The Bishop's Flag

Methodists love flags. Christianity is mostly about dealing with things that aren't tangible, so to express ideas of what we're about since we can’t use physical things, we use symbols.

The "Bishop's Crest" Is fairly uncommon, so I had to look it up.

It takes the form of the shepherd's crook, as Jesus asks his disciples to be "the good shepherds."

The P and X symbols combined in the middle form what's known as Rho-Chi. It's one of the oldest known symbols associated with Christianity. When Constantine converted to Christianity and had his guards emblazoned their shields with Christian Symbology, they used the Rho Chi ☧.

Flanking the Rho Chi is the Greek letters Alpha and Omega, signifying the beginning and the end of the Greek Alphabet. In Revelation 22, speaking for the ultimate disposition of the people of the kingdom of God, Jesus said: "It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life."

Eschatology is probably the most controversial part of Jesusology, but (for me, at least) the idea that the "Word of God" is both the beginning and the end makes perfect sense.

Earlier this week, I said that only two of my ministers have become bishops. That’s true. Clay Lee and Connie Shelton, who had been head minister and co-head minister at Galloway, became Bishops. If you count all the people I’ve had connections with through Millsaps in my Generation, the one before, the one before that, and soon the one after mine, The number becomes something more like twelve. Graduating from Millsaps increases the odds that you might carry the Bishop’s rod one day considerably.

Bishop Bill McAlilly delivered the homily for Clay Lee and brought with him letters from several other bishops. Bill graduated from Millsaps just before I arrived, which meant that our paths crossed fairly often, usually involving a fraternity house (we were neighbors) and sometimes a pool table. The pool tables at CS’s were the seats for diplomacy at Millsaps. It disturbed me when I found out that Pat had removed them. I don’t know how the students decide the future now or discuss how to do what with where now that the pool tables are gone.

Eric McDonald is one of the more important portrait painters in history of Mississippi. He’s considerably younger than my dad but slightly older than me and barely older than Bishop McAlily. He painted portraits of my dad and George Harmon. As the sanctuary at Galloway emptied out, we discussed the sun damage on the portrait of President Harmon and how to repair it. His stunning portrait of Clay Lee had been moved from the parlor to the floor of the sanctuary near where the altar goes.

Portraiture is an enormous amount of work. Especially when it’s a really big canvas like the ones he uses. I’m absolutely horrible at portraits, but I appreciate them for what they are. For me, the best way to end the day was to discuss a painting of Bishop Lee with the artist who made it.

Portraits are more than just a likeness. You can get a perfect likeness with a photograph. A portrait seeks to capture something of a person’s spirit, which is why it requires hand-to-brush-to-paint-to canvas kind of contact. It also helps if the artist knows the subject, which is why the portrait of Clay turned out so well.

Anna McDonald, Soprano, offered an Aria for Clay that I had heard of but had not heard. You’d be surprised how many Sopranos I know. My own voice, even before the Bell’s Palsey, sounded something like a frog. When I was ten, Ken Roberts decided that the children’s choir at Galloway would get along just fine without me, and I’ve held to that agreement for more than fifty years now. Anna sang a lot of people I know as an accompaniment on their journey to heaven. I saw her face when she came into the church. “This is it.” I thought.

Nearly everything about Christianity is ethereal, intangible, and symbolic. A physicist might tell you that’s the only way to describe immortal things. Everything about Christianity is immaterial except the people. The people are very real. You can touch them. You can hold them. You can speak to them and have them speak to you—until one day when you can’t anymore.