What is in Kelvin's Head?

Generous Episcopacy: The Rt Rev Michael Hare Duke RIP

16/12/2014
I gather from a twitter correspondent that the Rt Rev Michael Hare Duke has died. Bishop Michael was the bishop with whom I first tested my vocation. Having been a bishop since 1969, he saw and influenced the entire modern story of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Where to begin with memories?
- The time I sat in his study as he asked me about my vocation whilst his beloved dog, Tobermory pushed twelve full bottles of whisky from one side of the room to the other and back again. And again. And again.
- The time he was in hospital and Baa, to whom he was married, turned up on my doorstep late at night announcing a full scale emergency. It turned out that the emergency was not his health but that he was dictating faxes from his hospital bed and Baa was struggling to send a message to the Crown Prince of Jordan.
- The time and time again when he penned articles for newspapers in absolute certainty that mission in his diocese depended on people like him offering leadership, inspiration and puckish humour to the whole of society not just the people of the pews.
- The time and time again his words have brought people to God and God to the people, as he was one of the triumvirate of poet-priests who wrote the bulk of the modern Scottish Eucharistic rite.
- The extraordinary influence in the world of mental health that Michael had.
- The gay couples he was blessing 40 years ago.
- The unpredictable, chaotic, sometimes infuriating but human and humane episcopacy that he inhabited and made his own, which must today remind so many in the Scottish Episcopal Church of more generous times.
Here he is in his own words in 2003:

If sex has been one of the flash points over the last 50 years, the painful changes have also given me the joy of helping people to discover that the church does not condemn them, as they had expected, but accepts their integrity without imposing oppressive orthodoxy.

I’ve no idea how they are going to celebrate Bishop Michael at his funeral next Tuesday 23 December 2014, which will be in St Ninian’s Cathedral at 10 am. At one point the then cathedral organist kept the Fauré requiem in the repertoire specifically so it would be ready for Bishop Michael’s funeral. (A fact that led one of my predecessors as Precentor there to remark that a few choruses of Hooray and Up She Rises might well be just as appropriate).

I have a particularly strong memory of him over-consecrating vastly one Maundy Thursday. Whole chalices of consecrated wine were left over.

Not a bad way to remember him.

The world was richer for him and poorer at his passing.

Heaven seems a deliciously more giddy prospect.

8 responses to “Why Billy Graham’s legacy is complex”

Catherine Mooney

21/02/2018

We went to see Billy Graham the last time he came to Glasgow. The bank manager gave us tickets! It was my first time at Parkhead. Never had I seen so many Burberry raincoats. It was a hugely choreographed occasion. The intensity of the occasion passed me by, I had never been any where with so many people before. However his effect was clear, people were very moved. r

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Meg Rosenfeld

21/02/2018

Kelvin, I take my hat off to you (or, as a dear, sadly departed Portuguese friend of mine used to say, “I take my head off to you”) for being able to sort out 1) your deep respect for Billy Graham the man, and 2) your wholly justified condemnation of some of his beliefs and their unfortunate consequences, and to come up with your conclusion (which I share) that he is awaking in glory–to some surprises!

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ukviewer

21/02/2018

I never heard of Billy Graham, until I became an Anglican. I was raised as a Catholic and when I was young, only who the Pope was, and perhaps saw Arch Bishop Fisher on TV and being told that he was a Non-Catholic and I shouldn’t watch him or read about him.

When I became an Anglican, I met some Evangelicals who t raced their history back to his Crusades and extolled his virtues. When I did research for Essays that I was writing for my training, I read about the darker side of his ministry, particularly those you ably describe. I revised my opinion of him, to one of someone who was given a Gift to proclaim the good news, but somewhere mixed it up with bad theology and missed the bit about us all being Children of God, who loves each and every one of us, not a select few.

I’ve seen the headlines and eulogies for him and have say, that with due respect that his ministry was misused and misdirected down a tangent that has had consequences for many who are victimized daily as a result.

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Christina Mackay

22/02/2018

Hi Kelvin,

I’m a producer on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Saturday. We are planning to do an item about Billy Graham and were interested in what you said in your blog and wondered if you’re around to come on the programme. Could you give me a call on 0141 422 7711. Many thanks.

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p hall-ropberts

23/02/2018

I think billy was a great preachr but he did not accept that god made gay people as well as straight & I couldn’t accept that

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Rebecca van Pelt

25/02/2018

Billy Graham refused to conduct his meetings in stadiums that were segregated. He understood that we all stood equal before God. He sought crusade support across denominational lines. He ministered to our presidents, regardless of political ties or denominational ties. His sole text book was the Bible. He sole message was the salvation of the individual man through faith in Jesus Christ.

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1. Kelvin
  
  25/02/2018
  
  Well, Rebecca, I think Billy Graham’s life leaves a very complex legacy.
  
  Here’s what Malcolm X thought of him: http://religiondispatches.org/billy-graham-and-the-gospel-of-american-nationalistic-christianity/
  
  On the other hand, here’s what Mel White thought about him: https://www.melwhite.org/remembering-billy-graham/
  
  Here’s a CNN piece which quotes Billy Graham criticising Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/22/us/billy-graham-mlk-civil-rights/index.html
  
  “Only when Christ comes again will the little white children of Alabama walk hand in hand with little black children.”
  
  I’m prepared to stand by my assessment that I benefited from Billy Graham’s ministry and also that there are some things about his ministry which have caused harm, to me and to others. Life really is as complex as that.
  
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Dalton Mackenzie

12/09/2019

For me, Billy was exceptional. He lived a life to please no man but his creator

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