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Submitted by: Jane Hays on her varied and mostly unorthodox experiences with Shepherd of the Hills, June 1964-December 2002 . |
Bill was the elder
in the family for three or four terms, and we were
both part of "team teaching" an adult
Sunday School class with Jane and Lee Van Deren
for several years.
When Bill was between terms, I was asked to serve as an elder, beginning in 1974 or 1975. Malcolm asked me to go to Presbytery with him as Shepherd of the Hills elder commissioner, and recommended me as an elder to serve on a Presbytery committee, which I greatly enjoyed. Later as I worked on another committee, the minister who chaired the Committee on Care of Candidates told me I belonged in ministry (instead of going for a Ph.D. in psychology). I thought about that, and told no one but when I was 55, signed up for a summer course at Iliff School of Theology (a local Methodist seminary). It felt like "coming home," so I told Ed Hunt our associate pastor at the time. He said, "It's time you got your union card." I told Malcolm Sweet, and he said, "Go for your M.Div. Degree.we'll save you a place on our staff!" |
The session of Shepherd of the Hills agreed to sponsor me, and I completed the full course (including the requisite courses in Greek and Hebrew) in three years. By then, the staff position at Shepherd of the Hills was filled, so I took various small assignments through the Presbytery, which led to my being ordained - of course at Shepherd of the Hills! (There were just over 600 Presbyterian women clergy then, 14,000 male!) Just before my ordination in 1979, I served as one of Presbytery's elder commissioners to our national General Assembly in Minneapolis, and there served as moderator of the Committee on Social Justice and the Rights of Persons, one of 17 committees.
I had intended to go into a counseling ministry - and that is mostly what I have done, just being here (with an honorary title) at Shepherd of the Hills, as a caring volunteer, alongside a long list of the real ministers: Malcolm Sweet, Ed Hunt, Bob Hermanson, Gil Murphy, Alan Landes, Hal Davis, Suzanne Lindsey, Mike Carrier, John Bratt, Ken Smith, Les Avery, Ron Holmes, and Julia Leeth - and working on Presbytery committees wherever I was asked or saw a need.
I have felt very privileged, and greatly blessed, to be here - teaching and loving this congregation, officially or unofficially, for 38 years. I can say with the Psalmist, "The lines have lain for me in pleasant places." God has given me some small service here, and used me in unforeseen ways, and I am truly grateful.