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Don’t forget- this Sunday- Pentecost- May 23rd- is the Association Meeting for both Metro Boston and Northeast Associations. We’ll share program time together and then have opportunities to breakout into our separate associations for the business of the church.
I anticipate this will be my last Associations meeting as your interim ACM. : ) I could not be more pleased that Rev. Alex Will has been called as the Settled ACM and will being August 2nd. I continue to be humbled at the opportunity to walk alongside the clergy and congregations of the MBA and NEA, not once, but twice in this interim role. I have enjoyed your company, and your challenges. I am also convinced of God’s continuing revelation in your midst.
Several people have inquired what’s next for me. I am anticipating a few months of blissful sabbath time, then searching for a call to a local church within Massachusetts, praying always for the Creator’s wisdom and for a discerning heart along the way.
Earlier this month I met with a Clergy Community of Practice, towards the end of our time together they asked what advice or recommendations I might offer to them as we closed our conversation. I appreciated the question and want to offer the same advice to the whole of the community as my time as Interim ACM has a point of closure on the horizon.
What I would ask of each of you, laity and clergy alike, is to exercise your theological voice. Speak not just to the world or for the world but speak in ways that are rooted in the justice of the prophets, the poetry of the psalmist, and the passion of the Epistles. Practices of discernment. Encourage yourselves and others to walk in the way of Jesus.
Our collective theological voice is not something to be tucked away into academic libraries or spoken only from lofty pulpits. Our theological voice is our superpower. Speaking with clarity on contemporary issues from a theological perspective provides depth and power to our witness. It connects us with generations of the faithful arcing both into the past and leading far into the future. Our theological voice is what helps us to make bold congregational decisions and to listen tenderly to the prayers of a broken and hurting world.
You are people of God, chosen and beloved. Walk with that clarity centered within your hearts, knowing that it calls you both towards contemplation and action. Be prayerful, be tender, be bold, be who God has created to you to be.
May the Spirit with you this Pentecost Sunday and may her blessings be abundant.
See you at the Association Meeting-
Holly
Rev. Holly MillerShank
Interim Area Conference Minister
Northeast Region (Metropolitan Boston and Northeast Associations)
Rev. MillerShank can be reached at millershankh@sneucc.org
Alex Shea Will Called to Northeast ACM Post
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Rev. Alex Shea Will, the Associate Pastor of South Church in Andover, MA, for the past six years, has been called to serve as the Area Conference Minister for the Northeast Region - comprising the Metropolitan Boston and Northeast Associations - beginning Aug. 2.
Rev. Will also serves as moderator of the Northeast Association, which under his leadership developed a catalyst grant program to help churches adapting during the pandemic, launched new cluster groups to enhance covenant partnerships, piloted a new stewardship model to bring the association into alignment with the vision of the Conference, and assisted churches in moments of transition and hardship. Read more here.
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