Pastor's Notes (October 2009)

In September, Southern Vermont College launched a new Tuesday evening comparative religion course. In previous years, comparative religion courses focused on broad introductions to majority religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism), attempting to give a general sketch of a tradition and then compare/contrast the beliefs, rituals, and ethics of the traditions. The Interfaith Council suggested a new perspective and methodological approach for the course, which introduces briefly various religious traditions (including traditions previously left unconsidered: Baha’i, Nature/Earth religions, etc.) and spends most of the semester engaging questions that humanity asks of itself and how religious traditions vary (and even harmonize) in their responses to the big questions of life.

Rather than speaking about religious experience in “textbook” fashion, we are helping the students become engaged in questions of life answered from religious perspectives as well modeling the benefit of interfaith dialogue. For example, an Episcopal priest and a Buddhist priest stand side by side and talk of religious answers about suffering. Along the way, they engage in dialogue about their religious traditions in an conversational, respectful manner. One recent evening, a lecture explored Judaism and Christianity’s general beliefs and then allowed time for the lecturers (in this case, Rabbi Joshua Boetigger and myself) to speak of the complicated past history and the prospect of a new story to develop in Jewish/Christian relations. The course allows local clergy to interact with students of one of our local institutions of higher learning. I am enjoying this opportunity to teach, as it allows me the ability to encounter the wonderful students of Southern Vermont College. The SVC students also embody some challenging demographic realities for the interfaith community.

The average young undergraduate in today’s colleges was born in the late 1980s and reflect a generation rising up in the United States who have a markedly different perspective on religion. A recent survey documenting U.S. religious preferences notes a dramatic change in persons who note “no religious preference” or “none” when asked if they are a person of a particular faith. In 2008, thirty-four percent of Vermonters claimed no religious identity, earning Vermont the title of “least religious state”. A straw poll of the SVC classroom indicated the same result: one-third of the class, or one in three students, claimed no religious identity. While today’s student has an appreciation for religious diversity, a level of distrust for institutional forms of religion also exists within the classroom and the present day U.S. context. The class instructors appreciate that they are teaching faith traditions in a time quite different than ever a couple of decades ago. It is sobering to see one-third of the hands go up when the religious identity straw poll is conducted.

As the semester unfolds, I am hopeful t I will be of help to the students, speaking a fair and even-handed word about our faith tradition while demonstrating respect and engagement with the other religious voices in the room. We can safely say First Baptist is an interfaith-minded group of people. We live out this commitment through our participation in the Interfaith Council and our support of ongoing interfaith initiatives such as at the Food and Fuel Fund and the Bennington Free Clinic. Congregants give time as Free Clinic volunteers, provide Council leadership, and help with initiatives such as the Empty Bowls event.

We should celebrate our ability to be rooted in the Baptist tradition and live out our calling as Christ’s disciple while doing this critical interfaith witness and work. We recognize our blessed uniqueness: we are Christians willing to be in the midst of the pain of the world, working together with persons whose faith convictions differ from our own.

Together, in our diversity, we speak to a new day emerging where even as religious interest has waned, the faith communities of Bennington, including the gathered people called “First Baptist”, offer a peaceable witness that faith can enrich and enliven.

Grace & Peace- Rev. Jerrod H. Hugenot

The Busy Summer (Pastor's Notes--July & August 2009)

Pastor’s Notes  July/August 2009

The Busy Summer

Dear congregation:

First Baptist is in the midst of a busy summer behind and in front of the scenes. I am providing you an overview to keep track of where various efforts are underway to help First Baptist in its ongoing and strategic planning:

Vacation Bible “Camp” 2009

This year, First Baptist marks its fourth consecutive Vacation Bible School program, evidencing change and growth alike. Using a “camp” theme this year, First Baptist joins together with Saint Peter’s Episcopal to enjoy two weekends of summer fun! Vacation Bible “Camp” planners hope to welcome upwards of three-dozen children, a significant growth in the vision and scope of what “VBS” means to First Baptist. In 2006, there was a tentative feeling, wondering if we would have the ability and interest to restart VBS. After the 2006 event, the adults confessed to having as much, if not more fun than the kids. Thanks to the CE Board and the VBCamp volunteers, First Baptist will be offering an ecumenical and expanded program this year. Tell your kids, grandkids, and neighborhood kids about the Vacation Bible Camp coming soon! (Please note: With growth comes paperwork: Please help us PRE-REGISTER kids via forms available in the office.)

Staff Transitions

On May 31, 2009, Teresa Stevens completed her time as our playroom supervisor. We thank Teresa for her kind and welcoming spirit. The children loved to spend time with her. The board of Christian education is in the process of searching for a new person to serve as the “lead” playroom supervisor and an additional person who can serve as an assistant. The CE board will be announcing a job description and search process in the coming weeks. If you know of a person (21 years or older), please refer their names to Alycia Post, our director of Christian education.

Since late April, we have been blessed by Charlotte Knighton’s service at the organ bench. The music committee (Byron Spafford, Josie Sheperd, and Sandy Williams) reviewed the results of the congregational worship survey conducted on May 17, 2009. Your responses are helpful to the committee as we look for a new “director of music” staff person. Please speak with committee members if you have additional questions or comments. Our hope is to staff this position by Fall 2009. In the meantime, we will enjoy Charlotte’s company and her accompaniment.

Community Involvement

One of the values of First Baptist is its community involvement. In July and August, the Mission Board invites you to get involved with buying school supplies for Molly Stark Elementary School. A list of needed items will be posted in the bulletins, and Jean Hoag will share weekly updates about “the best deals in town” to help you spend not much on a whole lot of school supplies!

Also this summer, Lisa Flynn is part of the leadership team bringing the “Empty Bowls” Dinner together to support the Interfaith Food and Fuel Fund. Mark “Sunday, October 11” on your calendar and ask Lisa how you can help with this exciting fundraiser.

This fall, I will be lecturing at Southern Vermont College. On Tuesdays this Fall, a course on “comparative religions” will be offered, and I will be part of the team of local instructors teaching on Tuesday evenings. SVC closed the class enrollment quite early on in their registration process, so it is already a popular class! I will share more later in the year about the experiences of teaching and interacting with local college students.

Also this autumn, our missional church projects will get underway. We learned in mid-June First Baptist will be receiving $1,500 of grant money from National Ministries to kick start our program helping persons learn skills for living healthy and economically alike. Want to get involved? Talk to Alycia Post about your interest.

Continuing Education for the Minister

From June 24-July 2, Kerry and I participated in the Summer Collegium, a Lilly-endowed program of the Virginia Theological Seminary of Alexandria, Virginia. The purpose of this event is to help small church clergy learn skills, particularly in the area of self-care and wholeness. I am grateful for the congregation’s support during this event, and I look forward to sharing my experiences on Sunday, July 12, 2009. When you see me, ask me what I learned!

Later in July, I travel to the 2009 Annual Gathering of the Baptist World Alliance in the Netherlands. I will be participating in the Emerging Leaders Network, a gathering of younger Baptists from around the world, and attending BWA meetings. This year, I am honored to be a panelist during the meeting of “The Church Health and Effectiveness Workgroup”. The panel discussion features six young church leaders from different global contexts to address the question “The Future of the Church through the eyes of emerging leaders”. We are asked to address the following questions: What is going to change about the Church? What do younger leaders think needs to change? What will need to happen around leadership and congregational life? Will Church look different from at present? What challenges will be made around our Baptist distinctive? Will there be any differences? What do we hope for in the future?

Baptists gather in Amsterdam this year to celebrate the big “4-0-0”. (I know, we only look like we’re 336, but I digress….). I look forward to sharing a hopeful word about the future of the Church, especially those of us in the Baptist tradition(s). I offer these words of hope thanks to the hopeful people called “First Baptist”. When I look around at things, I must say we have much to celebrate and a great story to tell!

Grace and peace,

The Rev. Jerrod H. Hugenot, Coordinating Minister

Refreshing the Well (Pastor's Notes May 09)

Refreshing the Well

Later this month, Kerry and I will participate in a continuing education program conducted by the Virginia Theological Seminary (http://www.vts.edu/icfl/collegium). The program’s theme is “Body, Mind, and Soul: Celebrating, Strengthening, and Sustaining Clergy Wholeness in Small Congregations”. The event offers clergy the opportunity to focus on the areas of spiritual, financial, physical, vocational health, and conflict resolution. When I suggested applying for this event, lay leadership, particularly the pastoral relations committee, encouraged me to apply. In reading the materials and preparing the various pre-Collegium homework assignments, I am starting to see some of my habits and choices in a new light. With the training opportunities at the Summer Collegium program, I am most hopeful that I will learn new ways of being a more balanced and healthy clergyperson.

I ask you for your help:

(1) Keep me in prayer as I learn (and unlearn) habits;

(2) Help me keep a balanced work week. If I am on a designated day off, please allow me the time to be “off the clock” and if I need to hear it, help me say the words “time off” or “vacation”. Please note: I will be available for pastoral emergencies (i.e. sudden hospitalizations or deaths in your family). Please call the office staff or the parsonage;

(3) Ask “how did the Summer Collegium go? What did you learn?” when you see me after the program is over. Reflect with me what I have learned and how I will keep these issues at the forefront, rather than on the backburner, of my understanding of ministry. In committing to this program, First Baptist and I are asked to complete some follow-up assignments, integrating the program learning with the ministry work here at First Baptist. I hope the whole congregation will participate actively in the completion of this program.

On a personal note, this summer marks the fifth anniversary of my ordination to ministry. When I was ordained, a group of American Baptists in Kansas gathered to celebrate and affirm my call to ministry. At the end of the service, the people gathered around for the laying of hands. In true Baptist fashion, it was not just the denominational officials or assembled clergy who offered this blessing. The laying of hands was a communal event involving the congregation I was serving at the time, visiting clergy and laity, the regional executive, seminary faculty, and members of my family.

At that time, the gathered people called “Church” affirmed my ordination. I continue in ministry, needing the same network of support and care. First Baptist, Bennington, has allowed me much grace and love to serve here for the past three years, and the relationship continues now beyond my initial calling. I ask that you keep helping me become a better minister through your prayers and support. I will work on my areas of challenge (i.e. stress management, personal time away from duties, and balancing work and home life). I will do so with the awareness that you are with me as I am with you along the pilgrim journey.

The Rev. Jerrod H. Hugenot, coordinating minister

Pastor's Notes March 2009 (March 2009 church newsletter)

Sharing the ministry

This month marks the beginning of my fourth year serving as the ordained minister of First Baptist. I note with gratitude the past three years and the opportunity to serve the congregation during a time of intentional transition, seeking a way forward and addressing the long-term health of the congregation’s ministry in Bennington. I appreciate the dedication of the lay leadership to move the church along some new pathways, and the prayers and earnest faith of the congregants as we have moved along this journey together.

As I look ahead to this next year of service, I want to stress again a value I hold and continue to encourage in service to First Baptist: ministry is meant to be shared! As Baptists, we value ordaining persons to ministry to recognize the needs for setting aside some of our members for ministry as a way of life and a calling from God to preach, teach, care, and serve. At the same time, we affirm that all baptized Christians minister in their own ways, and in fact, we Baptists support strong lay ministry. Envisioning less of a separation between ordained and lay persons, Baptist congregational life has been historically the work of all God’s gathered people. Ministry is not merely the ordained minister’s work to serve the needs of Christ’s church. It is a shared ministry, carried out with the premise that all of us, God’s diverse and different, are called to serve. May it be so: First Baptist affirms that discerning the ministry of the Church is not just up to one person or a handful. It is an “all church” effort, listening to God together and carrying out ministry and mission as the many called to be one in Christ.

As we work toward a shared ministry, here are some opportunities for helping us along the way:

On March 7-8, 2009, Dr. Ron Carlson will return for a weekend with our congregation to talk about the Missional way of being “church”. How can we work with one another and others in the community to meet critical needs and fulfill our gospel calling to tend our neighbors in need? Attending this weekend of events is helpful, as the more voices and hearts and minds we have together in the same room multiply the possibilities for what we can do. You have to admit Ron’s two visits in 2007 gave us the springboard for much good to take place over the past year and a half. Make time for this weekend of events! First Baptist will flourish with your willingness to take part.

First Baptist offers opportunities for lay members to get involved in ministry beyond the walls of our congregation. In the coming weeks, we are sending hopefully a number of congregants to New Orleans, Louisiana, to participate in the 2009 Baptist Building Blitz. You can go to New Orleans and help persons still living with the destructive aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, performing house repairs with other Baptists from across the United States. (Note: If you would like to do this closer to home, take note that the local Bennington County Habitat for Humanity chapter will be starting a new home construction project in North Bennington. Call the office if you would like to offer your volunteerism to these local and national projects, or send a check to help underwrite the expenses of sending congregants to New Orleans.)

As we move forward in the ministries of First Baptist, know that everyone is able to make the life of the church come alive! Together, we experience the joy of ministry, sharing together as God’s people.

Thanks be to God! Jerrod Hugenot

Pastor's Notes January 2009

PASTOR’S NOTES JAN/FEB 2009

As we look ahead to the New Year, I suggest that First Baptist mark 2009 as a festive year. In 2009, Baptists celebrate a major anniversary: the 400^th anniversary of our religious tradition. In the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries, the Protestant Reformation was well underway, however, some religious groups still experienced persecution and harassment even by those who were reformers themselves. A group of English dissidents fled to Amsterdam, a safer place for religious tolerance. By 1609, English pastor John Smyth’s congregation began articulating religious views we now look back upon as the earliest evidence of a Baptist way of believing and practicing the faith.

Throughout 2009, you will receive notes about our Baptist history and heritage through special bulletin inserts, newsletter articles, and congregational events highlighting the spiritual hallmarks of our tradition. Keep an eye out for announcements of special opportunities via the congregation’s various ways of communication: email, website, newsletter, and bulletin. It is my hope that the congregation will see our tradition’s “big 400^th” as an opportunity to celebrate our past, reflect on our present day identity, and deepen our resolve to keep the Baptist tradition alive and well into the future.

This January, U.S. citizens recognize the only civic holiday named in honor of a religious leader: the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The legacy of Dr. King takes on a particularly poignant note this year as the King holiday falls on the day before the inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation’s first African American president. A number of organizations are encouraging communities to celebrate the King holiday and the new opportunities presented by the incoming White House administration by hosting local events or dedicating themselves anew to local grassroots initiatives.

By happy providence, First Baptist and other interfaith-minded religious communities are doing just that with the dedication and grand opening of the Bennington Free Clinic the week before. On Wednesday, January 14, 2009, from 5-7 PM, the community will celebrate the dedication with local and state leaders attending to help cut the ribbon. I encourage every congregant to attend the dedication so you can enjoy the words of thanks and recognition for your part in making this community initiative take flight.

This clinic will offer free healthcare to adults, especially the seventeen percent of Bennington County residents (ages 18 to 64) who are without health insurance. On Thursday, January 15, 2009, the Free Clinic will begin its weekly efforts to help our community members in need, utilizing space at First Baptist every Thursday evening and the skills of various area doctors and other medical professionals and community volunteers. To donate or volunteer, call 802/442-3700 and talk with Sue Andrews.

The Free Clinic is illustrative of First Baptist’s growing understanding that our congregation has a Missional calling. With the tutelage of Dr. Ron Carlson of ABC/USA National Ministries in the past (and the future—we’re hoping to have Ron back in early March 2009), First Baptist is considering what it means to be a Missional church. Dr. Carlson is crossing our nation working with congregations just like First Baptist, and I believe we are hearing his good word about the future of our faith (and the change necessitated to get there!). As part of his introduction to Missional church training, Dr. Carlson writes,

You have been chosen to live during the most accelerated rate of change in human history. Human knowledge is doubling every two years. Think for a moment of all the ways life has changed in the last fifty years: communication, technology, medicine, science, culture, global economy. How has all this change affected the church?

Just fifty years ago, eight out of ten Americans got up on Sunday morning and went to Christian worship. Today fewer than two out of ten Americans attend worship on any average Sunday. What changed? Everything!

As Christians, we believe that the gospel message of Jesus is good news for every era, and we know that the church has adjusted to every new challenge in each new generation. How will the church respond to today's challenge?

Missional church is a growing movement throughout America in response to this time of change. A missional church is "an authentic community of faith that primarily directs its ministry focus outward toward the context in which it is located and to the broader world beyond”.

Along these same lines, Dr. Troy Jackson, a minister and author of a new book on Dr. King, explores how the Missional church movement harmonizes with the thought of Dr. King. He writes, “King would challenge you to think first about the welfare of your community rather than the size of your congregation the next time someone asks how your church is doing”.

While we are not a congregation of considerable size, First Baptist seems to be coming to terms with being “smaller than we used to be” and reframing its identity and ministry around the new day at hand. Whether it is renting space to non-profits, cooperating with other religious communities on common ground efforts, or engaging in creative projects with our own congregants, First Baptist has much to offer. Let the year 2009 serve as a time to remember the past and go forward boldly into the future as the heirs of Smyth and King.

The Rev. Jerrod H. Hugenot, coordinating minister