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Good morning.

Today the Anglican Church celebrates the life and work of the pioneering 19th Century social reformer Josephine Butler.  She is in many ways a very modern figure who managed to combine life as a wife and mother with a successful career as a campaigner.  Not easy in Victorian England.

She campaigned against child prostitution. She fought against the Contagious Diseases Act – under which women could more or less arbitrarily be subjected to barbarous medical examinations and even imprisoned.  And she took up the wider cause of women – at one point setting up her own refuge in Winchester.

In Josephine Butler’s day speaking out about such issues wasn’t just unusual – particularly for a woman – it was extremely unpopular and she was widely vilified and even physically attacked.  But she had seen at first hand the way women and children were treated and she was horrified.  Driven by her social conscience and her Christian faith she was determined to actually do something about it – whatever the cost.

I find her vision and commitment inspiring but also deeply challenging. 

Although today we surely all accept the importance of fighting against the sexual exploitation of women and – especially – children, the problems are still with us.  And there are many other areas of life where people are being oppressed and exploited and I fear we are not often as outraged by that or active as we should be in fighting for justice. 

Whether we share Josephine Butler’s faith or not, I think her example should challenge all of us to be more alert to injustice and inhumanity in the world around us, to recognise it for what it is and to be willing to do all we can to confront it. 

Father, we thank you for the courage and clarity of vision of Josephine Butler and others like her.  Inspire us to be as driven as she was in fighting for justice for people who are being abused and exploited.  Amen