Remembering Al Pope

The giants, they are toppling, one after another.

  The latest to fall lacks the national stature of others I have hailed here. Nevertheless, he was a great influence on me – and many others, I am sure.

   Al Pope died May 5 at the age of 96. He was long retired as a United Methodist pastor and educator, but he remained remarkably active, physically and mentally, late in life.

   I knew him, first, as an instructor of the “United Methodist Polity” class at Saint Paul School of Theology. He was an engaging and easygoing teacher from whom I learned a lot, and not just about the way United Methodists run their churches.

   I remember the way he most often greeted us in class. “I bring you a word of grace and peace from the God who…,” always combined with a statement of how God was acting in our lives.

   I “borrowed” that pastoral greeting for the next 30 years of my ministry. Sure, Al borrowed it from Saint Paul himself, but I thought it was a brilliant way to begin any worship service or discussion of Christian life.

   I knew him, second, as the former pastor of two churches where I served: first, Roeland Park UMC, where I was the pastoral intern for several years; and later at Central UMC in Lawrence, KS, where I was co-interim pastor for six months.

   Al served at Roeland Park for five years, from 1981 to 1986. After a tumultuous end to the previous pastor’s tenure, he emphasized healing and stability. He set a rich pattern of congregational life that remained in place for many years.

   I saw him last at a reception at that church several years ago. I apologized for not calling him since the last time we’d run into each other. No matter, he said; his hearing was so bad that phone calls just didn’t work anymore.

   I intended to write him to tell him how much he had meant to me, but of course I never got around to it.

  Memo to me (and you): Always do those things NOW before it’s too late.