Pastor's April Letter
EASTER LIGHT
Our celebration of Easter is all about a celebration of “new-ness” - a time of new life and new possibilities! And that is exactly what we will be celebrating on this Easter morning together!
For the first time in over a year – our St. Vincent church family will hold an in-person worship service in our parking lot. Yes – an outdoor service surrounded by the beauty of the earth and the light of the sun and the Son!
The Consistory appointed a special worship team to plan and present this Easter Sunday service for all of us! I hope you will come – but you won't miss out on the service if you prefer to stay home. We will still be live streaming the service on Facebook so that we can all participate.
Then, we'll be doing something else new – taking a hiatus from live worship. The Sunday right after Easter is traditionally our lowest attendance service of every year. So, we're taking that Sunday off and giving our worship leaders a well-deserved vacation through April 18th.
So, that means that on that Sunday, our service will be presented by lay leaders of the church. This service will also be held outdoors and live-stream. Please participate in-person or plan to watch on Facebook to support our lay worship leaders.
Our Consistory will then re-assess how we'll do worship in the next weeks and months. They'll be discussing it during our next Zoom meeting on April 20th – so feel free to share your input with a consistory member before that time. And we'll be sure to keep you updated as we go along.
Our hope is to return to indoor in-person worship together as soon as possible. We'll get the word out as soon as it feels safe – and throughout this transition everyone will be expected to continue safety precautions – wear a mask, social distance, wash and sanitize hands often – resist the urge to hug. I know that part is hard for us – but it won't be forever and what hugs we will share soon enough!
This is all NEW stuff – and another transition to navigate - but the most important thing about it all is that there are new possibilities for worship, for companionship, for spiritual growth and nourishment in the midst of the Easter Season. Let us enter into this time with hope that the light of Easter will shine so brightly in our hearts that we will glow with the love of Jesus for all to see.
Pastor Susan
About Our Pastor
Reverend Susan Hanson
Reverend Susan Hanson has been serving churches since December 19, 1993, when she delivered her first sermon to her first congregation. Since then, Pastor Susan has served in 12 different settings of churches as an interim pastor and to nursing homes as a chaplain, primarily helping to heal hurting congregations and institutions so they could recover and start anew. Reverend Hanson came to St. Vincent UCC in 2013 - her lucky number 13, as she says - and has been with us ever since. How lucky we are because on Sunday, April 8, 2018, Pastor Susan was officially installed by the PA Southeast Conference of the UCC as St. Vincent UCC’s permanent pastor!
Susan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Child Development from Florida State University; a Master of Divinity from Lancaster Theological Seminary; and a Master of Arts in Pastoral Counseling from Moravian Theological Seminary. She was ordained in her home church, St. John’s UCC in Lansdale, PA, on January 9, 1994.
Susan and her husband, the Reverend Doug Hanson, pastor of St. Peter’s Pikeland UCC, live in Chester Springs. They have a daughter and son-in-law who live in Alabama with Pastor Susan’s two grandchildren, a daughter and a son who live locally, and a Golden Doodle. In addition to meeting new people, Pastor Susan enjoys reading a good book, taking walks in nature, and visiting with family and friends.
In her Statement on Ministry, Reverend Hanson says that “a pastor assists the congregation in living out our call to be the heart and hands and voice of God here on earth in our own particular time and place. We can be assured that all of God’s hopes and dreams for us will be realized when we allow God’s Spirit to work within our own lives, and through us, to help others as we seek to do God’s will in the world. Together, we celebrate that when good people seek to make a positive difference in the world, it is there that real ministry happens.”
Feel free to contact Pastor Susan via email at holylistener@gmail.com or by cell phone at 610.393.6971.