Coffeepot Fellowship Podcast

Getting 30 minutes with Rev. Jeanne Pupke this particular week was an honor and nearly miraculous since there are just seven days left in her 18-month presidential campaign! Rev. Jeanne will be in New Orleans this week for the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association. In exactly one week, Saturday June 25th, 2017, all three candidates will be sweating it out as the votes are counted. And while my title won't change based on the votes, I'll be at the assembly praying it out as well. Your prayers are welcome too.

While I cannot give an adequate presentation of the powerful impact Unitarian Universalists have had on the United States, I know that UU clergy can. What I can do is share some of my remarkable experience being part of Rev. Jeanne Pupke's church this year. I, a Baptist minister, and my wife, Kelli, arrived at First Unitarian Universalist Church in September 2016. My wife was a dual-degree student at Baptist Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity) and Virginia Commonwealth University (Master of Social Work). Kelli was the Social Justice Intern as part of her social work degree program so we knew we would be at this church every Sunday for the school year. I had very little expectation when I arrived. I was a veritable tabula rasa. The only expectation I believe I brought was that I would likely be, at best, a fringe member of the community that was not declaratively Christian. I could not have been more wrong.

The senior pastor, the associate pastors, the religious educator, the assistants, the interns, and the other Christian clergy in the congregation(!) were fast colleagues. But colleagues in what? How would they lead worship with a community that did not all profess to follow God in general, let alone Jesus Christ? How could I worship Jesus Christ in my seat, as someone next to me worshiped the God of Judaism, next to someone who was an atheist? How would we pray? What songs could we sing? I won't answer these questions except to say that there are indeed answers. I knew quickly that this was a place I could "work" as a pastor because I loved what they were about. It took me just a few more months to join the congregation, all the while remaining a Christian and a Baptist minister. I was able to ally myself with the people of First UU and the values of Unitarian Universalism, integrating my experiences with my Christian beliefs. This was very significant to me and a powerful statement about Unitarian Universalists. My wife's story is similarly powerful but I will leave that for Kelli to tell and turn focus back to today's guest.

A Catholic nun in a previous lifetime, Rev. Jeanne Pupke has been the senior pastor at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond Virginia for over a decade. It is a religion and a congregation so radically open-minded that beliefs of different religions and no religion are embraced in the one community. The church has grown in her time and continues its growth. In the era of donald trump they have experienced a particular surge. People are seeking community in a place that does not place them under the thumb of a narrow belief system.

As most of my Richmond relationships revolve around Christian communities, I have found myself saying through this year that our church vastly congregates around social justice missions. Rev. Jeanne leads two Sunday services at 9 and 11AM. They are powerful and deeply meaningful. There are various other groups that meet to dive into specific spiritual education and worship every week - a Christian group, Buddhist group, Jewish studies and many more. Other groups are advocating for racial justice, women's rights, LGBTQIA rights, immigrant rights through becoming a sanctuary congregation, and much more.

I have also heard several critical voices that don't know Rev. Jeanne or this congregation tell me they had visited this church more than ten years ago. And I don't recognize the description. Every church has conflict; conflict is natural. There is healthy conflict happening today; the conflict of courageously moving forward. On one hand, we are not moving fast enough. On the other hand, I know that Rev. Jeanne is keeping a pulse on what we can handle, and pushing us.

I knew that Rev. Jeanne had business experience before becoming clergy. I did not know that part of that experience was in this podcast's wheelhouse as a "coffee executive!" Mind blown. What else will we learn about Rev. Jeanne?!?! For example, who knew her exquisite drink of choice would be espresso con panna (hot espresso with cold whip cream on top)?

What's more, I've been drinking in Rev. Jeanne's wisdom and inspiration Sunday after Sunday. I've been talking with her in the hallways of First UU and at meetings. She knows that sometimes things are more complicated than they seem. So when she delivers wisdom that is simple, do not miss its value. It's powerful and distilled to work in your heart and mind. When asked what she wanted to promote explicitly, it was simply this: we are one family.

When we can remember and own this truth, "we are one family," then we will treat each other the way that we ought and the world will indeed be a better place.

Sponsor: United Faith Leaders

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond

Rev. Jeanne for UUA President!

Rev. Jeanne on Facebook

Twitter: @Jeannepupke4uua

Unitarian Universalist Association

Expresso Con Panna

Rev. April Blaine lives in Columbus, Ohio and is the Lead Pastor at Hilliard United Methodist Church. She went to Hendrix College and Methodist Theological School in Ohio. She is married with kiddos and is a passionate advocate for the enneagram.

Babes, blessings, and bathtubs - that's what we're talking about today with April. If you think we're blessing babes in bathtubs ... well, you're not totally off the mark! I noticed a little pattern in April's stories, she's able to gain huge insights into our humanity through the lives of amazing young people in her midst. Those stories involve the full range of being human. This podcast episode is almost like watching the movie Inside Out where you, literally, get to name experiences like Joy and Anger. What we see, in its raw form in children (and college students), can help us be honest about all that is pretty and pretty ugly in us.

Coming to grips with our true selves has innumerable benefits. First, we experience our own liberation. We no longer have to lie to or pretend with ourselves or others. Then we can have more compassion and grace with others because we know we're just as beautiful and just as ugly, just as wonderful and close-to-terrible as anyone else. April's courage to know and share her journey demonstrates how this is happening with her.

What would you do with the claw-foot bathtub mysteriously chilling out in your church? Throw it away? Make an art project out of it? Paint it rainbow colors? Grow plants in it? Make a reading nook out of it? Fill it with holy water? Float things in it? Make it a float in a parade? I'll tell you that, after hearing April's bathtub story, I want to have a rainbow bathtub in any sanctuary I pastor in. Of course I'll do full immersion baptisms in it. And, what's more, every year I want to use it for blessings just like April did (hear episode) so that everyone knows God loves them just as they are and they are welcome just as they are because the Water is for them, just like the Bread of Life is for them.

As Christians we definitely want everyone to come to the table, any table. We want everyone to come find and know that they are loved, by God and by others. We want everyone to experience the fullest life possible and extend that space to others. If others don't find their way to the table, a table, then God will find and make a way to them, just like April took the water to the parade, just like the water leapt from the parade route onto the crowd. There is a joyful responsibility upon each of us that we are not compelled to pick up but that many, fortunately, do. Thank you, April Blaine, for engaging a life of love so deeply.

Sponsor: United Faith Leaders

The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile

Enneagram Institute

The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective by Richard Rohr and Andreas Ebert

Methodist Theological School in Ohio

Hendrix College

Ohio State University (OSU)

Hilliard United Methodist Church

Summit United Methodist Church

The Rev. Dr. Paula Owens Parker is a Presbyterian minister and senior program developer of Roots Matter. Though Roots Matter's approach to generational healing is rooted in the traumatic experience of chattel slavery and the African American spirituality created out of that experience, it has a deep and powerful connection with other groups and cultures who have experienced historical trauma.

Roots Matter: Healing History, Honoring Heritage, and Renewing Hope was published in July 2016.

Dr. Parker received her Doctor of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary (San Anselmo, CA.). She is a professor of Spiritual Formation at Union Presbyterian Seminary (Richmond, VA.), is a retreat leader, spiritual director, and healing prayer minister. She's received many awards including the 2013 Union Presbyterian Seminary Black Alumni/ae Trailblazer Award. Dr. Parker takes her coffee with 100% pure, light amber maple syrup.

Dr. Parker is the founder and former executive director of The Daughters of Zelophehad, Inc., an ecumenical Christian transitional housing program for women in crisis and their children. The Daughters of Zelophehad name came from Numbers 27:1-11 when Moses was dividing up the promised land. Moses protected the rights of these women when there was no male heir. Dr. Parker is also a co-founder of SOZO School of Christian Healing Prayer at Richmond Hill, an urban ecumenical retreat center, and co-founder of Seven Sisters Sharing Seven Sayings, a Good Friday service that is held each year in the Richmond metropolitan area. SOZO means to save or to heal in Greek.

Both scholars and ministers in their own rights, Paula Parker and Katie Cannon are collaborating on the development of a Center of Womanist Leadership. United Faith Leaders and The Coffeepot Fellowship look forward to that exciting project which Dr. Parker discusses in this episode.

In conclusion, as you consider these two quotes from our interview, we urge the reading of Dr. Parker's book, Roots Matter: Healing History, Honoring Heritage, and Renewing Hope, for people of all backgrounds.

"The decision you make today effects seven generations." -Sioux proverb

"Trauma is trauma. It happens in all families, in all ways." -Rev. Dr. Paula Owens Parker

Sponsor: United Faith Leaders

Roots Matter: Healing History, Honoring Heritage, and Renewing Hope (Wipf & Stock, 2016) by Paula Owens Parker

Roots Matter LLC

Roots Matter on Facebook

Katie Geneva Cannon

Simple Green Smoothie - Thrive

Richmond Hill Retreat Center

The Coffeepot Fellowship on Facebook

Let's go now to our Real World Correspondent, Sarah Langford Berger! Sarah is a hospice nurse with Kansas City Hospice & Palliative Care. She has her Bachelor of Science from National American University. She's married to Chris Berger with two gorgeous kiddos. Make sure you listen to hear who Sarah met unexpectedly when she went to church!

This show notes page is going to be more of a prequel to meeting Sarah. It will tell you about Sarah by telling you what kind of Jay McNeal she and her friends let in. If we do another episode together then it should include the story of the first night we actually met. But, for now, let's start before the beginning.

We were both poor young adults living in one of the wealthiest counties in America when I showed up. I was doing my best to fit in when I arrived in the midwest but Sarah and her friends cared about more important things than conforming.

I was a peculiar outcast when our paths crossed. I was, literally, working at Blockbuster Video after having resigned, burned out from my full time youth ministry job nearby. I was divorced, bankrupt, and failed at the ministry I left everything to serve. In the podcast you will hear what our common time was like to Sarah. For myself I remember many great joys, every youth I served and almost every adult but I also know how destructive a few of those adult church members were before I met Sarah. I was so naive.

I do not have much of a theology of sin, evil, or the devil. Well, I do but I don't think they're worth much of my time or brain power. Learning to love and be kind consume all of my time and will consume all of my life, knowing that mastery is never in the cards. So why waste life teaching people about sin? People are good. People need love. Talk to them about the beauty, magnificence, courage, and other virtues that make them up! Find their joy and gifts and massage those into the raging fire they can become. But with that said, the same way Sarah cannot deny the truth of her wonderful church experience, I had an experience with my Kansas church staff that included the opposite of love.

In the church I served I may have experienced something like the devil and certainly something of evil. The senior pastor kept his distance from my youth ministry. The associate pastor supervised me and we met weekly one-on-one. Let's call him Steve. The meetings were always positive and productive. The ministry was certainly an enormous beast. I will always be the first to say it was a huge job with a notable learning curve, with exactly one staff person - me. What I know in hindsight was that some of the youth parents gossiped about me when the plans for a youth evening fell through because of a funeral. Those voices funneled their criticism to one adult volunteer I'll call Victor. Volunteer Victor spent another three months attending every youth activity and building his case to have me fired. Then he brought his case to the associate pastor. My first discovery that there was a major problem was a meeting in a classroom in the basement with Victor and Steve where Victor read three full pages of single-spaced, 10-point font, bullet points about how I was incompetent. The only other time in my life I had received anything but high praise was was when I was a student teacher to 3rd graders. (I truly cannot communicate with 3rd graders.) While I'd have preferred earlier, more constructive communication, I was elated (after 24 hours of privately taking it personally) to have such thorough feedback. I took the information and made changes to my priorities in the youth ministry to deliver more of what they had been looking for (more administration and less pastoral care, more visible leadership and less letting others have the spotlight).

In the classroom I said virtually nothing. Steve (associate) did not add anything or come to my defense. I simply heard and received the information. I was absolutely stunned. It was vicious and malicious. I don't know if he's proud of his accomplishment but he really had to want it. I had trusted him and welcomed him into every youth event and activity. There was nothing bad to hide and everything good to witness. While I provided for his comfort, he was sharpening his blade. The next meeting they brought me into was in Steve's office. This time, however, the devil was sitting behind the desk. Victor's presentation was predictably composed again but he was clearly out of control with the content of his spoken words now and written words before. Regardless of his professional execution, the entire situation was not insurmountable with appropriate response from our church leadership (myself included). Certainly, Steve would hear Victor politely and then kindly set the record straight.

I may as well have not been in the room for what happened next. Steve mirrored Victor's play and increased the showmanship. Steve began whole-heartedly agreeing with Victor as if this had been Steve's exact feeling since I had been hired. Steve agreed with Victor and made up complete fiction that Steve had been telling me the same things for many months in our weekly meetings. I thought I was in the Twilight Zone. I was staring at Steve as this experienced pastor spilled bold-face lies about the content of dozens of meetings. These were not subtle misunderstandings or differences of perception; these we donald trump, throw-him-under-the-bus style lies.

Because I loved the youth and I loved the church I've never told this story publicly. I did not fight to stay at the church. I left depressed and confused. They barely knew me and did not know how pure my heart was, how honestly I was bearing the love I knew through Jesus Christ to them. I did nothing to protect myself. I didn't keep contemporaneous notes like James Comey. I didn't make a big stink and try to stay, even though I'd seen other staff members treated badly also. I had no leverage. I had no power. I had no money. And, in the long view, I was still very young in my career in ministry. I had no resources, internally or externally, to fight their resources. And what would "winning" look like? I knew who my successor would be and I had set her up to be very successful with the youth that I loved. For them and their next leader, ugly as it was behind the scenes, I had to go.

I ended up in the hospital being treated for depression. It was there that I wrote my letter giving two weeks notification to the church. I believe it was there that the senior pastor described Victor as a "lightning rod for negativity." The youth would never know this despicable story. They would always think of me with suspicion. Their next leader would get to tell them more about Jesus, and that was what it was suppose to be about - knowing Him and living into who we are called to be.

One last unforgettable detail, my last day was a Sunday about ten days after I got out of the hospital. I was in our fellowship hall stationed behind a table for something. Victor came up and handed me a store-bought greeting card, which I opened with reluctance and trepidation. He had simply signed his name to the pre-printed message, "I see Jesus in you."

Christians, this is a problem. You cannot do evil, you cannot kill Jesus, and then make it all better with a Hallmark card or a compliment. The two do not offset one another.

The last thing I'll say is that I love that church. I did know many amazing adults. Two adult friends, Lara and Angela, will always stand out. Everyone deserves friends like them.

I love that church because Victor and Steve aren't the whole church. Because of gossip I don't know which other parents fueled Victor's mission. How can one love and serve a congregation with secret enemies shaking your hand after the sermon? Whether you are a lay member or a staff person, if anyone gossips to you then it is your responsibility to direct the speaker to the person they are talking about! Never get in the middle. Never make a triangle. Communicate your own experience, opinions and observations to the source first. Do not start with a supervisor, senior pastor, other parent, or lightning rod for negativity. If you are intimidated, bring an observer. Church staff are real people with real lives. We have real families and real life expenses. Conflict itself is healthy, good, and normal but only when it is handled maturity and grace. Please stop undermining the church and its leadership.

Well, before I go, senior pastors, that goes double for you. Send the gossipers, even if they're staff, to the person they have conflict with. Don't provide secret cover. You cannot deliver their feedback as accurately as they can. Hold people accountable, follow up, but do not deliver their messages.

As one might imagine, my next phase of being in the midwest was a very dark time after the hospital and resignation. The dark season was mostly internal; it was emotional and spiritual. I didn't know Christians could be like this. Although this is when I met Sarah, Mike (her boyfriend), and Scott, they were the light.

Sponsor: United Faith Leaders

Kansas City Hospice & Palliative Care

National American University

Teresa Pasquale Mateus lives in Chicago, IL where she is a student at Chicago Theological Seminary. She is a a trauma specialist, a contemplative, a speaker, hails from Bogotá, Columbia, and is the author the books Sacred Wounds and Mending Broken. Her third book is forthcoming with the working title, Going Naked: The Art of Spiritual Shedding.

Teresa Pasquale Mateus is a trauma specialist, integrative psychotherapist, contemplative practice and contemplative action educator, and a writer. She is a graduate of NYU's School of Clinical Social Work and The Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation. She is also a trained yoga teacher through the Sivananda tradition and a provider of equine-facilitated psychotherapy. She teaches, speaks, leads workshops and retreats in the areas of trauma, spirituality and justice - often at the intersection points between those areas and paths to healing.

As a trauma survivor herself, Teresa is fascinated with the resiliency of the soul. It is no surprise, therefore, that her full book titles are: Sacred Wounds: A Path To Healing From Spiritual Trauma, Mending Broken: A Personal Journey Through the Stages of Trauma + Recovery, and Going Naked: The Art of Spiritual Shedding (working title).

Teresa Pasquale Mateus' birthday is October 15th, which is the feast day of St. Teresa of Ávila. While much less exciting, this episode is being published on - wait for it - Teresa's half birthday (and, therefore, the half feast day of St. Teresa)! Happy halves, to both Teresa's.

To my own (poor) recollection, Teresa and I were not introduced prior to the podcast even though I believe we had been at the Wild Goose Festival together, probably more than once. She is familiar to me from her leadership roles there. I do my best to take in the wonderful and wide-ranging teachers and leaders at the Wild Goose Festival but, as one might imagine, it is an impossible task. Fortunately it was enough of an introduction to rightly convince me to follow up with her and ask if she'd talk with us here. I've been grateful for her roles at the Goose and now I know a fair bit more to appreciate. Thank you, Teresa, for the courage to heal, share that journey, and just fully be you. It's inspiring and permission-giving.

Sponsor: United Faith Leaders

Sponsor: United Church of Christ (UCC)

Sacred Wounds: A Path To Healing From Spiritual Trauma

Mending Broken: A Personal Journey Through the Stages of Trauma + Recovery

Going Naked: The Art of Spiritual Shedding (working title) by Teresa Pasquale Mateus

The Grey Nuns

Chicago Theological Seminary

NYU's School of Clinical Social Work

The Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation

The Way with Martin Sheen

Camp Hanover

Wild Goose Festival

Sarah Are is about to graduate from Columbia Theological Seminary near Atlanta, Georgia and relocate to Dallas, Texas! Sarah's courage to move as she answers her calls brought her through my own Richmond, Virginia for a summer while she completed her Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and where she reconnected with her undergraduate alma mater, Virginia Commonwealth University. With that same courage and the belief that God finds us all in various ways, Sarah helped launch a ministry called Sanctified Art with the mission of bringing worship and art together.

The Are family, Sarah included, are storytellers. For that reason, at the end of this interview you will surely have a new appreciation of communion and you will know a certain four things. I am quite excited myself at the idea of spreading this family story of four things, even just among our mutual friends that she mentioned. I know that those friends (Amanda Hill, Scott Biggers, Laura Kelly, Daniel Burch, Matthew White, and Nathanael Blessington) will not be able to resist listening to this interview and retelling Sarah's stories in their ministries, which will certainly reach thousands of people. I will let the storyteller tell her own stories in the episode but I will pen the four things for listeners.

1. I am responsible for myself.
2. Every decision has a consequence.
3. I am baptized.
4. I am loved.

Sarah, thank you for being a friend to the podcast. Thanks for being so honest, vulnerable, strong and straight-up being yourself.

Sponsor: United Faith Leaders

Sanctified Art

Sarah's Website

Sarah's College Vegetarian Food Blog "A Rented Kitchen"

Coe College

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)

Columbia Theological Seminary

Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church, Designated Pastor for Youth and Young Adults (as of July 2017)

Morningside Presbyterian Church (Interim Director of Youth Ministries at the time of the interview)

Village Presbyterian Church (father, Rev. Tom Are)

Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church (Overland Park, KS)

Grace Aheron is a force of nature all unto herself. She is wise, courageous and full of faith. Her stories include advocacy for others, leaps of faith, and living into her own being.

I took some time at the beginning of our conversation to make relationship connections. Being introduced to Claire Hitchins and Taylor (Poindexter) Devine helps all of us know Grace and helps the world be a better place. The web of goodness and love I see developing in the Coffeepot Fellowship and United Faith Leaders is a beautiful thing. They are certainly forging new connections. However, they are mostly shining a light on the kinds of interconnectedness, beauty, and strength that already existed. We're truly grateful just to be participants. Do, please, make connections with Claire and Taylor.

Grace promoted Black and Pink, which describes itself as an open family of LGBTQ prisoners and "free world" allies who support each other. Grace asked us especially to become penpals. There are many ways to get involved and support Black and Pink, so definitely dig into their website.

Grace mentioned that Black and Pink also does work toward the abolition of the prison industrial complex with special urgency focused on the violence upon LGBTQ people. I'm glad this abolition came up, even briefly, because Americans (myself included) need to become much more aware of the injustices that are being perpetrated as law enforcement and incarceration. Our nation was on track to radically reduce the number of prisons when our government pivoted toward "law and order" and rapidly increased incarceration rates instead. And, spoiler alert, people of color were - and still are - incarcerated at disproportionately higher rates. So while it may seem instinctively absurd for 21st-century Americans to consider abolition of the prison industrial complex, that is largely a factor of 1) one's age and 2) one's skin color (and not necessarily in that order).

Grace is presently accomplishing all of the good you hear about in the interview while being the "Y00f wrangler" and campus minister at St. Paul's Memorial Church and while living in the Charis Community Cville (Charlottesville, VA) which she founded after working for the Episcopal Diocese of California.

"Nothing about us, without us, is for us." - slogan of South African disability and youth activists / poster by Ricardo Levins Morales

Sponsor: United Faith Leaders

Black and Pink(.org)

Charis Community Cville

St. Paul's Memorial Church

Roman Catholic Womanpriests

Interview with Taylor (Poindexter) Devine

Claire Hitchins (t-shirts?)

Wild Goose Festival

Oberlin College

University of Virginia (UVa)

Rev. Dr. Lisa Cressman is the Founder and Steward of Backstory Preaching. She is the Assisting Priest at Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Houston, Texas. Her Doctor of Ministry is from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana, and her Master of Divinity is from Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California. Lisa also has her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"Let your life speak" is an old Quaker adage and the title Parker Palmer has given to his popular book which is common reading at every seminary. For any preacher, like Lisa Cressman, the adage would become "let your life preach." Put better by Lisa herself, you will hear her adieu at the end of our interview as "be good news to preach good news." First we must be the Good News. Then and only then we can preach the Good News. If this is the life, promise and love you want to preach then you have come to the right place to get all the pieces in place that you will need to bring your preaching life into one accord.

In my own mathematical, engineering undergraduate existence I developed an understanding that none of us gets to be a non-factor in life. While a lot of people try to effect nothing and no one, attempt to do no damage or no harm. That is not an available option. We are all a factor. If an equation of life could be written, like "Life = 7R x 8Q(3T/4P) - 2B + 9D," then what would you be? Yes, we get to choose. Of course, my job is to be asking myself, "What will I be? Will I be a plus or minus in the equation?" Even if I tried to be a zero, I'd fail. Try it yourself and you'll see, you only end up hurting people (minus). There's more. Multiplication is repeated addition, right? That's an option. As is division. And while superscripts aren't an option with my editor here, in life we can strive to have exponential effects.

Saving the world from one lousy sermon at a time

This mathematical construct may seem strange but it is what I was reminded of when Lisa talked with me about everyone preaching all of the time with the lives that they are living. When we recognize that we're already being a factor - that we cannot be otherwise - then we can choose to do it as well as possible. You're already preaching with your life you might just as soon preach well. Whatever we asses ourselves to be in life, with my equation, why don't we improve our impact (our role in the equation and in life, and, in this case, in our preaching)? Somewhere I read that Backstory Preaching is saving the world from one lousy sermon at a time!

Lisa says, "Anybody can preach in the pulpit! Absolutely anybody can learn to do this." She gives us these critical questions:

• What does 'an effective sermon' mean?
• How do you recognize one?
• How do you produce one?

What do we do with those questions now? Did I mention that her Doctor of Ministry is in PRACTICAL Theology? That means she won't give you theory without praxis. Try these.

• Craft An Effective Sermon By Friday (PDF e-course)
• (Online) Summer Camp for Preachers

Now let's finish where we usually start, coffee. Lisa is also a doctor of coffee and gave us these words:

Backstory Preaching

Sponsor: United Faith Leaders

Preaching Through Uncertain Times (instant access, self-paced course)

Craft an Effective Sermon by Friday

1:1 Sermon Coaching

(Online) Summer Camp for Preachers

The Preacher's Trust (forthcoming book)

Free Range Priest

Father Cathie Caimano Coffeepot Fellowship Interview

Festival of Homiletics San Antonio, TX, May 15-19, 2017

Seminary of the Southwest

Church Divinity School of the Pacific

Christian Theological Seminary

Episcopal Church of the Epiphany

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sushama Austin-Connor has degrees from Emerson College, Fisk University, and Harvard Divinity School. Today she is part of the Princeton Seminary Continuing Education staff where she directs the Black Theology and Leadership Institute. She worships with her husband and two boys in the United Church of Christ and appreciates coffee from Dunkin' Donuts. (Sometimes the world really does run on Dunkin'!)

Sushama describes herself as "faith leader, mom, wife, religionista, and media generalist." She'll hit each one of those in our conversation for listeners.

Some listeners will definitely identify with a struggle Sushama is experiencing as she pursues ordination. Friends of this podcast will know that we love and support the Christian denomination called the United Church of Christ, UCC. It is the denomination which Sushama happily aligns herself to with its social justice values. You'll here her say, regarding her ministry/job at Princeton about choosing a theme for the Black Theology and Leadership Institute, that if they're not doing social justice then she doesn't know what they're doing. It's that important to her sense of Christianity and theology at Princeton that one might expect a social justice denomination like the UCC to wholey celebrate and quickly affirm that value in a candidate for ordained ministry. While some faith traditions are broadening their lenses about what ministries qualify for ordination, even the UCC is slow to empower a clearly otherwise strong candidate. I pray that our listeners stay connected to Sushama to find out how her ordination story develops. Maybe we can start an "Uncle Tony Campaign" to help Sushama. (You'll have to listen to the episode for the inside joke.)

As you can hear in Sushama's voice and see in her pictures, Sushama definitely has the ability to "let it all hang out" and have a great time. Thanks for the boldness and security in who God made you to be, sister.

Sponsor: United Faith Leaders

Black Theology & Leadership Institute (BTLI)

Princeton Theological Seminary

Harvard Divinity School

Emerson College

Fisk University

Reinhold Neibhur Documentary

Prof. Preston Williams

United Church of Christ (UCC)

Twitter: @Sushama

Hello, friends. I'm Father Cathie. I'm an Episcopal priest in North Carolina, serving congregations and people with the freedom to go where I am called. That's why my ministry is called Free Range Priest — instead of serving one church or group, I serve in many places and many ways. Through teaching and discussing Christian practice in everyday life, I help clergy and congregations re-imagine relationships and connect with audiences through digital evangelism.

I became a Free Range Priest after a decade serving in Episcopal congregations in New York City, Durham, NC and Wichita, KS, then another five years serving regionally on a bishop's staff, where I worked with clergy and congregations through mission and ministry development. Today I consult and teach for Backstory Preaching, an online preaching program, as part of my Free Range Priest Ministry, along with blogging, speaking, coaching, and leading worship.

I'm married to the love of my life, and together we raise my two dogs and his three kids (but don't call me a stepmom). I'm an avid runner, a pretty committed vegan, and a champion coffee-drinker.

Jay: Coffee drinker!?!? Well then, Cathie, you've come to the right place! Welcome to the show and thank you for the introduction. As most of you know, I'm your host at Coffeepot Fellowship and a bit of a free range priest myself.

If you were to browse the web pages for Free Range Priest and United Faith Leaders you would quickly understand why I am so excited to get to know Father Cathie. Cathie brings great experience and expertise to her ministries. One of the areas of expertise that has caught my attention has to do with her conceptualization and language. Her bachelor of science degree from Georgetown University is in Linguistics and her master of divinity is from The General Theological Seminary in NYC.

What does a pastor with a linguistics degree - a degree in the study of language - feel or say when she is holding The Word of God in her hands, called to transfer, teach or communicate that holy body of words? Does it feel possible? Is it a burden? Does it feel futile? Or, rather, is it an easy joy? Jesus is the Living Word; is that even more marvelous to a Christian with a linguistics degree?

Father Cathie shares that we each carry that Word - Jesus Christ - in us, that the Word is alive. The beauty is that we have been reading and communicating the Word, this Love, to one another for centuries. It is infinitely creative and mysterious. Each one of us is "translating" it and adding to that conversation all the time.

This linguist is also a Biblical literalist, "a real one," she declares! You'll have to listen to this podcast episode to hear her make her case.

Last but not least, Cathie also shared that she is at the beginning of this magnificent, risky, and exciting endeavor. Find ways to stay tuned and stay involved while the brainstorming and development take place. Father Cathie, with others, is facilitating a better, more creative future for God's beautiful Church and world. Let her know that you are interested in becoming certified as an official Free Range Priest. (By the way, you cannot simply start calling yourself a Free Range Priest without the certification. The name is actually Cathie's property.) To stay tuned in you can: follow her on Twitter and like the Free Range Priest Facebook Page.

Links:

United Faith Leaders

United Church of Christ (UCC)

Free Range Priest (the book!) by Fr. Cathie Caimano

Free Range Priest Website

Free Range Priest on Facebook

Father Cathie's Blog

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Twitter: @frcathie

RomanTEC on Facebook

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry

George Lakoff

Backstory Preaching (don't forget to subscribe!)

Backstory Preaching on Facebook