Plymouth Magazine-Spring26-DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 9
UCC), and the Church of England.
Unfortunately, I chose the worst option
(for me) out of these three, although I do
really believe that God wants us to take
the good things, the things that give us
life, from our previous faith traditions. I
have a lot of respect for many of the social
teachings of the Catholic tradition, and
the many acts of mercy that it does with
its preferential option for the poor.
Twenty years ago I entered the Episcopal
church. It has been a deeply rich spiritual
home for me. At the time I was living
in Michigan taking care of my mother
as she was dying from cancer, and I
finally just couldn’t square the hole
with the Catholic church’s teachings
anymore with regard to women and the
LGBTQIA+ community.
What brought me to Plymouth? The short
answer would be the TiM program, the
chance to test out a call that I first heard in
college but never quite managed to answer.
Plymouth’s commitments to social justice
were what immediately placed it in a
different category for me. I sent out exactly
two applications to churches thinking
that I wouldn’t hear anything back. But
the longer answer to the question about
what brought me to Plymouth is God,
and I think there are a lot of congregants
at Plymouth who feel the same away
about how they arrived at this special
place. God was already forming me
through the first conversations with the
members of the TiM committee.
Part of my “yes” to God was to enroll in
theological education 10 years ago on
a part-time basis not knowing where it
would lead. I ended up at Luther Seminary
before switching to United Theological
Seminary of the Twin Cities this past
fall, a UCC seminary. I understand that
it has been a long-standing tradition at
Plymouth that small financial gifts have
been made to the three UCC seminaries in
the Midwest that also include Eden in St.
Louis and Chicago Theological Seminary
in Chicago. United has asked me to extend
its gratitude to Plymouth, and I do so
with a full heart because I have benefited
directly from the gifts given to seminaries
at two institutions. With all the changes
happening in theological education today,
congregations like Plymouth will become
even more important in forming the next
generation of leaders in the UCC and in
the wider church.
Now that you’ve been at Plymouth for
a few months, what have you learned
about our church and/or our community
that has surprised you the most?
One thing that has surprised me is the
degree to which it has been possible to get
to know so many parishioners in such a
short time. Since Plymouth is such a large
congregation, I thought it would take a
lot longer to recognize and get to know
congregants. It’s really neat to be able to
recognize people from the backs of their
heads before worship on Sundays.
Plymouth has truly been a supportive
place that wants staff to be successful.
While that isn’t surprising necessarily, I
think it is a special form of love and in
the DNA of this particular church, and
I think that is truly something special
that isn’t found everywhere. When I
say that I came here as a teacher to be
a student to see how parishioners and
staff work together to do ministry, I’m
amazed by the heart and soul that goes
into that work every single day. It’s a level
of engagement and discipleship that I’ve
never seen at a church before.
As we enter the Lenten season, is
there a reflection, reading, meditation,
scripture, or something special you do
leading up to Easter?
I always use an Episcopalian Lenten
devotional, but this year I’ll be using
Plymouth’s very own Board of Christian
Social Action’s Lenten devotional. It has
beautiful art and the reflections are a
gift. Just hearing John Zauche talk about
making one and watching the BCSA
and Pastor John put it together in just a
few weeks was really neat to see. There
is so much wisdom here at Plymouth in
the congregation, and it’s so important
to also be led by our congregants in their
ministries during this season of Lent.
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