I realize that the entire Christian world is waking up this morning to say something about Pope Francis. And I’ll ask you to trust that I will indeed get to my grief over this death, and what it means to the world.

But deeper than that, for we United Methodists, was the death of Bishop Richard Wilke, on Easter morning. This is what I intended to write about *first* this morning, and so that is what I am going to do…

Bishop Wilke and his wife Julia were creators of “Disciple Bible Study,” a brilliant and wildly popular Bible study series that took the UMC by storm beginning in the 1990s.

I taught some of the many Disciple classes that happened at HPUMC in the 1990s.

A few weeks back, I wrote about another mentor, Dr. Zan Holmes. Many UM members also first came to know Zan through the Disicple Bible Study videos. In fact, I’d argue that the two –Zan and Bishop Wilke, became the defacto faces of United Methodism for a generation, in that more than 3 million people have watched these videos and taken the classes.

Beyond this, Bishop Wilke was one of the very first Bishops to be a passionate advocate for the inclusion of the LGBTQ community. This is well before many other Bishops did so. I honestly don’t recall the year, but this public witness of faith for LGBTQ persons must have first been decades ago now.

It was truly bold of him, ahead of his generation, and his witness was truly helpful.

And, he and Julia were the Patriarch/Matriarch of a truly remarkable family. The Wilke children led (and lead) remarkable lives of public service, much of it related to their love of the United Methodist Church.

“Preachers kids” often go running and screaming away from church. But many of the Wilke children have not…and that alone tells you something. Not only that, but now their GRANDCHILDREN are continuing the legacy of ministry and service to God and the world.

I had the chance to be on staff at HPUMC with Susan Fuquay (Wilke) in the very early years of my ministry. Son Paul Wilke was a UMC pastor for years. Son Steve Wilke worked at Southwestern College for years. All the kids help keep the Disicple legacy alive.

But my dear connection is with Sarah Wilke and her wife Nancy Kruh. Ironically, I was just writing about Sarah last week, as Kay and I were at the “Sarah Wilke Youth Center” at Wesley Rankin.

In those same years at HP, I served for a time as Mission/Outreach Minister…so I got to work closely with Sarah when she led our UMC mission in West Dallas (Wesley-Rankin).

One of the remarkable things that came from those years were the pilot versions of what became “Project Transformation,” a program we at HPUMC and Sarah at Wesley-Rankin first led…before its now spread out all over the nation.

Later, in an astounding moment of grace, I became their pastor at Northaven. And so, we’ve deeply share so many rich (and heartbreaking) moments over the years, especially in the years before they moved to Nashville. It was their love and commitment that Bishop Wilke often spoke of as helping him come to an understanding of just how important “full inclusion” was to the church.

I tell you about those Wilke children because it’s such a testimony that he not only had such a public presence of faith, but that it so clearly was not a show or an act…but a faith that has been passed on “from generation to generation.”

This all mean that when Bishop and Julia were in Dallas –either to visit Sarah and Nancy, or on church business, or both– there was as better-than-average I could look up during a sermon and see the two of them, smiling up at me.

It is at once terrifying…to have any bishop sitting there listening to you preach…but in their case, also a moment of grace…in that they were forever graceful in their comments and support of my sermons, and of Northaven more broadly.

And so…let me here make one small connection between Pope Francis and Bishop Wilke…
Although we United Methodists do not have popes, Bishop Richard Wilke…with his remarkable media saavy presence, years before its time, was a kind of pope/ambassador for the UMC….and for the best and most inclusive form of the UMC we now see.

I am very pleased he lived to see what our denomination has become, and his ministry, in no small part, was a part of what made this happen.

God bless Bishop Wilke, and Julia before him.
God bless that big, beautiful, compassion and loving Wilke family.
And thanks be to God for all his service over decades.