A Sermon for Pilgrim Congregational Church, UCC, Lexington

Rev. Reebee Kavich Girash

August 2, 2026

Romans 12:3-8

³ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴ For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, ⁵ so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. ⁶ We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ⁷ ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; ⁸ the encourager, in encouragement; the giver, in sincerity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. 

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For our summer worship series this year I gave folks an optional preaching prompt:

“Let me tell you about this person, with a great Spiritual Gift.” Pick one of the many Spiritual Gifts listed in Romans and Corinthians. Tell about someone you admire. Change the name and details if you don’t have permission to tell the tale.

I thought I should take up my own challenge, so today I want to tell you a story of, literally, the teacher in teaching.  The encourager in encouragement. The leader in diligence and wisdom and hospitality, too.  I want to tell you about Sister Mary Melanie Boyd.  

I knew Sister Melanie for 6 years in the Eighties. Given my background, it might seem strange that when I reviewed my early life for someone I deeply admired, a Roman Catholic nun came immediately to mind.

You have to know something about my childhood in Nashville.  I was raised by serious church goers, Protestant – United Methodist in the headquarters city of the United Methodist Church.  My mom was in UMW – United Methodist Women.  Both my parents were local church leaders and my aunt and uncle, too.  

But my folks had a problem.  Charitably, you could call their little girl precocious.  Uncharitably you could say I bored easily in school.  Mom and Pop kept trying to find a school where I would be challenged, get along with my peers, and get a good education – with tuition that they could afford.  Apparently in Kindergarten, the teacher said I couldn’t move up to first grade because I wasn’t tall enough for the water fountain in the first grade hallway.  So my parents packed me up to another school. I went to three schools between Kindergarten and second grade.  Then they found a promising option. But, GASP, it was a Catholic school literally housed in a convent. 

Enter Sister Mary Melanie Boyd, Principal of St. Bernard’s Non-Graded Academy. 

My parents cautiously sat down with Sister Melanie, sure that this was not the school for little Rebecca.  

Sister Melanie, my mother said, we don’t want our daughter pressured to convert.  Mr. and Mrs. Kavich, Sister Melanie replied, “your daughter won’t be pressured to convert at St. Bernard’s.”  “I believe we all worship the same God.”

She went on to talk about the class I would be part of: a dozen Catholic students, yes.  And several Protestant students, several Jewish students, a Muslim student and a Baha’i student. Yes, St. Bernard’s was Catholic and there would be prayers said and required Masses to attend.  But never with pressure to convert.  No disrespect toward any of the faiths represented in our school community.  

“I believe we all worship the same God.”  Those simple words to my parents in 1982 meant a lot to my folks.  

My folks did not know many people from other religious traditions, and yes, they probably had some distrust of Catholicism.  

Sister Melanie had the spiritual gifts of hospitality, respect, welcome, dignity, inclusion.  She was a great administrator, a terrific teacher, an encourager of children and parents.  She was compassionate and cheerful. 

“⁶ We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ⁷ ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; ⁸ the encourager, in encouragement; the giver, in sincerity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.” 

And she was a leader, setting the tone for every teacher in that school – nuns and secular – to make space for every student and their whole selves, and their whole families.

St. Bernard’s curriculum was flexible so that kids good in math but challenged in reading could find a path.  There were children with physical challenges, intellectual challenges and gifts, rich kids, economically challenged kids, we were all together. 

I stayed there six years. 

And from Sister Melanie and that community, I learned a foundational value: to respect people of all faiths.  I can see that value as a throughline of my Christian journey.  When I look at my history for the first seeds of commitment to interfaith work – I find those seeds in Sister Mary Melanie Boyd.

My parents, trepidatious, asked if their faith would be respected. And Sister Melanie replied,  “I believe we all worship the same God.”

Now, I’d say it differently, today.  I’d say: I respect your faith. I honor the way you seek the divine through your tradition. Your faith journey is holy. Our diverse faith backgrounds can co-exist within the same community and all children of all religions can receive a wonderful education within the same community.

But Sister Melanie said it so simply and so clearly that I know her words by heart more than forty years later.  

Sister Mary Melanie Boyd was a member of the Order of the Sisters of Mercy, and an educator, for seventy years. She died in 2014 at age 86. The Order of the Sisters of Mercy is still active all over the world today, with a focus on “five Critical Concerns: care for the Earth, immigration, nonviolence, racism, and the rights and needs of women and children.”  

Thanks be to God for good role models. Amen.