I met Nancy Marvel on May 26th, 2015. It was my first day at Christ Church, and she was in attendance at Morning Prayer, which was the first worship service I led as Rector at Christ Church. Since it was my first day, and I didn’t know what the local custom was, I wore a cassock – that long black robe priests wear. I remember Nancy asking me why I was so formal. “You don’t need to be that formal at Christ Church.” It was said in such a way that it was advice that a new rector was wise to heed.
A few weeks later, when I was talking to her at a Sunday morning Eucharist – I didn’t know at the time that it would be the last time she would be able to worship on Sunday morning at Christ Church – I asked, “Nan, how are you feeling today.” “Not well. And, please call me Nancy.” I knew her well enough at that point to know she meant it, and I’ve never referred to her as anything else since.
I had heard the name Nancy Marvel long before I came to Christ Church. At the time I didn’t know the details, but over the last two years spending time with Nancy and reading up on some of the articles that were written about her, I have some idea of the many ways she blessed Christ Church, the Diocese of New York, the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Communion.
Nancy served the Church in many capacities, and today I want to talk briefly about some of them.
The Nancy Marvel whose name I knew growing up in the Episcopal Church served in several ways for the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. By the time she retired in 1998 she was the Executive Director of the Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief. The Presiding Bishop’s Fund has since been renamed Episcopal Relief and Development or ERD. ERD administers the funds and donations that are received from around the Episcopal Church, including a portion of our congregation’s Assessment to the Diocese which in turn is given by the Diocese to the Episcopal Church. ERD provides relief in times of disaster and promotes sustainable development by identifying and addressing the root causes of suffering. When Episcopalians wonder in what tangible ways the Episcopal Church helps ease global suffering, the answer is ERD. Nancy Marvel not only served as Executive Director of ERD, she helped built it into what it is today. This is the reason I knew her name as a boy who grew up in the Episcopal Church.
Nancy’s day job wasn’t the only way she served the church. Bishop Paul Moore used her as what might best be described as a Lay Missioner. She had a Seminary education and an understanding of church systems that few others had, and so the Bishop placed her in congregations that were going through what Nancy described as “interesting times”. Because she wasn’t ordained, congregations that had what you might call “trust issues with clergy or with the diocese” could heed her advice and direction. We talked at length about some of the churches she helped, and I can tell you from my perspective as an active priest in the Diocese of New York, that her weekend and retirement gigs were as important to the Church as her day job was.
Despite her involvement in the global, national, and global Church, Nancy had one Church home and that was Christ Church Pelham. My predecessors Randy Alexander and David Hoag both found her many gifts essential to parish life. She ran the weekly Bible Study for years – even instructing her successor, who himself has a seminary education and decades of parish leadership experience, about the proper way to lead a Bible Study, she oversawa robust Discernment Committee, and she served as an advisor and consiglieri to the Rector as needed. For years she even had an office in the building – even though she was a volunteer.
The last extended conversation I had with Nancy was on March 30, 2017. We talked for hours about the church. That was really all we ever did. We talked about the past, the present, the future. We talked about the Episcopal Church, the Diocese of New York, and Christ Church. She knew that her health was beginning to decline rapidly, but she feltgood that day, and she was hoping to come to a Tea for Parish Seniors that my wife and I were hosting the next week. At the end of our conversation, she said: “You know, I wish you had been able to use me, really use me like David and Randy were able to. I wish I could do more for the Church. I’ve still got a lot to give up here…” – pointing to her head – “… but this…” – pointing to her body – “this won’t let me.”
She loved her church, she loved her children, and she loved her friends. Her last days were spent surrounded by her children Lynn and Ted, by her friends from Christ Church, Hildy, Jack, Jackie, David, and many others, and by her clergy.
She was great – she was tough and she was very blunt, but she was great – and she was a wonderful example of using the many gifts that God gave her to build up the Church. I hope that her life and Christian witness inspires you to mirror in your own life some of her zeal for the Lord. She had a deep faith in Jesus Christ, and I am confident that when you and I pass through the gates of paradise and find a place prepared for us, we will not be surprised at all to find Nancy Marvel involved in the inner workings of the heavenly kingdom.
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