Holy Echoes
April 15, 2025
Rev. Dr. Ruth Duck’s legacy reverberates throughout the world she changed
“We your people stand before you, water-washed and spirit-born.
By your grace, our lives we offer. Recreate us; God transform.” – Ruth Duck, “Wash, O God, Your Sons and Daughters”
“What we say in worship matters.” In a few words, the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Wilson ’13 captures the Rev. Dr. Ruth Duck’s incredible legacy. “Her life’s trajectory followed the belief that it was possible for the people of God to become, here on Earth, the koinonia God intends,” she continues. “She shook the world with what she said in her music, but she was never afraid.” In the months since Dr. Duck died, articles have trumpeted her accomplishments as a liturgist and hymn writer. The author of more than 200 hymns, her songs have appeared in countless hymnals and her book Worship for the Whole People of God—now in its second edition—remains one of the finest guides for crafting liturgy. However, speaking with her students and friends, her life’s impact transcends any accolade or publication. “This woman became, for me, a sense of why I was good enough,” Dr. Wilson confesses. “She taught me how to teach others the same.”
In 1989, Garrett hired Dr. Duck as Professor of Worship—a post she would hold for 27 years. From that post, she ignited a revolution for inclusive liturgical language, particularly uprooting the reflexive use of masculine pronouns for God. “Her work pushed hard on conversations that are still growing edges for our students,” says the Rev. Dr. Andrew Wymer ’16, Garrett’s Associate Professor of Preaching of Worship and one of Dr. Duck’s final Ph.D. students. “It’s hard to root out the male dominance and patriarchy that’s so deeply embedded in our tradition. She pushed both the church and academy to be a more liberating space.” And yet, Dr. Duck never allowed the enormity of that challenge or the resistance she received to stop her. “She wasn’t oblivious to these pitched battles, but she went about them in a way that was calm and peaceful but insistent,” he says. “Because what is at stake is whether everyone can find themselves in God.”
Tall and exuberant, Dr. Duck was a formidable presence in whatever room she entered. She used that power to ensure her students felt seen, empowering them to move the church closer to God’s reign. The Rev. Brittney Stephan ’18 is one such alum. Now the Associate Pastor at Noblesville First United Methodist Church, Rev. Stephan nearly left Garrett before Dr. Duck intervened. “I was working at a church with toxic leadership, an experience that all but convinced me ministry was not in my future, so I tried to drop out,” she remembers. “Before classes began, I told Dr. Wilson—then Garrett’s Dean of Students—that I needed to leave, and Dr. Duck happened to walk in.” After listening to what Rev. Stephan experienced, Dr. Duck encouraged her to stay long enough to attend the worship class she and Dr. Wilson taught together. “The first day she explained, ‘You will all be tasked with creating the church’s future,’” Rev. Stephan says. “For whatever reason, that’s all I needed to hear. If my previous experience was what the church would be forever, I didn’t want to be part of that. But they told me I could do something new, something different, and week after week they made that our reality.”
Generations of seminarians benefited from this nurturing environment, magnifying her influence across the ministries they now serve. “The beauty of Ruth’s work is that it created an entry point for countless students to disrupt the dominance we attach to God,” Dr. Wymer notes. “She grew up in a more conservative religious environment and understood where I was coming from, what I was grappling with.” Dr. Wilson shares that Dr. Duck often hosted meals at her house, especially for international students. “She always made sure that folk had what they needed, but more importantly that they felt at home in this strange land,” she says. “There wasn’t anyone who could not embrace Ruth Duck the person. They might not always agree with her, but she pushed in such a kind and insistent way that they would still gain a deeper understanding.”
Those blessed to know Dr. Duck outside the classroom found a woman who was every bit as generous to her friends as she was to her students. “At her table, she would share intimate thoughts about racism and injustices that women experience,” Dr. Wilson says. “She really understood what life had been for me as a Black woman, to the point where she bore a lot of pain because she possessed such passion against these injustices.” She could also be mirthfully fun. “Going with her to the Hymn Society was a hoot and a half,” Rev. Stephan adds with a chuckle. “She loved to dance. She was not particularly good at it, but she would joyously slap to her own beat—which was rarely two and four. It was whatever beat Ruth Duck decided she was dancing to that day.” This vibrancy extended into her later years, even as good health began to leave her. “She still had a wonderful sense of humor,” Dr. Wilson says, describing her and Rev. Stephan’s weekly Zoom conversations with Dr. Duck from her retirement community. “One Sunday, she came on the call with a duck sitting on top of her hat. We talked very little because Brittney and I could not pull ourselves together, we were laughing so hard.” As much as Rev. Stephan treasured Dr. Duck the teacher, it’s these moments she carries closest to her heart. “She’s earned every bit of her scholarly reputation, but I don’t want people to lose sight of the fact that she was one of the most genuine and authentic people I ever had the pleasure to know,” she says. “It wasn’t just scholarship. It was who she truly was, and who she desperately wanted the world to be.”
Dr. Wilson’s relationship with Dr. Duck began through music when—as an aspiring Ph.D. candidate—she played the professor “Wash, O God, Your Sons and Daughters.” It’s only fitting that music would fill one of their last meetings, too. “While her health was declining, I did a concert out in the Claremont area,” Dr. Wilson says, her voice scoring a tender smile. “She told her friends at the retirement community that I was coming and decided to organize a trip.” Dr. Duck wouldn’t confirm that she rented the bus which brought them but, as the event began, more than fifty members of her community filed in. “She was like the mother duck, with all the little ducklings following behind her,” Dr. Wilson recalls with glistening eyes. “It was like a homecoming. I sang Duke Ellington’s ‘Come Sunday’ because it was so important to her that I continue to lift up who I am. That’s just who my Ruth was.”
Garrett will celebrate Dr. Duck’s incredible life and legacy on April 30, 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. CT in the Chapel of the Unnamed Faithful. If you are unable to attend in person, the service will also be livestreamed. Click here for more details.