The Very Rev. Tracey Lind
July 8, 2023
The Chapel of St. James the Fisherman
“The ability to ask beautiful questions–often in very un-beautiful moments–is one of the great disciplines of a human life. And a beautiful question starts to shape your identity as much by asking it as by having it answered.”[1]
The poet David Whyte captured some of the essence of our friend Mac Gatch. Mac asked and struggled with big and beautiful questions, including the nature of death.
Mac was a man of his time and history. He was a priest, a scholar, an educator, an administrator, and a librarian. He was a writer, a gardener, and a beachcomber. He was a lover of food, wine, art, travel, music, and of course, Georgie and their brood. He was, as evidenced today, a father, grandfather, godfather, brother, friend, and colleague to an expansive circle of people. He was also a thinker – a curious and deep thinker – who asked and wrestled with big questions, including perhaps, the biggest of all – what happens to us after we die. …
[1] I heard David Whyte offer these words in an interview with Krista Tippet, On Being, April 7, 2016.