A Life Worthy of Its Calling

by Clifton Kirkpatrick

A sermon preached at the memorial service for William Phelps Thompson

First Presbyterian Church, La Grange, Illinois

May 13, 2006

Ephesians 4: 1-7, 15-16

The first time I laid eyes on Bill Thompson was from the balcony of the War Memorial Auditorium in Boston, Massachusetts, in late May of 1966. I was a first-year student at Yale Divinity School, and our Presbyterian Polity class went together to the United Presbyterian Church in the USA General Assembly, which was meeting that week in Boston. We were told that one of the highlights of this assembly would be the election of a new Stated Clerk, due to the vacancy created by the previous Clerk, Eugene Carson Blake, leaving the position to become the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. Our professor thought—rightly, I believe—that one of the best lessons we could receive in Presbyterian polity was to experience a Stated Clerk election. We were to write a paper on this experience and our learning from it as our final project in the course.

I had never been to a General Assembly before. As a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS)—the “southern church”—not only the assembly, but the whole operation of the UPCUSA seemed like another world. We were given reports to the General Assembly to read in advance, so I had learned a bit about the Reverend Jack Meister, an outstanding pastor who was being nominated by the Stated Clerk Nomination Committee for this position. But like the majority of the commissioners, the person I was most impressed with was Bill Thompson.

Over the course of the assembly I listened to Bill and others tell his story of being a lawyer and a faithful elder at the First Presbyterian Church of Wichita, Kansas. He told of how his life had been enriched by serving as Moderator of the General Assembly the year before, and it was crystal clear from the mood of the assembly how he had enriched the church in that service. I listened to how his passion for the law extended to the law of the church, which he saw as enriching for the body of Christ. I also heard in him a passion for the gospel and its call to join Christ in seeking to transform the world on behalf of God’s intention for justice, peace, and reconciliation. I felt that afternoon that I was present for a historic and defining moment for American Presbyterianism—and indeed I was!

I don’t remember what I wrote in my final paper for the polity class about that experience, but I remember it got me an “A” in the course (as your Stated Clerk, I certainly wouldn’t admit it if it hadn’t!) That was the first of many debts of gratitude I would come to owe to Bill Thompson. Even more important, it provided me with the first inkling of what being a Stated Clerk might mean for the life of the church and the beginning of a relationship with a man I would come to count as my friend, my mentor, and a great disciple of Jesus Christ. In many ways, there is a correlation between my experiencing the gifts of Bill Thompson from that balcony in Boston in 1966 and my being here today as Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, and I will never be able to adequately express my gratitude to God or to Bill Thompson for that experience.

One thing I remember Bill sharing was one of his favorite Scriptures, the passage we just read from Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus. It wasn’t the last time I heard Bill speak on that text. It was one of his favorites, and like all Stated Clerks before or since, Bill was not hesitant to preach on the same text more than once, particularly if it was one that so eloquently captured the heart of the gospel. Like Paul, Bill shared with the assembly his sense of call to serve Christ and the church faithfully—as an elder! He talked about how important it was in the church to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.” He reminded us all that there was one body and one Spirit, and he never tired of letting us know that to be Presbyterian is to be ecumenical! Most of all, he let us know that what was most important—for him and for the church—was for us to grow up in love into Jesus Christ, who is the head of the Church and with whom Bill is united in heaven today.

This was a message that Bill not only spoke but also lived! It is a message we need to hear again today:

• As we give thanks to God for the many ways that Bill Thompson touched and enriched our lives and the lives of people all over the world;
  
• As we grieve the loss of his presence with us here on earth; and
  
• As we find hope in the sure and certain promise of the resurrection.

Our Book of Order, which Bill quoted often with a sense of authority like no other, reminds us that the Church of Jesus Christ is to be a “provisional demonstration of what God intends for all humanity.” (G-3.0200) That aspiration often seems like a distant hope in the midst of church life today. But I am convinced that in so many ways Bill Thompson was a “living demonstration” of the life worthy of our calling, which the apostle Paul describes so eloquently in Ephesians, and we are the better for it.

The values of a sense of God’s calling; a commitment to unity, reconciliation and peace; a passion for ecumenism; and a sense that we are to order our lives and our church as the body of Christ were gifts that Bill demonstrated like few others, before or since. I give thanks to God that I experienced this living demonstration from Bill in so many ways:

• As I became the director of International Mission in the PCUS and found that in country after country (especially the ones that were suffering from war, famine, and violence) Bill Thompson was well known for his leadership in intervening decisively with political leaders all over the world for justice, human rights, and peace;
  
• As I saw Bill’s passion for unity in the Presbyterian family being lived out in the skillful and dedicated leadership that he and his colleague, Jim Andrews, gave to the cause of Presbyterian reunion, which we celebrated together on that joyful June day in Atlanta in 1983;
  
• As I would get those wonderful, joyful letters after Christmas each year when Bill’s telling of his work the year before would make one glad to be a Presbyterian, and where his deep love for Mary, Judy, Bill, Margaret, and his grandchildren would come shining through—often at great length!
  
• As I sat in awe at a wonderful dinner at the World Council of Churches Assembly at the height of the Cold War that Bill sponsored on behalf of the PC(USA) for the Russian Orthodox delegates—with more cups of vodka than I had ever had before or since—where Bill was stunning in making clear to both his commitment to democracy and human rights, but also his deep commitment to unity in Christ and to peace with these brothers and sisters in Christ from a very different world;
  
• As I saw him in action as an ecumenical leader par excellence as president of the National Council of Churches and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and as a major voice in the World Council of Churches and the Consultation on Church Union—a passion that he and Mary continued in his retirement, raising funds and commitment for a new generation of ecumenical leaders to be trained at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey;
  
• As I became, much to my surprise, his successor once removed as Stated Clerk and he reached out to me with support and an incredible ministry of encouragement—and as he continued to give leadership in our church to Christian unity and justice and human rights and for abiding passion that there was no better way to do things than “decently and in order;” and
  
• As I have read and rejoiced in the tributes that have come into the office in the last two weeks from the World and National Council of Churches, the World Alliance, the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba, and from friends in Christ from all over the world. Perhaps the World Council’s tribute said it best, “In church circles at every level, Bill Thompson was frequently heard to echo the words of Ephesians as he sought companions in ‘making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.’ In that conviction we offer to God our every effort as, led by the Holy Spirit, we follow Bill Thompson’s example in the quest for unity, the struggle for justice, the proclamation of Christ’s peace.”

Bill was a man who deeply touched my life and the lives of so many that he encountered. His staff loved him. His family adored him. His church deeply admired him. And the church ecumenical held him in awe. He was truly one of the “great saints of the church” for our time, and God has truly blessed us by allowing our lives to have been touched by Bill’s. In many ways, all of this was summed up in his nickname as “the Stately Clerk.” That title was one that reflected both the affection and respect with which people held Bill, and it fit him to a tee!

Mary, Bill, Margaret, and Judy, our hearts go out to you. Bill loved you dearly—and so do we! And so does God!

While we are all saddened by Bill’s death, we are thankful that his suffering has ended and that he is with God. And we are thankful beyond measure that Bill touched our lives and continues to touch them today as a demonstration of God’s calling to live a life worthy of its calling, to seek unity in the bonds of peace, and to always know that we are part of a much wider family of the people of God.

Bill knew in a very profound way the great truth that is so well articulated in A Brief Statement of Faith—that in life and in death we belong to God! Bill lived life in the abundance that Jesus promised in John 10:10, and we are all the richer because of it.

We know from personal experience that Bill Thompson belonged to God during his remarkable life and ministry and that he now belongs to God in a new way, now that his life on earth is over.

We too belong to God, and God’s love is powerful enough even to fill our hearts with gratitude and hope in the midst of our grief. And to inspire us—each in our own way—to live, as Bill did so well, a life worthy of its calling!

To God be the glory!

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