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by Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane
December 2005/January 2006
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Ruth Brandon, long-time minister with an active past. |
“God is always speaking – quite alive and well despite our own distractedness,” says the Rev. Ruth Brandon, pastor of United Church of Christ, Second Congregational of Westfield. “Last week God spoke to me through a six-year-old child’s perceptive prayer; during the Katrina disaster it was through e-mail from friends in Mozambique; and in September God spoke through the outpouring of ideas from our church members about our church life and mission over the next few years. I hear God through the members of the seekers’ group or in the ICU, as I am preparing a sermon or at the local homeless shelter. God is certainly still speaking! It is our listening that needs attention!”
This year, Ruth was chosen from over three thousand ordained and active women clergy in the UCC to be one of the two 2005 recipients of the Antoinette Brown award – named for the first woman ordained in America The criteria for the award, which was presented at the General Synod, include: a ministry exemplifying the contributions that women can make through ordained ministry; outstanding work in parish or other church-related institutions; and sensitivity to the problems and possibilities of women in ministry and advocacy on behalf of women.
According to the Rev. Dr. Peter Wells, Associate Conference Minister for the Western Area, Ruth is all that and more. “Ruth had an extremely diverse and unusual ministry during her 32 ordained years. Those years included campus ministry, missionary work, and settling refugees for Church World Service. She participated in the struggle for peace and justice from Mozambique to Nicaragua and in our own country’s peace, anti-apartheid, civil rights and women’s rights movements.”
Currently, Ruth also serves as the Protestant Chaplain (part-time) for Westfield State College where she advertises herself as “Rev. Ruth On-Line.” She has been Moderator of the Massachusetts Conference and served in other positions at Association and Conference settings. Until the 2005 General Synod she was Vice-Moderator of the Wider Church Ministries Board (WCM), the delegate from the Conference to the national Wider Church Ministries Board, and a representative of WCM on the Com-mon Global Ministries Board, which oversees all international mission work for both the UCC and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Ruth’s words for other women in ministry are “don’t worry about ‘career’ paths that seem normal. The question always and only is ‘where does God want me to be and what does God want me to be doing now.’”