Embedded Files
I. Drawing on the ministry of Jesus Christ to confront injustice and oppression.
II. Practicing the radical hospitality of God.
III. Identifying and working to overcome explicit and implicit bias in the life of the Church.
IV. Understanding community context and navigating change with a community.
V. Engaging in mission and outreach.
VI. Building relationships of mutual trust and interdependence.
I. Drawing on the ministry of Jesus to confront injustice and oppression
I remember very clearly a specific question for a group exercise early in my seminary career. It was a theology class called "Christology and Soteriology" and the professor asked the class: "What was Jesus' work on the cross?"
To answer the question, we had to work together in groups to come up with a cohesive answer in chart form, using the infinity symbol to represent God, the cross to represent Jesus, and a stick figure to represent humans, along with some text. Within our small group of only three students, we had three different beliefs about Jesus' work on the cross! Finally, we drew three charts and showed the places where we intersected. I later learned that my chart reflected liberation theology, the middle chart reflected liberal protestant theology, and the third chart reflected neo-orthodox theology in its current iteration as evangelicalism.
In trying to come up with the "correct" answer, we each realized just how many tenets of each belief system we could affirm, but that one or two separated us almost completely. I write this to explain that, while most of my influences come from liberation theologians, I can see the validity of other thought. For instance, I could agree with the middle chart's author that salvation could be seen as healing that happens often in our hearts while here on earth, rather than just in the afterlife-but not with her assertation that human beings can bring the kingdom of God. I could agree with the third chart's author that we all need God's mercy and forgiveness that comes through Christ-but not with the belief that God killed God's own son to atone for our sins. Where we diverged was in our answer to the central question: what was Jesus' work on the cross?
My response and my understanding of the others' responses have deeply informed my work confronting injustice and oppression. This is a paraphrase of my words explaining the chart on the left side of the board:
Jesus' work on the cross was the culmination of his life. He came as a baby born
to a poor family with no power; he taught about the upside-down
kingdom of God where the servants are the leaders; he challenged
the status quo of the empire; he remained in solidarity with human beings
even through experiencing suffering and death. He was murdered by
humans who wanted to silence his voice and stop his work of lifting up
the oppressed and convicting those who used their power to oppress
others. His resurrection revealed to us that suffering and death are not the end,
that there is hope for new life.
In my ministry context, I often dwell on the "suffering" aspect of the cross, mainly because the people with whom I minister do not experience (much) oppression. Jesus' solidarity with us even through suffering is the model I hold up to encourage others to follow the way of Jesus, to confront injustice wherever they see it, to walk beside the poor and oppressed. However, there are people in our church community who do experience oppression because of sexual preference, gender identity, or other differences. My message to them is to realize that God is with them in their suffering-and that Jesus's resurrection reveals hope. [Note: I want to be careful not to reify redemptive suffering because those who are oppressed should not feel bound to- or deserving of- their suffering. The objectification of suffering has caused harm to those who have been told that they must bear it in silence.]
The Beatitudes
I was reading Matthew's depiction of the beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12) from the beginning of Jesus' sermon on the mount and a song kept running through my mind. I think that this song captures the essence of these teachings beautifully; it's one of my favorites to sing at the end of worship services!
Blest Are They, written by David Haas and performed by the Notre Dame Folk Choir
*I do not own the rights to this song.*
In attempting to re-interpret the beatitudes for my context, I realized how difficult it is to follow the literary pattern without always referring to an eschatological reward. I definitely wanted to put my focus on how we are to live, right now-right where we are, rather than on a heavenly reward. However, I did want to include an in-breaking of God that will bring about true peace and justice, thus the "Kin-dom of God" language. I have heard/read the term "kin-dom" used in place of "kingdom" (in order to move the word from hierarchical to relational) from several speakers/authors, so I do not have a specific source to credit for the term. Here is my re-interpretation, entitled "Beatitudes for Jesus Followers in the 21st Century:
II. Practicing the radical hospitality of God
In the Southeast Conference of the UCC, I see the UCC's commitment to inclusion and justice being modeled well, both within individual churches and among the conference as a whole. I will focus on the conference here, as I can only speak with much detail on my particular church (Church of the Savior UCC in Knoxville, TN). At any conference gathering, one can immediately see the results of a commitment to inclusion: people from different races and ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQIA people, and people with disabilities gather and interact informally before and between business, worship, and workshop meetings.
During administrative or business segments, leadership positions are held by a diverse collection of folks-and those folks have not just a seat at the table, but also equal voices in the decision making process.
Just reading the list of workshops available gives a glimpse of the ways that we are learning together to practice the radical hospitality of God. I have personally attended workshops on topics ranging from racial inequities (discussing The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander) to using respectful language for gender non-conforming people (led by a trans man), and from cultural appropriation to how to design multi-cultural worship services.
Oh, the worship services at Southeast Conference (or Living Waters Association) gatherings; here is where extravagant welcome shines! Different worship styles are represented; the music can range from "old white Protestant men" hymns to Black gospel songs to classical instrumental music. The singers might be the whole congregation - or a Black choir with children interpreting through liturgical dance - or an LGBTQIA choir sharing contemporary praise and worship songs - or three white women harmonizing on a folk song. The congregants come from tiny churches in rural Tennessee or Alabama, large prominent historically black churches in cities like Atlanta, predominantly LGBTQIA churches in Birmingham or Nashville, medium-sized social justice warrior churches, historic churches in South Carolina, Alabama, or Georgia - or the only UCC church in Mississippi. You might hear a quiet but powerful meditation, a fiery convicting sermon, or an emotional exhortation, all from diverse theological backgrounds and beliefs. The one thing the preachers will have in common is that their homilies will spring from the belief that our God is one of boundless love!
It has always struck me as strange that some of the most radically welcoming, open and affirming, social justice badass congregations in the whole UCC exist within the Bible Belt region! Perhaps our conference is so connected and relational because we are often islands of progressive Christianity in the otherwise conservative seas of our towns and cities.
For more insight into our conference, visit the website:
Embodying a commitment to inclusion and justice in my own life and ministry
It is hard to know where to begin writing about my commitment to inclusion and justice because social justice work and educating youth about faith-based advocacy are my passions! This section is by far the easiest for me to write and to give examples of my dedication. In fact, I think my gifts are heavily concentrated here, perhaps to the detriment of other areas of ministry.
I will focus on my work with our youth, on helping them develop and strengthen a life-long commitment to inclusion and justice. This past fall, we read the book Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi (a young adult version of Kendi's more in-depth book) and used what we learned to start becoming anti-racists. I consulted a study guide, made available online by the SLJ (School Library Journal) for discussion prompts and, later, project ideas.
The group read chapters in preparation for weekly virtual meetings; we discussed major points and topics that resonated with them (and me). Author Jason Reynolds encourages young readers to actively work toward becoming anti-racists, using the information and concepts gleaned from the book. The study guide was extremely helpful; for each chapter, there were topics for further research.
As a culmination, the guide suggested several projects that groups (or individual youth) could undertake. Combining pieces from those recommendations, we created a program to help educate our younger children (pre-youth group) about becoming anti-racists. Each of the youth group members researched a person, event, or concept from the book for more in-depth information. Then, we used those research areas to create presentations, skits, art, and a list of children's books that have black authors or characters.
Since we are worshipping virtually, in-person Sunday school has also been suspended, so the video presentations have been most helpful. Once in-person classes resume, youth from the group will "guest-teach" using the materials they've developed. For primary aged children, we will share picture books or story books from our list and display/explain one young artist's multi-media piece. For what we call the "middlers" class (comprised of 3rd-5th graders), we plan to use the PowerPoint presentations as the centerpiece and have the kids act out our anti-racist skit. The skit deals with cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation, micro-aggressions at school, and the white-washing of history text books.
Here is one of the presentations, by Eva Rogers (13 years old) about Angela Davis and Audre Lorde:
In the index, you can find our list of children's books with black authors, illustrators, and/or characters.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_ZLbsXy_vIE2hbwNIc7jX3iOggttHxY8oXypRFXS-0w/edit?usp=sharing
Since we all learn and express ourselves through different means, one of the youth, Fiona Williams, created some art pieces about her learning experience. Here is one painting that she made in response to our study:
"Blocking Hate"
"For me this is an image of using my white privilege to block hate so that it can't harm people of color or damage the beauty of creation." (Fiona Williams, age 13)
Integrating the young people into the larger congregation's work
Prompted by BLM protests over police killings of unarmed black men and women, our whole congregation participated in an asynchronous study about racism and racial injustices in the United States. For the worship service that kicked off the six week process, the youth group shared this discussion about Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi:
Topic: COS Youth Group Anti-Racism Discussion
Start Time : Sep 19, 2020 10:08 AM
Meeting Recording:
Access Passcode: CoSYouth1!
To view the entire service, go to https://www.facebook.com/168440916522886/videos/780292146141850
III. Identifying and working to overcome explicit and implicit bias in the life of the Church.
The Complexity of Covenant (written for my course in UCC History, Theology, and Polity)
April 2020 - In this week’s readings, the aspect of covenant as it is understood by/within the UCC that most clearly emerged for me is its complexity; we have built our polity around a concept that is, as Rev. Brigit Stevens describes it, “…constantly in change, constantly in flux.” (A Commitment to Covenant Video, 5:59) Covenant requires work, careful thought, active listening to each other and to the Holy Spirit…no simple task!
That being said, I tried to unpack a few of the other characteristics that seem important to me. Besides complexity, I was struck by the idea that “testimony” is central to an understanding of covenant, as set forth in the “Covenantal Relationships” text. If I understand Hulteen correctly, he sees testimony, “sharing of insight and conviction,” not as one setting of the covenant “speaking for” the other settings, but rather as the means for all parties of the covenant to discuss each insight or conviction and deem it valuable-or not.
One example of this idea from our history might be ordination of women: a local church ordains and calls a woman as pastor as testimony to their belief that women may serve as pastors; other churches within the same association either affirm the ordination or deny it by welcoming or ostracizing the pastor/congregation; the ordination is ultimately denied when other settings choose not to ratify it. Later in time, an association ordains a woman; more congregations affirm the ordination than do not; yet, the ordination is rendered insignificant when no congregation calls her to serve. Even later in time, most settings of the covenant affirm the ordination of women, thereby affirming the original “testimony” of the congregation who began the conversation.
This example also illustrates the evolving nature of covenant that Rev. Brigit Stevens describes in her talk; the settings of the covenant make adjustments as they hear and receive new insights from the other parties. It also makes real the “lateral relationship” between the local church, association, conference, and general synod, which “…allows no authority of one setting over another.” (Russell on Covenant Theology, p. 20) Rev. Stevens puts this in terms of family, where each individual person and each setting of the UCC are “all in this together.” (Video, 4:19)
Originally, I had used the term “parties” of the covenant to name the various pieces of the UCC; I changed this to “settings” after I realized that I was not naming the most important “party” to our covenant-God! To clarify, I see the covenantal polity of the UCC as our human covenant within the larger covenant that God makes with us. I would also make the claim that God, working through the Holy Spirit, helps us to hear and judge “testimonies” that come from different settings, thus allowing for the evolution of our understanding and change of our hearts.
Where covenant is working well
Currently, I see covenant working well within our conference. The relationship among the churches and with the conference staff does feel like "family" in many ways-albeit family whose relations live in far-flung locations. Isn't that how actual families have learned to relate as well? As a society, we no longer stay in our locations of origin, close to parent, siblings, etc. In this way, keeping and strengthening covenant is even more important for us! Our relationship is indeed lateral; conference staff, board, and various committees do not place themselves in a position of authority. Rather, they work with clergy and lay leaders as equals.
Over the past year, with many of us meeting virtually because of the Covid 19 pandemic, the conference staff and volunteers were able to use various platforms to build on that relational aspect and keep us connected. They set an example for local churches for meeting safely without requiring that local churches do so.
Where I dream for a more faithful demonstration of covenant
It seems to me that the tension between local church autonomy and our covenant where each party is “…called to honor and respect the work and ministry of each other part…” (UCC Constitution Article III) is most evident in our Resolutions of Witness. That is, the conviction about a particular moral or ethical issue comes from one or more parties and is considered by delegates from all the parties at General Synod (covenant), then the local church decides whether to “live by” the resolution (autonomy). I think that one weakness of our structure lies in the breakdown of communications between General Synod/National Setting and the local churches. I can understand how a local church might reject a resolution, but I have trouble with the idea that the local churches do not have to wrestle with -or even hear- these resolutions. In this way, autonomy is given precedence over covenant because local congregations don’t fulfill the calling to “honor and respect the work and ministry of each other part.”
While local church autonomy is part of our DNA, placing it above covenantal responsibilities weakens our denominational witness to the world, in my opinion. It also diminishes opportunities for faithful conversation and theological education/reflection that should happen around Resolutions of Witness. For example, the General Synod of 2005 voted overwhelmingly to support marriage equality for same gender couples, yet fifteen years later, only 31% of our local churches are Open and Affirming. (https://www.uccfiles.com/pdf/2019-UCC-Statistical-Profile.pdf accessed 3/31/2020) I know that changing hearts and minds can be a long, arduous process; the move toward ordination of women is an early example. However, hearts and minds cannot change if people are not even hearing the testimonies of people in other settings of the UCC. Perhaps I am too impatient; perhaps faithful conversations and theological education are still happening around this resolution; perhaps hearts are opening even as I write these words. I truly hope so because I’m not sure we should call ourselves an Open and Affirming denomination (or even a denomination of “extravagant welcome”) when almost 70% of our local churches have not become ONA congregations.
Working to Overcome Implicit Bias in the Life of the Church
One of my "intensive" courses (in-seat classes that last 2-3 days and require ministry site involvement) at Lexington Theological Seminary addressed overcoming implicit racial and cultural bias in the life of the church through preaching and teaching about multicultural worship. One assignment was to choose scriptures and write a sermon to show a Biblical basis for creating multicultural worship opportunities. I am sharing a link to that sermon here:
IV. Understanding community context and navigating change with a community
This is one are of challenge for me. In a seminary class about understanding community context and navigating change, especially within congregations, we read a book called Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading by Heifetz and Linskey. The authors make a case for "adaptive leadership" as a way to address change within a community. One concept I specifically remember is called "getting on the balcony" which is a metaphor about leaving the milieu of the "dance floor" to get a clearer view of what's happening from the balcony. In the course, I did well with "getting on the balcony" exercises but not in coming up with adaptive ways to address change (as opposed to simpler "technical" changes.
I have good mentorship in this area; I have watched John Gill thoughtfully, prayerfully, and adeptly navigate change with the help of the church council. In the past, he has explained to me where he sees the need to "get on the balcony" and has included me in the adaptive change process. For example, in 2014, John and the council led the whole congregation through a visioning process using the concept of "appreciative inquiry" to form the outline for our five-year vision of ministry, mission, and community. I was a council member at the time and involved throughout the process.
For the past several years, Church of the Savior had experienced a good problem: not enough space in our sanctuary, gathering area, or classrooms due to growth! This time as a staff member, I have been involved in navigating change. We began with small group conversations where 15 or so folks shared what they love about COS and about our physical church/grounds. Each conversation was led by staff and council members; we had people recording responses for each conversation. We also made surveys available, with a large portion of the membership responding to the surveys and attending the conversations.
After processing and interpreting all input, we appointed a team to address necessary short-term changes; I was a team member and the staff representative. I was very good at the physical changes (creating more space for gathering; organizing displays for visitors and for long term members; coming up with a name tag system that did not cause a bottleneck at the main entrance), but not as good at identifying behavioral changes. The other committee members suggested things like leaving front parking spaces for people with mobility challenges and visitors, "re-training" folks to change habits. (For instance, having two sets of greeters stand away from the entrance and help direct the flow of traffic.)
A long-term Physical Expansion Team was formed as well. I have not served there, except as a staff member when needed. This team has led the congregation through a long process of gathering, reporting, choosing an architect firm, working with the architects to incorporate the DNA of our church into expansion designs, and presenting schematic plans to the congregation. The last two steps have taken place during the pandemic, adding even more challenges. We are now at the point of ordering plans that include cost estimates and possibly kicking off a capital campaign to finance this much-needed expansion; these steps are on hold until the Covid 19 pandemic is under control.
During each of these times of challenge and change, I have learned from watching and participating. I have benefitted from John Gill's mentorship and from working with lay church leaders. I feel that I have gained some skill and knowledge, yet serving as a leader through change does not come naturally to me.
V. Engaging in Mission and Outreach
Please see the "Engaging Sacred Stories and Traditions" page, Leading faith formation effectively across generations section in which I address both these marks.
In addition, I have both participated in and led several immersion experiences (often known as mission trips). I think changing our terminology is an important step in our attitude toward those we serve: immersion experience means that we are not there to "help the less fortunate" but rather to serve and learn with (and from) others. When I traveled to Honduras and Guatemala with a group of faith leaders, the organizers were cognizant of this difference, naming the experience as a pilgrimage, where our goal was to listen, ask questions, learn, and to serve with those we encountered along the way. Because of the collaborative nature of the experience, I came home feeling that I had been given the gift of people's stories, entrusted with carrying those stories and sharing them when I returned home.
As part of a presentation that I wrote on globalization, I shared some of the stories that I heard in order to humanize problems caused by our part in neoliberal globalization. Here is the paper from which I made the presentation, with the personal stories in bold type:
Why should our church care about globalization?
As a congregation, and as individual Christians, we should care about the form of economic globalization that is now dominant because it prioritizes profit above all else, including human beings and all of God's creation. Neoliberal globalization "...aims for freer international trade and investment, less social and environmental regulations for corporations, the privatization of state-owned enterprises, and a decrease in social spending" (Brubaker 5). After several decades of living with the tenets of neoliberal globalization, the world is experiencing not the promised "...economic development and political, economic, moral, and cultural liberty" (Brubaker 5) but rather a growing chasm of income inequality, environmental degradation that threatens our very lives, and forced migration of peoples from their lands in search of food and security. The deification of money and idolatry of the individual that are the earmarks of neoliberal economics have caused harm to our environment and exacerbated poverty and suffering for many of our brothers and sisters.
Even as those who benefit materially from globalization, we experience poverty of spirit when we fall prey to the ideology that the individual is/should be independent. Machado sees individualism as an invasion "...that fractures our lives and creates competition and alienation rather than cooperation and relationships" (Brubaker 122). Relationship is one of the central values of Christianity; scripture calls us to relationship with each other, with God, and with all of creation. As a Christian congregation, we are called to relationship. We need to take that calling seriously and understand that neoliberal globalization is about denying and breaking human bonds, all in the service of profit. We also need to understand that we have choices; we do not have to remain silent and therefore complicit with globalization and the injustice that it proliferates. We can be mindful about our consumption, realizing that "every purchase is a vote in the global marketplace" (Newton Presentation 2, Slide 10).
As Christians, we need to seek out and participate in sustainable development that "prioritizes human welfare and well-being over corporate welfare [and that] resists global forms of oppression" (Newton Presentation 2, Slide 7). The contributors to Justice in a Global Economy: Strategies for Home, Community, and World write about ways that we can begin to resist neoliberal globalization and to make changes in all levels of our lives. Their ideas range from ways to support community farming, eat intentionally, and consume responsibly to ways of holding corporations accountable, engaging environmental justice, and promoting solidarity. They provide concrete suggestions to help us begin to look at the ways in which we participate in globalization as well as some ways we might begin to make changes. Perhaps more importantly, they point to scripture and to Christian ethics as both reason for change and source of creative ways to change. Brubaker cites "the biblical Sabbath-Jubilee vision [as] an inspiration to some who are looking for an alternative political economic paradigm to corporate-led globalization" (134).
So far, I've been speaking about ideas and the 'big picture' of globalization. Now, I want to share an experience that helped me to see the connectedness of all creation-and some of the ways that globalization harms creation. Recently, I was part of a delegation of faith leaders who travelled to Central America to discover the root causes of the mass migration from the region in recent years. As we traveled to different places to meet with community leaders, I rode up front in the van and heard stories from our driver, Julio, who lives in El Progreso, a small city in Honduras. On one such ride, Julio pointed out the vast banana fields on one side of the road and the small subsistence farms and houses on the other side. He told me that, in order to irrigate the banana trees, two rivers had been diverted in various places. The result is that when tropical storms bring in extra rainfall, the whole area floods. When this happens, government workers make sandbag barriers along the road to protect the banana trees, leaving the small farms and homes on the other side to flood even worse. The people who live there bring what they can to the median in the road (which is the nearest high point), erect sheet plastic 'tents,' and live there along that small strip until the flood waters subside. They then repair or rebuild their simple homes, salvage what they can of their fields, and go on with their lives. In the midst of this, they help each other as much as they can and share their meager resources. They know that they are interdependent.
So, when I buy bananas for fifty-nine cents per pound, when I insist on the lowest price for produce that only grows thousands of miles from where I live, I am part of the injustice of globalization. I have bought into the ideology that I deserve the cheapest price on whatever I want to eat without questioning the harm that my consumption does to other human beings and to the earth. Yes, Chiquita is the transnational corporation that reaps the profits and, yes, corrupt Honduran government officials aid and abet them. But with my silence and my choices, I am what allows this system to work. Those bananas are valued above human life during natural disasters. Their production saps the land of nutrients, making it useless for other crops. They are grown, harvested, and packaged with as little human labor as possible by utilizing mechanized processes. The people who do have jobs there are paid low wages to work in an atmosphere where a perfect-looking banana crop that will bring the most profit is priority. This means that they work in the presence of pesticides and other chemicals with no protection. Those pesticides interrupt the ecosystem and poison the ground water. Once those spotless bananas are harvested and packaged, they are transported over 2000 miles using fossil fuel powered vehicles that pollute the air and contribute to climate change. I eat the bananas and deprive myself of the connections that could come from eating locally produced food. I waste part of them because I can't eat all of them before they rot...they go into a landfill with the rest of my wasted cheap food.
Meanwhile, back in Honduras, some of the subsistence farmers try to stand up for their rights against Chiquita or to resist losing even more of their land to the African palm plantations that are rapidly consuming what's left of the arable land. If they do resist or try to organize, they are threatened with violence by the militarized national police, which they have witnessed happening to their neighbors. They're then forced to migrate to avoid crushing poverty and hunger and the violence perpetrated by their own government. Some of them come to our borders; they're either imprisoned in for-profit prisons and then deported or they make it to the interior of the U.S. only to be treated as less than fully human by many U.S. citizens. They're told to "go back to their own country" as if we have nothing to do with the conditions that drove them here. We say, "there's not enough for you here" because we live with a sense of lack that is counter to all that scripture (and lived experience) reveals to us about the abundance of God's creation.
This system can seem to be too big for us to change; proponents of neoliberal economics want us to believe that this is just the way it is. If buying a banana can contribute to all this injustice, what can we as a Christian congregation possibly do to create change? The good news is that we can learn the truth and we can follow our Christian scripture and beliefs. We can choose to not buy that banana. We can choose to eat locally grown food in season. We can support our immigrant brothers and sisters and advocate for better immigration laws. We can pay attention to what our government leaders are doing with our tax money and use the strength of our numbers and our votes to force them to stop interfering in Honduran politics. We can develop the spiritual discipline of mindfulness about how we are all connected...with each other, with creation, and with our Creator.
VI. Building relationships of mutual trust and interdependence.
Trust-filled relationships and understanding the truth that interdependence -rather than independence- is foundational to living a meaningful life have both been concepts that are central to my life. While I have never felt comfortable in crowds, nor drawn to large gatherings, I have been able to form deeper friendships and relationships and maintain them over time. This gift has served me well in providing pastoral care, in developing strong volunteer teams who teach, facilitate, mentor, and chaperone our young folks, and in relationships with my colleagues.
As the person who interacts most with our youth group, I have had the honor of providing pastoral care to most of them on an individual basis. Of course, the "group" changes as children move from elementary school to 6th grade and as seniors graduate and head off to college, careers, and become adult member of the congregation. Over the years, I have been the person to whom several young people have "come out" as LGBTQIA+; I know it is easier for them to come out to me, since they know I will accept and guide them. They also know that they can trust me to hold their stories until they are ready to share them. At times, a young person has come out to me as gay because they feel attraction to a person of the same gender, only to realize later that they are bisexual (or heterosexual or non-binary). In this situation, I have been able to reassure them that they are not bound to any label or identity, that sexual orientations and gender identities are often fluid, that God loves them just as they are.
In youth group, as in my ministry in general, both spiritual practice and social justice issues are prominent. I am open with them about my past struggles with religious trauma in order to help them understand the value of having a relationship with God, as a source of strength and comfort and as a reason to fight injustice. (Because of religious trauma in my teen years, I turned away from church and even from God.) I have heard from several of these young people who have graduated that having a personal spiritual practice was very important as they left home for college. And, more than a few of them have become social justice activists in their own rights! At present, two young women are in university preparing to become civil rights and immigrations lawyers. Of course, I can't take credit for that, but I hope that I helped to plant a seed or encourage that seed to thrive!
I have also provided pastoral care to children in our congregation. Over the years, I have served as religious mentor for a scouting badge, a listening ear for children who were being bullied, and a person with whom they feel comfortable asking questions about God. More recently, I have instituted the practice of "porch visits" during the pandemic. Our children need to feel connected to their church community and know that they have me present when they need me; their parents sometimes need to vent or to pray or just to talk and laugh. Outdoor, masked, distanced, but IN PERSON-these visits have become vital for our families and for me.
Many of the parents are also volunteers in our religious education program; before the pandemic, we had formed close bonds through serving our COS children together. These parents, grandparents, and other volunteers need a good faith foundation for our community's children; they know that I need them to help make our program a successful intergenerational experience where children learn about God, our traditions, and the way of Jesus.
Finally, I have developed relationships of mutual trust and interdependence with my colleagues in ministry at COS. Rather, we have developed them together-pastor, youth and children's minister, music director, accompanist, childcare provider, and office administrator: we are a great team! Outside our local church, I have worked successfully with the Winter Youth Retreat committee members and the association re-imagining team as well as forming good relationships with several other Members in Discernment who have moved into ordained ministry. I think that I am mostly a good friend, in life and in ministry.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse