Life & Times > Kelli's Ordination (79)
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Kelli's cross
She almost didn't want to open her gifts before the service, but Amanda and I had to press her to do so. I got this cross in Albuquerque on my special trip there.
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Kelli's cross
The cross is made with the four sacred stones of the Navajo (Dine') people: Turquoise, Abalone, Jet, and Lapis.
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Altar
Kelli's choice of scripture was the Great Banquet, so in keeping with that, she skipped the flowers and went for the food display. The candles in front were a triune set, lit by her friends Rev. Karen Ristine, Tara Hansen-Timpson, and Delores Fisher—each recalling something about their connection to Kelli and their witnessing something of her call to ministry. I got them for her for Christmas a couple years ago and they were waiting for the right moment to be used, I guess.
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The Great Banquet
Just to make the great banquet greater.
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The Great Banquet
Everyone loves food, so here is another!
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Chalice and Plate
I got these on my trip to New Mexico. Made from solid stone, originally from Pakistan. I was hoping for petrified wood but that was prohibitively expensive for items of the size or quantity involved, and I didn't find anything resembling a set. Still, this set went over well.
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Clergy Assembling
Clergy from our local Association, the regional Conference, and a couple friends of Kelli's who are from other denominations, and had gone to school with her.
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Clergy Assembling
Her ordination was scheduled on just over a month's notice so many folks were not able to make it due to their busy schedules. Still, many of the key figures from our local Association were there. John Whitacre, the man second to left was ordained at this church too in 1991. His seminary path and discerment were helped along in a big way by my grandmother Virginia. John was received by her like a son, and maybe in some ways, one more aligned with her goals in life. He's a chaplain and has urged Kelli on as a budding chaplain, though she still prefers answering a call to be a pastor for a congregation.
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Amanda & Karen
Amanda and Karen have been great supporters for Kelli. Amanda has been a great help getting Kelli prepared for her chaplaincy work. Karen is a friend from seminary, and is the minister at the Methodist church just down the street from the UCC where Amanda and I are members.
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First Hymn
The clergy have processed and we're in the midst of the first hymn.
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First Hymn
A panorama of those assembled. About to begin the body of the service...
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Delores
Delores Fisher is a friend of Kelli's, a fellow poetess in their poetry troupe Four to the Nth. She spoke of how she knew of Kelli as a baby, when she worked with Kelli's mom Kay. But a lot of years intervened and she never thought twice of who she was in 4 Nth with, until our wedding day when Kay and Delores both appeared in the same room for the first time in nearly 30 years. It was quite a surprise to all. Delores went on to tell how both she and Kelli were feeling the call at about the same time, c. 2005-2007ish.
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Amanda at Prayer
Amanda has been a tremendous friend of Kelli's for a couple years now. She's a member of my church where Kelli once interned (and where Amanda and I joined exactly two years ago today), but works with Kelli. She often keeps us in stitches with hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking tales of freeing herself from her past. Having come from a strict Southern Baptist background, but now having an M.Div. degree that prepares her for professional ministry in a congregation (among other venues), she is an exile from that world on account of being a woman in a man's world. She is seeking standing in UCC, and one day we'll be at her ordination. She is part of the founding crew of Women Who Speak In Church, a site I am co-developing that helps to gather clergywomen for community and the chance to educate the world outside about women's issues in ministry.
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Amanda at Prayer
Women Who Speak In Church is one way to give Amanda a platform counter to whatever she was raised in. She went to seminary, equipped in every way to be a pastor, but in a denomination that won't allow such a thing. Her preaching class was called "public speaking in a Christian context" —preaching, but not something women can take part in. So here she is, speaking in church. You should hear her preach too.
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Scott Landis
Kelli originally wanted me to read scripture, but I am glad my pastor ended up with the job. This was a tad odd... watching my current pastor stand and speak in the pulpit of Jerry Lawritson, my pastor of many years, in the pulpit that has been populated by him for 25 years now.
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Scott Landis
Scott read the scriptures about the Call of Jeremiah, and the Gospel of Luke's Great Banquet, bot of which resonate for Kelli.
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The Assembled Masses
Kelli's audience consisted of friends from her church, CCCPB; my church MHUCC (where she interned); her hospice; UCC clergy from a range of Southern CA churches and administrative posts; clergy from other traditions that may have been her seminary classmates; and maybe some others I don't even know of.
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Jerry Lawritson
For this day, I reprised my role as soundman/recording operator, primarily seated from this vantage point. I did that dual role for about six months toward the end of 2006, and split from the church because of the stresses associated with wanting to do it, but feeling there was no other life for me there. I still love what Jerry preaches. It wasn't an accident that I recorded four years of his sermons and did meticulous editing and archiving. But being occupied with the technical roles I took on made it hard to be in the midst of people there, and eventually I found I needed to move on from the congregation where my grandmother was a founder, and where I was baptized, parents married, and ultimately, Kelli and I were married.
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Jerry Lawritson
This happens to be one stern looking moment in a sermon that, in typical Jerry Lawritson fashion, pulled no punches. He even took a position minimizing the UCC's own motto, God is Still Speaking. Regarding Kelli's call, he spoke of how prophets must be ready to confront all manner of injustice and suffering, and that anyone who is in their right mind does not want to be a prophet, but God will keep on for those who answer the call.
Jerry was in a special situation to preach and provoke, since he has been Kelli's pastor since 1990.
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MHUCC Young Adults
I'd like to give a shout out to this particular group of folks, some of the faces associated with the group I loosely lead (or provoke), the Mission Hills UCC Young Adults. They did a good job in answering the call to come to Kelli's special service. On the right is Amanda, always a splendid part of our bunch. Kelli herself is pretty regular in the YA gatherings. Bonny Carney (next to Amanda) is actually our "group mom" and sometimes guest with her daughter Crystal. A couple more from the YA group are present but out of frame—Margie on video across the room, and Nichol, her friend are both very dedicated and are delights to have in the group. The MHUCC YA normally meets on Tuesdays twice a month, but Kelli and I have hosted dinners or other get togethers here at the house, so this ordination day was just another special event that got us together. Having this group, for me, validates my departure from CCCPB, where I had memories of a group of us as teens, but found nothing like it upon my return as a 28 year old ten years ago.
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Sanctuary
The sanctuary is an odd place, architecturally. It was from the 1960s when architects liked to show off their fanciful ideas. People mistake the place for a sombrero hat, or a space ship or something. I know that it was a pain to figure out how to mount a sound system in there, and I am not even sure I got it right.
The number of people in here on this day is perhaps a factor of 4-5 greater than a typical Sunday worship service. Considering how my grandmother was a founder and watched it grow, I have been quite disheartened to watch it shrink just 40 years later, but a variety of factors keep it in the doldrums. I had to leave to see greener spiritual pastures (and pastors, I guess!). Since early 2007, I've only appeared on some unusual occasions—memorials, mainly, Holy Week services maybe. Still a feeling of heart break there for me.
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Santina Poor
Santina is the moderator of the Association, the "local" bunch of UCC churches, and is the Christian Education Minister at my church in Mission Hills. Kelli was interning there and the two of them became quite close. Both are prone to displays of goofiness, so it was quite a day to behold as they tried to make their way through all this solemn and uptight kind of liturgical stuff! As moderator, Santina was doing the ordaining, something I doubt that either of them imagined when they met in 2006.
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Santina and Kelli
Kelli's liturgy was something she was given pretty much free rein to design. So of course, there were as many nods to her feminist liturgy education and interests, with Karen, Tara, Delores, Santina, Amanda, and her mom Kay all taking significant roles.
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Laying Hands
David Miller, sporting the chrome dome just left of center, started seminary with Kelli in 2005. He's a Unitarian Universalist now but was raised Jewish. He also collaborated with Jubilee Economics Ministries for a while a few year ago. Karen Ristine, right of center, is a Methodist who also was a seminary buddy with Kelli, camping out in the dorms for a semester or two. She now is the pastor at the Methodist church just blocks from my UCC congregation.
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Laying Hands
Scott Landis (my pastor now, leftmost) was Kelli's mentor as she interned at MHUCC. Elvin Harrison next to him is ordained as a Baptist but is seeking standing with UCC. He is a member of CCCPB. He and Kelli are good buddies.
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Laying Hands
Maybe half the crowd misunderstood, but everyone was invited to come up, or if not, on account of disability, they could sit and raise a hand. Oh well.
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Laying Hands
Mama Kay got into the huddle.
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Laying Hands
Just another angle. Too bad not everyone understood the invitation to come up.
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Laying Hands
I'd like to point out that Lee Van Ham of Jubilee Economics is in the hands huddle, off to the right in the white hair and black suit. Lee has been primarily a contact of mine, but supportive of us both, particularly in the years following our eviction from home. Kelli, as planner for the UCC's regional annual gathering, was able to schedule Lee to give lectures for two consecutive conferences.
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Laying Hands
I'd like to point out Sharon Peterson, the woman who helped welcome me to membership at MHUCC, and who, just two years ago today (5/10) was my sponsor in joining as a member, and dubbed herself my spiritual mother hen. Sweet. She is also the leader of a spiritual direction/sharing group that I took part in for two years.
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It is Accomplished!
At long last, Kelli holds the certificate announcing her ordination into the United Church of Christ. Look at that face!
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Vesting
The robe was a gift provided by CCCPB.
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Vesting
Santina can't even control her glee.
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The Stole
This stole was from MHUCC in 2007 when Kelli finished her internship there.
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Congratulations to the Rev.!
Reverend Kelli Parrish Lucas, folks. The stole is filled with UCC imagery: the symbol at the bottom right, the comma from the God Is Still Speaking campaign, the colors symbolizing diversity of membership and welcome, and the Let it Shine motto, taken from the song, I guess.
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Congratulations to the Rev.!
This picture is a bit redundant, but the motion and the looks on their faces is precious.
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Gifts
Kelli was presented with another stole from a pastor she had worked with on the annual gathering conference. He was glad to give it, but after hearing Jerry's sermon with some not-so-enthusiastic comments about the UCC motto (embroidered in two languages on the stole), he had to jokingly make a disclaimer.
He also said that in Hawaii, it was lei day, and giving her the stole was a bit like placing a lei. Imagine that. Getting lei'd on your ordination day! It was May Day, after all...
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Mama Kay Sings
Mama Kay Taylor came to visit for 11 days surrounding the ordination. She brought her autoharp and kept rehearsing in the other room until we all were tired of it. But on the day, she delivered a really sweet and moving rendition of God's Eye is on the Sparrow. I made a slideshow using the song as the musical soundtrack.
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Kelli watches Mama Kay
Kelli was quite moved by her mom's singing.
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First Communion
This particular shot is stages ex post facto, but if you were in the front rows (like I wasn't), you might have seen something like this. It was Kelli's first communion service as an ordained clergyperson. She had of course participated in communion as server, or once as co-host when Scott Landis was on vacation (with another ordained minister actually serving), but this is the first time she did it on her own.
The cup and plate were gifts I gave her. Originally she didn't even want to include communion as part of the service, fearing it taking too long, but a few of us, in the know about this gift, had to keep giving her nudges to get with the communion program! These uppity feminist clergy people...!
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Chalice and Plate
A close up, and if you imagine the people in the pews, you'd see something a bit like what Kelli saw.
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Take, Bless, Break, Share
Serving the bread.
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So Far, So Good
Well, the bread went okay...
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The Cute Pastor
She's so cute! Just makes you want to pinch her cheeks some.
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Pass the Plate
Nancy Santucci, our good friend and confidante passes the plate back to usher Tara.
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Tara and Suzanne
Suzanne, our roommate for four years, was there too. Suzanne and Kelli egged each other on into their respective schooling and professional development, each called to work to develop a world with more advantages and less boundaries for people with disabilities. For Suzanne, it is in the realm of education and mentoring. For Kelli, it is in the ecclesiastical world.
Tara, taking back the plate, is a friend of ours from CCCPB, mother to two kids and what passed as the Sunday School class for a couple years.
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Take, Drink
Serving the wine.
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Take, Drink
From near to far: Tara, Elvin, Hal, Alex. All members of CCCPB.
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Praying after Partaking
Thanksgiving for the elements.
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Praying after Partaking, panorama
Wide shot.
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Spirit of Gentleness
The last hymn/song, Spirit of Gentleness. Kelli takes her place with the MHUCC Young Adults crew.
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