Pastor’s Letter
- A New Start
Whenever a new year begins, we are all profoundly aware of the
opportunity to start new and fresh – to leave the past year’s troubles
behind us and start all over again. It’s kind of a baptism of sorts – we go to bed on New Year’s Eve and wake up to a whole new year and a whole new you!
I hope that this new year finds us all well and happy and refreshed and ready to live our best year yet!
To help you focus, I offer in the spirit of new beginnings the following message I read in a book recently called “A Return To Love” by Marianne Williamson first published in 1992.
Return to Love – for Yourself!
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?'
Actually - who are you NOT to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine - as children do. We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us - it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
Let us each go forth and shine in this season of Light and Love! Pastor Susan
About Our Pastor
This is our pastor, Reverend Susan Hanson,
She was ordained in the United Church of Christ at her home church, St. John's UCC in Lansdale, PA on January 9th, 1994 in the middle of a winter weather event of snow and ice. That storm didn't stop their celebration that day - and she hasn't stopped serving in the ministry since then – no matter what. We like that about her - and you will too when you get to know her.
Pastor Susan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Child Development from Florida State University; a Master of Divinity degree from Lancaster Theological Seminary; and a Master of Arts
degree in Pastoral Counseling from Moravian Theological Seminary.
And she completed her certification as a Reiki Master in 2013 – the same year she came to our church. She's also participated in specialized training through the United Church of Christ to serve as an intentional interim minister to churches while they are in transition from one settled pastor to the next.
Early in her thirty year career as an ordained minister, it became her calling to assist churches during these times of transition, taking her to twelve different settings in local churches, as well as chaplaincy positions in nursing home facilities. She'll tell you that she “has seen it all, heard it all, been through it all” with the people she's met – and even so, she still likes people and loves working with them in ministry settings.
That love is what brought her here to St. Vincent UCC – her “lucky number 13” setting as she likes to call it. When she arrived, it was to serve as a temporary supply pastor while we were in transition. But, we liked each other so much, we decided to just stay together on a permanent basis. In April, 2018, Rev. Hanson was installed as our settled pastor.
Our pastor believes that ministry is something we all do when we strive to be like Jesus and follow his ways. Her job, as she sees it, is to help all of us be the heart and hands and voice of Jesus in our own time and place and in our own way – so that we will do good; make a positive difference; and leave the world a better place for us having been here. She says, “That's the way real ministry happens – one gracious thought, one good word, one act of kindness - one moment at a time”.
Susan and her husband, Doug, who is also an ordained pastor at St. Peter's Pikeland UCC, live in Chester Springs. They have three grown children – their daughter Laurabeth and son Eric live in the local area. Their daughter Lindsay and her husband Charlie live in Alabama where they're raising the two grandchildren of whom Pastor Susan will be happy to show you pictures and tell you how wonderful they are – just like any other proud grandparent.
Come, join us – and meet our pastor. If you are looking for a worship experience which makes you feel good for having been here – then, come and meet us. We worship together every Sunday to share the spirit, the light, and the love of Jesus and become empowered to take it with us when we go back out into the world in which we live and for whom our ministry really matters.