Thanking God for Bishop Duffey

Today is a difficult day for those who loved Bishop Duffey, which is to say that today is a difficult day for a great multitude. All day I've been weepy as remembrances of his kindness have come to me.

He first took an interest in me in 2004 when I was a pastor at St. Mark UMC. I was at Montgomery First for some reason and he stopped me to tell me that he had been reading the church newsletter and he appreciated things I'd written. I was blown away that such a great man would take the time to pay attention to me and my ministry. He was clearly sincere in his compliments. Later, I invited him to preach at the church and he was clearly honored to be asked. Bishop Duffey was such a towering figure in my mind, and I was taken aback that he was so humble about things--I thought of myself as a nobody, and he clearly saw me differently.

There have been many treasures I've experienced in serving alongside Bishop Duffey since I've been at Montgomery First. I will never forget the honor of serving communion with him. I'm especially glad today that I told him so. I was with him the morning Louise passed away. He grieved so hard that he was physically ill. And yet, his dignity and sense of peace never faltered. He always talked about how accomplished and gifted a person she was, and he sincerely believed that she accomplished much of everything for which he had been given credit.

Bishop Duffey loved campus ministry, and often asked about the state of Wesley Foundations while I served as BHECM chair. He had discerned his call to ministry while working at the Wesley Foundation at the University of Alabama. He continued to read widely and deeply until the end, and would occasionally bring me things to read concerning recent trends in campus ministry.

Bishop Duffey was so affirming to so many in so many ways. He touched so many lives, and he touched the lives of everyone in my house in direct ways. My older daughter told me tonight about the last time he spoke to her. He called her over to him and told her how proud of her he was, how he was blessed to have watched her grow up, how he looked forward to seeing what God would do in and through her. My faith in the communion of saints makes me believe he will continue to watch over her from the Church Triumphant, and for that I am grateful. I will always treasure Bishop Duffey's gracious acceptance of our request that he participate in our baby's baptism. I believe Maggie Grace was the last person he baptized. I will be sure that one day she will understand what an inestimable grace that is for her.

Bishop Duffey gave me his set of Interpreter's Bible commentaries. Occasionally I thumb through them--they are extensively annotated and serve witness to his deep and lifelong engagement with the scriptures.

The last extended conversation I had with Bishop Duffey was about his experience in the Civil Rights struggle. He did not focus on the things you might expect. He focused on his great gratitude that those who were on the other side of those issues, those who had made an opponent of him, eventually became dear friends and were completely reconciled. He personified "Love your enemies."

I recently finished Howard Thurman's "Jesus and the Disenherited." The final chapter is about love. Thurman describes how impossible the kind of love Jesus describes is to live out, and concludes by giving praise to God that Jesus demonstrated in his living that such love is possible in a human life.

So, I give thanks for Bishop Duffey for many reasons. But most of all, I give thanks because he gives me hope that the teachings of Jesus are not a pie-in-the-sky impossibility. They can be lived, and they can be lived by people like us who are made of clay. They were lived in at least one person who I have known.