Reflections

Reflections

As my official relationship with Nativity comes to an end this Sunday I have been flooded with so many wonderful memories of my time with this very special congregation, beginning with that phone call from the bishop during my first week at St. Peter’s in Oxford in 1985. “You know the little church in Water Valley was destroyed by a tornado a few months back. Would you be willing to oversee the rebuilding of the church and hold services for them for a while?” he asked. A question like that, coming from your bishop, is not really a question, but a charge.

So I said yes, and the rest is (a very personal) history.

Before the church was rebuilt we had worship services 2 Sundays a month in the chapel of the Presbyterian Church. On those Sundays over the next two years I would finish the early service at St. Peter’s, keep my vestments on and drive way too fast to get to the 9:00am worship in Water Valley. I would then make a a quick exit as worship ended and , again, break the speed limit in order to return to St. Peter’s for the 11:00am service. It seems very strange now, but in those days if the bishop asked you to do something, it was done- no questions asked!

I remember traveling in a U-Haul to pick up donated pews from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Picayune and unloading them with the Nativity Junior Warden to the very places they rest today. After the church was rebuilt I recruited a retired priest, the Rev. Tom Hastings, to celebrate the Eucharist and preach four Sundays a month. That took a little adjusting to, as the Senior Warden and some others objected to the regular Sunday worship schedule as “being too much church”!

With those roots in Nativity it was a painful moment for me as bishop when,  responding to the request of the one remaining family in 2003, 

I authorized the closing of the church. But I also remember with great joy when, after the rebirth and revitalization of Water Valley in 2017, my successor, Bishop Brian Seage, reopened the church and it began the growth that has continued to this day.

Then, many years later, as my post-retirement tenure at St. Peter’s came to an end, there came the opportunity to once, again, serve in this special place. It has been a great honor and the deepest joy to have traveled this journey with you over these past three years. Your gracious welcome to Kathy and me and your willingness to let us both offer our gifts is so deeply appreciated.  You will never know how grateful we are. To have  had this opportunity to give what I could give in these last years- before the gas tank was completely empty!-was a gift of incredible value. 

I will see many of you on Sunday to say “Good-bye”, but to those who I will miss, may I simply say, “Thank you.” It’s all been so wonderfully joy-filled!

See you Sunday!

Blessings and Peace,

Duncan

(601)260-1937

Dmgrayiii@gmail.com