Arch Lephon MacNair died peacefully January 2, 2012, after a short illness. He was born on December 11, 1911, in Horry County, SC. He left the family farm at the height of the Depression to find work in Greensboro, NC, then traveled to Atlanta and finally to Berry College where he graduated before attending Columbia Theological Seminary. After ordination as a Presbyterian Minister, he held pastorates in Alexander City, AL, Deland, FL, and Montgomery, AL; in 1965 he was called to First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, TN. After retiring from that ministry, Dr. MacNair served as the Chaplain at Cumberland Heights as well as a guest preacher throughout Middle Tennessee. Continuing to serve First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, he received the title of Pastor Emeritus more than twenty years ago, but he will always be affectionately known as Dr. Mac.
Beside his family and church, golf was his passion. He played courses from St. Andrews to Augusta National, but his Belle Meade hole-in-one was his proudest golfing moment! Dr. MacNair is survived by his wife of seventy years, Elizabeth Ford MacNair; daughters Martha McMullen (Steve), Mary Gardner (Don), and son James MacNair (Diane); and predeceased by daughter Adelia Hall (Richard). In addition, Dr. Mac has nine grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.
The recent celebration of Dr. MacNair’s one-hundredth birthday allowed all to honor a life spanning two centuries, moving from small farm to metropolitan life and global awareness, from the Steam Age to the Space Age. Each day of that remarkable life was spent in acts of love to others and service to his God. His great spirit continues to support and inspire all who knew him.
A memorial service celebrating Dr. MacNair’s life will be held at First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, TN on Friday, January 6, at 10:00 o’clock AM. A scholarship fund was set up at Columbia in his honor a number of years ago. Watching this fund benefit students has been a joy to Dr. Mac. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Dr. Arch L. MacNair Scholarship Fund, Gift Box 325, Columbia Theological Seminary, PO Box 520, Decatur, GA 30031.
To celebrate his 100th birthday, he wrote and delivered this Advent Address:
Hope
Dr. Arch L. MacNair Advent Address
First Presbyterian Church, Nashville
December 8, 2011
Christmas is coming and at this time of year we begin to think about
presents - what gifts we shall give, and then, maybe what we shall get. This
morning let us think for a few moments about one of the greatest gifts given
to us, the gift of hope. We are all familiar with the phrase from Alexander
Pope, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” We are less familiar with
these words from Charles Sawyer, “Of all the forces that make for a better
world, none is so powerful as hope. With hope one can think, one can work,
one can dream. If you have hope, you have everything.”
Let us remember together some of the first words from the book of
Genesis: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
darkness covered the face of the deep. Then God said, Let there be light,
and there was light.”
And when we read from the first words of the gospel of John: “In the
beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was
God…. in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
We might ask, why in an Advent message do we read about the
creation, and what do these words have to do with hope? Genesis tell us that
in the darkness of creation, God said the words, “ Let there be light,” and
there was light and it was good. In the darkness of the world of Mary and
Joseph and the seeming darkness of much of our world today, God’s message
comes to us from John: “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” That
Word was Jesus. And “in Him was life and the life was the light of all
people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome
it.”
In these verses we see that the origin of hope is in God Himself.
The living God, the Bible tells us, is a God of hope, and Jesus, the hope of
the world, is our blessed gift.
Each of the gospels of the bible came into being for one purpose
only, not to be parallel biographies, but to tell us of Jesus as Lord and
Savior, to convey what they called the “good news” about Jesus, the one who
brings us forgiveness of the past, His precious companionship of our
present, and hope for the days ahead. Each of the gospel writers tells the
story in his own way.
Matthew follows the old Hebrew custom of beginning with a long
genealogy, tracing the ancestry of Joseph back to the patriarch Abraham, the
father of the faithful. Abraham was the great figure of hope for the Jewish
people. He went out, “not knowing whither he went,” but sure in the hope
that God had given him. And we remember that Matthew tells us of the Wise
Men who followed the Star.
Mark tells us of the baptism of Jesus, then plunges right into his
active ministry.
Luke also has a genealogy, going back to Adam, showing that Jesus
was to belong to all humankind. But we remember best Luke’s account of the
angel Gabriel announcement to Mary, the beautiful stories of the shepherds
and the angels, of those things that Mary kept and “pondered in her heart.”
But John, the fourth gospel, takes us by surprise. No genealogies,
no Wise Men, no shepherds and angels. He sweeps us right back to the act of
creation. He begins his book with these echoes of Genesis: “In the beginning
- And God said - And God said.” And so,
like in Genesis, John says, “In the beginning - In the beginning was
the Word,” that Word was Jesus, the light and hope of the world.
And so let us close our thoughts this morning with that wonderful
benediction from Romans 15:13 - “The God of hope fill you with all joy and
peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the
“Holy Spirit.”
Thanks for the email. I was born here in 1944 and Dr MacNair is the first pastor I remember since I was three or four sitting in church (only one service and no children;s church) and drawing on the worship guides. My grandparents both admired and respected him and were sad upon his departure, but knew it had to be. I last saw him when he visited some years ago, not sure the reason but maybe it was our 100th. He built the church up to the point we raised the funds to buy property and build a larger sanctuary and a facility; not just for worship but fellowship, Sunday school classes, and other activities. Dr MacNair left for a new call and Dr. Ash arrived to take our church to new heights and new missions. My mother and many other of our of our members will have more adult memories of Dr MacNair.