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January/February 2005
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| Nancy Taylor models a colorful Chasuble and Stole given to her as gifts by the members. |
To honor a woman who brought vibrancy, energy and creativity to her leadership, it was only fitting that the opening minutes of Nancy Taylor's January 9th Thanksgiving and Farewell Service and Gathering embody the same. The procession was filled with vividly colored streamers, waving through the air and lifted to the heavens like rainbows reaching for the sky. And the rafters of the Evangelical Congregational Church of Westborough were filled with the music of jazz musicians Willie Sordillo, Ivy Tillman, Doug Rich, David Hunte, and Stanley Swann, as well as a church choir and handbell ringers.
During the January 9th worship service, Taylor was honored and released from her responsibilities as Minister and President of the Massachusetts Conference after being called to be Senior Pastor at Old South Church in Boston. Taylor talked about her early ministry, when she met Sharon Grover, the heart and soul of the Congregational Church in East Stoneham, Maine, where she first served as pastor after graduating from seminary. It was Sharon who helped her see and understand the meaning of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. “All the images by which Paul entices our imaginations – images like one body, one baptism, and the bond of peace – all these I saw embodied in the person of Sharon Grover.”
“I learned what a Conference of churches does for us,” explains Taylor. “It gathers together people who are unlike – perhaps even unlikely companions – and it requires of us that we look at each other for who we really are: brothers and sisters in the one family formed by Jesus. Sharon Grover helped me to see how it works and what it looks and feels like when you lay claim to the promises of God: that in God's house the world itself becomes an open house. In God's house, water is thicker than blood. In God's house, it is our joy and privilege to bear with one another in love. In God's house, we can risk loving extravagantly and indiscriminately because God first loved us in just that way.”
“For three-and-a-half terms as Minister and President I tried to be Sharon Grover to you. I have stood on the claim that we are family, we belong to each other, because we first belong to God. I have proclaimed that we are the largest Protestant denomination in the Commonwealth. I also acknowledge the danger of hubris in this claim … but I was willing to risk the sin of pride, in order to call us together to a higher purpose, a unity of purpose … and to remind us there is strength in our numbers, strength in our vast spread across this Commonwealth, strength in our Congregational polity, strength in our UCC vision of becoming a multi-cultural, multi-racial, open and affirming, just peace church that is accessible to all; strength in our gifted, educated clergy and in our faithful and generous laity … we have the strength to do good in the name of Christ. “
“We are not without resources,” Taylor finished her Charge. “Empowered by the Holy Spirit you are the body of Christ. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.”
It is this kind of preaching that made Taylor a beloved minister and president to many; and the attendees of the event had high praise for the outgoing leader. “I think she is the most pastoral and inspiring preacher,” says Mary Poole, a student minister at Andover Newton Theological School carrying out her field education at the Westborough church. Eleanor Crawford of the Grace Congregational Church in Framingham agreed. “We will miss her terribly. I'm thrilled for her and her new ministry but I am sad for us.” That seemed to be a common thought among the members at the service. “It's a blessing she's still in the Massachusetts Conference as a pastor,” says Beverly Duncan, a pastoral associate at Pilgrim Church in Duxbury. “She gives such a glow to women in ministry. She speaks so well, energetically and prophetically about the UCC that it is almost time to stop remarking about women ministers.”
“It's a bittersweet day,” says Fred Anderson of the United Church of Walpole. “She's been such a wonderful leader of our conference that we are sad she is leaving. But we still rejoice.” Fellow Walpole member, Ted Tucker, a deacon and accountant, remarks that it takes two different requirements and talents to be able to handle the job of Minister and President. “Nancy showed us herself that one could put the minister back into administration.”
During the service, Rev. Mr. Donald Remick, Chair of the MACUCC Board of Directors, presented Taylor with a colorful Chasuble and Stole with his blessing: “Your ministry has brought us growth, reflection and the prophetic passion with a pure faith. You have always had a pastor’s heart, but in all your journeys to the sanctuaries of churches throughout the Conference, you have not been able to walk that liturgical journey in one place. Now, as you begin this new journey, these gifts bring you our prayers that your pastor’s heart will find yet more joy centered in your new community.”
“While I will very much miss you and miss working here,” Taylor explained to the members, “I do look forward to returning to service as a local church pastor. I want to thank you – each of you – for your personal kindness to me over these past three-and-a-half years and for your professional commitment to the work of this Conference of Churches.”
“I feel grateful that Nancy's voice will continue to be heard in our Conference each Sunday morning at Old South Church in Boston,” says Willie Sordillo, Assistant to the Minister and President. “May we be grateful for the blessings of her leadership these past 3 1/2 years and for her continued ministry as together we carry the message of the Still Speaking God and the vision of the unified body of Christ forward.”