Remembering a bishop of 'Salt and Light'

Remembering a bishop of 'Salt and Light'
BY JOE DAN BOYD
Tinney Chapel UMC, Winnsboro

Less than 24 hours after Bishop Moncure's passing from this life, the radiance of a single oversized candle gleamed in memoriam from a massive light stand on-stage at the Paris-Sulphur Springs District Laity Celebration, where the Bishop's unique preaching style had headlined the same event a year ago.

His sermon then was based on the "salt of the earth and light of the world" Scripture, Matthew 5:13-16, which he read from The Message, a favorite translation of a favorite Scripture for the Bishop, who was moved by its contemporary textual flow, its emphasis on God-flavors, God-colors and light stands, all as metaphors for Christian viability and visibility on the high ground of life.

This text, read at Bishop Moncure's Aug. 26 Memorial Service at First UMC, Richardson, exhorts:

Keep open house!

Be generous with our lives!

Open up to others so all open up to God!

And, as Lights of the World: Shine!

The Bishop liked to suggest that, just before walking out of the house each day, we should remind ourselves, All right, world, here comes the light!

"We are the ones He has empowered, equipped, enabled to be the Light of Hope, Peace, Reconciliation, Grace and Love in a darkened world," Bishop Moncure explained. "We are the ones Christ has pinned all his hopes on, expecting that, somehow, you and I will inform the world that God loves them!"

Radical nature
But, Bishop Moncure also emphasized the radical nature of that first-century message preached by Jesus, reminding us that it still requires tossing aside things that tie us down, still requires crossing barriers of tradition, still requires taming cultural taboos and still requires opening our doors, hearts and minds to people, all kinds of people, including the least, last, lost, forsaken, forgotten, broken and maimed!

"When I read about Jesus, I am often struck by His moments of sheer audacity," explained the Bishop at last year's ordination service during Annual Conference. There, he described a Jesus who challenged unjust authority by knocking over tables in the Temple, and who exposed pedantic religious posturing with a few probing questions.

"But then I read about Jesus girding himself to wash the feet of His disciples, and in that spirit, I must wash your feet tonight," Bishop Moncure told the ministry candidates, who then shed shoes, and more than a few tears, in the sacred space of that memorable moment of humility, and framed by a presiding elder who knelt over a simple basin and dried their bare feet with terry cloth towels.

It was as striking as it was spontaneous: Something the Bishop had never done before became his signature gesture of ultimate servant leadership.

At that same Annual Conference, on opening day, Bishop Moncure preached a sermon about Jesus' first recorded miracle: "If Jesus could transform ordinary water into exceptional wine, imagine what He can do about transforming our lives and our congregations,x declared the Bishop. "Over the next three days of Annual Conference, I expect to see that happen."

Transforming Power
"When the 1,200 United Methodists, who are registered here for this event, go back home to the 310 congregations represented in 20 counties, and you are asked to report, I hope the emphasis is not on motions, amendments, voting or parliamentary procedure," declared the Bishop. "Instead, I hope the unanimous response is that we found the Christ: Our wine ran out, but He transformed us!"

By preaching, and actually living such marching orders, it is perhaps not surprising that, in the fullness of time, Bishop Moncure's mantle and ministry proclaimed him a bishop of the people, one who dared to care for the great and the small alike.

"I once mistakenly used terms such as "small" churches and "big" churches," he recalled. "But when I started visiting those churches, I learned that some "big" churches are actually small churches, and some "small" churches are big in spirit, big in receptivity, big in welcome, big of Christ-likeness in their mission and their work. So, now, I just refer to them all as churches of Jesus Christ."

The Bishop had expected to visit every North Texas Conference church, all of them, and had his tenure not been cut short, he would certainly have done so. At the 2005 Annual Conference, when he had been in office just under a year, Bishop Moncure reported that he had already visited all six Districts and over 100 churches.

His was a low-key leadership style buttressed with a commanding presence, a respect for tradition, an engaging personality and the self-assurance to mix appropriate humor with his primary role of presiding elder for a cadre of clergy and laity intent on introductions, reportage and occasional requests for favor and funding.

At his first meeting with the Conference Leadership Team, the Bishop first called for a standard parliamentary "yea or nay" vote on a funding request approved by an agency committee. Suddenly, he transformed the texture of the agenda with a semantic segue, "Remember that we are not just voting," he said. "Rather, we are expressing attitudes toward ministry: If you favor this ministry proposal, then say "YES," if you don't, then say "NO"." The approval was unanimous and the tone for the day established.

Waiting to be Sung
The tone for life, as viewed by Bishop Moncure, is perhaps best expressed in his now famous sermon delivered at the 2004 General UMC Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he viewed life as a song waiting to be sung: "Every one of us is a one-of-a-kind, precious child of God, with a unique song to sing," he emphasized.

Singing the songs of our lives means that our words, our actions and our thoughts should all be in harmony with the way God intends us to live our lives, he emphasized, using the analogy of individuals coming together as a symphony, and occasionally getting off key when they are out of harmony with God.

If Bishop Moncure felt that his own ministry style suggested a certain song waiting to be sung, he never said so, but a good choice would have been the old Charles Wesley standard, A Charge To Keep I Have. He once said that, in the NTC, we can laugh together, cry together, pray together, and if we can do all that, we can serve together, which also means that we can do anything!

Doing something might well be the never-ending story of the Bishop's personal mantra, his legacy for all of us, "Do you ever get the feeling, as I do sometimes, when I read something in the paper, or hear something on the news, and wonder what's happening to the world?

"And, I'll get off to myself sometimes and say, "God, what are you going to do about that?"

"It's almost like God speaks back to me, in my spirit, and says, "Rhymes, what are you going to do about it?"

"Because, after all, I've made you Salt and Light."