own times was against him; that it was the young, free, restless, sanguine, progressive part of the people who flocked to him.” Vote PB!
Given all of the huge contributions made by Julia Chester Emery, I cannot believe that you would trivialize her so with dolls etc. Why not pictures of her accomplishments? Pictures speak a thousand words. You provided Brooks with some great pics of things he's done. Why not give Julia the same courtesy? Or os it because she was a woman? Sorry, th question had to be asked.
Hi Gloriamarie, there's still time for people to read comments and vote. If you can find some web searches with pictures, post them here as replies. It could help Julia's cause between now and close of voting. My vote is cast, but I don't mind helping with this. I've tried to find something but no luck so far with my own attempts. Cheers.
something for ECW on the go http://episcopalmarketplace.org/Products/United-Thank-Offering/Pocket-Blue-Box-from-UTO
Dear Aleathia,
I'm sure I don't know......ewwwwww......
I had to go with Brooks and the Creepy Jesus, a statue reminiscent of the Adams Memorial that St. Gaudens designed for the Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D. C. Henry Adams's description of this monument to his wife is a great tribute to the power of art to move onlookers and not incidentally to bring out the shallowness in much contemporary condemnation of art that isn't "uplifting." This is LENT Madness, after all.
PS: My hands are a bit shaky when I try to hit buttons on my computer, and my first "Vote" appeared not to register, so I tried again. After the recent chastisement from our Benevolent Overlords, I fear to transgress. I'm a duffer, not a stuffer!
A difficult decision. I voted for Julia because I would like people to know more about her accomplishments. However, when I think of Phillips Brook I am always reminded of the story of him sitting with an eight year old Helen Keller explaining to her who God is. Her response was "Oh I know Him I just didn't know His name." That story of the great man communicating the God of love to a blind and deaf eight year old touches me as deeply as his wonderful sermons if not more. As I say, a tough vote.
I am disgusted about your treatment of Julia Chester Emery. How could you trivilize visiting EVERY DIOCESE and setting up more than 5,600 chapters of what is now the Episcopal Church Women (ECW) plus creating UTO, by talking about dolls?
Because today it's about kitsch. Maybe next year we can weigh in on who has the most frequent flier/horseback/Model T/wagon/walking miles. Maybe that would that be less offensive. It's Lent Madness!
Tough choices and I voted before reading everyone's comments. I went with Julia, however I won't be upset if Brooks goes to the Final Four!!
The little blue box won my heart today! Julia's lack of kitsch could actually bring more support. Here's hoping!
It got my support. I voted for Phillips Brooks the last time he was up, but I find myself going with Julia today. As was pointed out, PB has plenty of memorials to his saintliness, but what has Julia got? A toast rack! So, in the interest of giving this woman of God her due, I voted for Julia.
Crooks for Brooks:
http://youtu.be/Ih2bRXjNTWM
Both inspiring but the edge goes to Phillips Brooks, only partly because today there is an alert out in NJ for an 81 year old missing person named Phillips Brooks -- really. May he soon be found.
I didn't have room to include the link to the facsimile of Helen Keller's letter to PB
Found in the UPenn archives. It is so dear.
Scroll down the page to see it. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/keller/life/life.html
Hello Heidi---I used your link and spent 2 hrs reading the info that popped us and I'd like to thank you. It was 2 hrs well spent.
Julia also inspired the Beatles. Witness their song "Julia" from "The White Alblum".
I remember seeing a stained glass window in our small church (St. Mark's Episcopal in Fall River, MA) as a youngster and asking my dad who the man was, since he looked much too modern compared to others portrayed in other windows. My Dad then poured forth with a history lesson. As much as I disliked studying history, Phillips Brooks story has stayed with me all these years. Sorry, Julia. My vote goes to Bsp. Brooks.
Hi Carl Peter Klapper, thank you so very much for posting this! It only reinforces my conviction that I voted correctly :-)!
Creepy Jesus vs Raku Pottery UTO Box? No contest. Julia all the way.
Brooks for me - I need preaching assistance. Perhaps he'll intercede...
Well, well, well, it's come to this. Two good people nose to nose, but I'm still for Julia. She made it possible for my great aunt to teach in China. That made her responsible for the fact that I was taught to use chopsticks at a tender age when it's easier to learn stuff like that. My Aunt Aimee even taught me to count to 10 and to sing "Onward Christian Soldiers" in Mandarin! And think of all the wonderful Chinese things that I inherited. It's Julia all the way. I'm about to add some green stuff to my zippered UTO coin purse in her honor. In fact , if I knew how to add a picture, I'd show you the coin purse, as well as the cover of a 1916 primer used at St. Hilda's School in Wuhan. I can scan them, but....I don't know how to plop them into my note.
.....and, thus endeth my day..........later.......as I was typing this, the alarm system in my apartment building went off. Naturally, I gathered up my phone, AND my cat, and headed for the stairs. Turns out, some moron on the 2nd floor was less than careful with the combustibles and the building had to be evacuated.
I am back in my apartment now, having been given the all clear by the ypsi fire department(for everyone except 2nd floor tenants, that is) to return to my apt. Which is on the 4th floor.
Boy Hidee, what a night.
SEC, who is the patron saint of fire fighters?
And can this saint be on the bracket sometime?
And no, Fred Rogers is NOT negotiable.
Peace out, y'all,
Madeleine
PS: God bless all firefighters. Whatever they're paid, it's not nearly enough, amen
Not fun at all! Good that you did not have to eat any smoke ..... or worse! And as always we devalue those who protect our safety (police and fire), teach our children .....
Hi Phil,
Ain't it the truth?! God bless our unsung heroes, wherever and whoever they may be!
Madeleine,
Florian is the patron of fire fighters. He was a Roman soldier in command of a squadron (or battalion or corps or whatever) of soldiers whose sole duty was to fight fires. He was martyred in the persecution of Diocletian.
Florian? And all these years I thought it was St. Dalmatia!
Hi Ann,
Is there a saint dalmatia? Will Google......can't sleep anyway......brb
Now more than ever...Julia!
I voted for both of them in the 'primaries' and I want to continue with their ardent support but must decide on just one with some personal rationale. The wonderful Helen Keller story reminded me. The big man gets
my vote.
When I was a little eight year old, my beloved 11 year old cousin died of an enlarged heart. He hadn't been able to run and play freely but he loved scholarly things and music. His favorite hymn was the Christmas Carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem".
It comforts me to remember it comforting him.
Yes, Madeleine, you voted correctly!
I'd like to join you.
I associate the box with some scolding and lectures on duty, and this did not contribute to a a journey of faith and charity.
“There is one universal religion, Helen - the religion of Love. Love your Heavenly Father with your whole heart and soul, love every child of God as much as ever you can, and remember that the possibilities of good are greater than the possibilities of evil; and you have the key to Heaven.”
― Phillips Brooks
It's late, your comments are getting less inspiring every day, I love both Brooks & Emery & don't wanna make a choice tonight. But I will. The perseverance of the early professionalism in the deaconess movement continues to inspire me. Especially Julia & her sister. Brooks seems to adequately inspire & wow his constituents, & Emery represents the best of her vocation. I have to go w/ Emery again.
Hi Phil, and Harlie,
Thanks for the heads-up on St. Florian, I am grateful that it wasn't worse!
Now, at this wee hour (I'm usually asleep at this time!), the words of Phillips Brooks bring true for me in a way that couldn't have 24 hours ago, specifically: "don't ask God for tasks equal to your strength, ask God
for strength equal to your tasks ." When I was going down the stairs with my freaking out cat Esther digging her claws into me and yowling her displeasure at the situation......
Anyway.
My gratitude to the Ypsi fire department, to firefighters everywhere, you guys ROCK!!!
And may we never see you parked in our lot
Again.......
Hi Ann,
St. Isaac of Dalmatia was a 5th(?) Century monk, he was the patron saint of the Romanovs. I just looove Google 🙂