CityView Magazine

12 | Februar y 2020 smile I remembered. We rode together to her stopping place as she reminded me that the fight for justice, the work for the least of these, is always worth the work in the Kingdom of God. Dr. Felton died in 2014, aer a two-year battle with cancer. With her passing, the Church lost a remarkable historian, theologian and champion of justice. e thought of being disconnected from her saddened me. I counted her presence and support gone forever. In 2015, together with my husband and sons, I accepted a position as chaplain at Methodist University, moving to Fayetteville. In the fall of 2016, the university's campus ministry work-team traveled to Methodist Bahamas Habitat. At the first gathering for devotions, an incoming freshman named John ruminated on a verse from Matthew 25 and in his reflection, he mentioned his "Grandma Gayle." "Wait!" I said. "Your grandmother's name is Gayle? Yes," he answered. "Gayle Felton." "THE Gayle Felton?" I asked. "Duke professor, theologian extraordinaire?" "Well, yes," he said. "But she's just Grandma Gayle to me." Suddenly, I felt a responsibility that reached beyond the ordinary. is was Dr. Felton's grandson now in my care. From John, I would learn about Dr. Felton's family – about her hometown of Pinetops, North Carolina, and the poignant and special influence she had on her children and grandchildren. Two years later, Virginia Felton, Gayle's granddaughter, arrived at Methodist University. She traveled with us on a Campus Ministry work team to Haiti. Arriving home to a very empty Raleigh-Durham International airport at 1 a.m. aer over 12 hours of travel and delays, team members were exhausted and still faced an hour drive back to campus. As we exited the concourse, we looked up. Climbing the stairs from baggage claim were Alan and Joan Felton, son and daughter-in-law of Gayle, and parents to John and Virginia. ey were holding signs reading "Welcome Home" and snacks for the drive back to the Methodist campus. On a wearied and critical leg of our journey, the compassion and love of Dr. Felton showed up again in her children. Back to the sound of the doorbell at the beginning of this story. I opened the package to find a bright, beautiful, joyful handmade quilt. e card read, "Love, e Feltons." In that moment, the memories of God's love came flooding back: the office at Duke, the sermon at Baccalaureate, the train station in Washington, Eleuthera beach, the airport, and now this quilt, wrapped around me in compassion and healing. In a recent call to thank Alan and Joan Felton, I asked what prompted them to choose that quilt as their gi to me. Joan replied, "I just knew you needed it." Joan was right. I needed this quilt from this family on this day to remind me that baptized into this community of the Church, I am never alone and that I am wrapped in the everlasting love of God. Love is not about gis and flowery words. Love is sharing in one another's stories. e more we know about each other, the more we show up at critical points of the journey, the more ways in which we are connected, the deeper love grows. e best gis are not always the most expensive. e best gis are those that carry the story. Cancer patients need surgery, treatment, medications, scans, food deliveries, sick leave, and more. But what cancer patients need most is love, to know that someone cares. Isn't that true of all of humanity? In the words of neurologist, philosopher and philanthropist, Dr. Debasish Mridha, "Love is the thread with which we connect to the world." Jesus loved people at myriad stations in life. As the Eucharist liturgy says, "He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners." He listened to personal stories of the outcast, as he did with the woman at the well. He guided skeptics through questions of eternal value, as in his dialogue with the rich young ruler. He showed grace and offered a standing invitation to every person to participate in the Kingdom of God. Jesus wrapped the suffering, the stranger and the infirmed in a blanket of peace, welcome and hope. Dr. Felton's legacy of love for God and for all God's people lives on through her children and grandchildren and countless others to whom she was pastor and friend – a kind of love that causes a bit of perspiration on our brow because love is not easy. Rather, in the words of 1 Corinthians 13: "Love is patient and kind. It does not envy or boast or keep record of wrong. Love is not proud. It believes, hope and trusts all things. Prophecies (and prophets, like Dr. Felton) will pass away, knowledge (and great theologians) will pass away, but three things will always remain: faith hope and love. And the greatest of these is love." Looking for the perfect gi this Valentine's day? Show up in someone's life with the story of God's love, and wrap them in a blanket of peace, welcome and hope. Rev. Kelli Taylor is Vice President for Religious Life & Community Engagement and Chaplain at Methodist University.

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