December 24, 2005
Servant
When he was Bishop of Texas, John Hines, rather than pontificate at his Cathedral’s midnight Eucharist on Christmas Eve, would keep himself in reserve to supply at the last moment in one of the Houston area parishes that perhaps suddenly became without clergy.
Through the years I was chaplain at Rice University, he kept me in reserve and himself as backup. We never missed a Christmas Eve, but that we both supplied somewhere, frequently together. These were rich and nourishing times, and I am especially mindful of them now as the years go by and this season comes again.
As the whole church would soon know when he became the Presiding Bishop, John Hines was not only a prophetic spokesman for God’s cause of justice, he never ceased to be a pastor and often make himself vulnerable in God’s cause of healing. It is not often these troublesome days to find such servant leadership. There is peace and joy together with sadness in the remembering.