Grace and service in the Episcopal Church

Rachel Pattengill, Diomass Intern at Grace Church in Medford, contributed this post. She recently graduated from the seminary school of Nyack College.

A month ago, I was asked to speak at my old church in Nyack NY about the Episcopal Service Corps and the Micah Project; the following is what I shared: 

Its a delight to be back here at Grace Nyack. This place has had a formative role in my faith journey. And its a privilege to be able to come and speak to you a little bit about that journey and the role that you all played in it. 

In the late Spring of 2007 I was in a place of confusion about what sort of church I fit in. For many years I been part of an evangelical church, but that Spring I had been introduced to the Episcopal church here at Grace by my friend, Emily Wilkins, and so in this season of my life I found myself attending one church on one Sunday and a different church the next, alternating between my old evangelical church and here at Grace Nyack. 

One Sunday during this time I left my apartment to head over to the evangelical church, and a girl from the building next to me ran up and asked if I could please drop her off at the mall, she was late for work. Sure I said, it was a little out of my way but I could do that. So I dropped her off and then got to the highway figuring I was running about 5 or 10 minutes late to the service - not a problem, I could just sneak in the back. So then I'm driving down the Palisades Parkway when all of a sudden I realize that I totally missed my exit! Oh well, I'll just take the next exit and wander the backroads until I find my church, it's OK I'll only be 20 minutes late, I'll still be in time for the sermon. As I approached the church, however, for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to make the turn into the parking lot. I found myself just driving past the church and pulling into a different parking lot at a nearby park, where I spent the next hour walking around thinking about why I couldn’t bring myself to go back to the evangelical church. 

Some of the questions I was mulling over included: Why was I part of a church whose values were different from mine? Why was I still part of a church that didn’t affirm my call because of my gender? I was 25 years old and had spent most of those years dedicated to the evangelical church. And here I was in seminary preparing spend my life working for this church and I just couldn’t do it anymore. The thought of staying with that church brought me into a place of desolation. I just didn’t fit anymore; my values and my beliefs had changed over the years. And for the last year or so I had been going to the Episcopal church part time, thinking I was just taking a little vacation from the evangelical church, but now I didn’t want my vacation to end. I wanted more. 

So now my question was, is the Episcopal church the right place for me? Is this a church I can see myself spending my life working for? 

The following Sunday I entered Grace church not just as a temporary visitor, but as someone who was ready to seriously consider joining the Episcopal church. 

For the next couple of years I was warmly welcomed into the community here at Grace. I met amazing people like Charlotte who greeted me every Sunday. And I met John and Mitch who invited me to be a part of the Adult Spiritual Formation committee, and Deb Adamy who let me help out with the senior high youth group and all those amazing teens. I got to help teach confirmation with Charlie Cross and Mother Emily. And I got to be part of the Acolyte team with Jeff and Pat and Cindy and Jeanette and Evelyn, whose joy in serving on the altar is infectious! I loved being a part of the community here. I felt that I finally found a place where I fit, here is a church that holds the same values of social justice and equality that I hold while also maintaining a deep reverence for the liturgical tradition. 

In 2008, after I was confirmed, I started to think seriously about my future in the Episcopal church. I have felt called since I was 15 years old to dedicate my life to the church. So I started to talk with "Mother Emily" about the priesthood and she encouraged me to do an internship with the Episcopal Service Corps. 

The Episcopal Service Corps is made up of 12 different programs throughout the States that provide young adults with opportunities to work for social justice, to deepen their spiritual awareness, to develop leadership skills through servant leadership, to discern their vocation and do all this while living a simple, sustainable lifestyle. 

In the fall I joined the Micah Project, the Episcopal Service Corps (ESC) program in Boston Massachusetts. The Micah Project is one of two programs of the Diomass Life Together Internship. It is based on the passage in the book of Micah that says “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God.” The program emphasizes spirituality, justice, discernment, and community. We live together in intentional Christian community, discerning our own vocational calls while serving the Boston area in social justice-related placements. We also work closely with the Relational Evangelists, a group of interns who are trained as faith-based community organizers with the intention of engaging more young adults in the mission of God by growing authentic community, deepening spiritual lives and making a difference in the world. 

Micah Interns spend 30 hours a week working at a church or a non-profit site. We spend 8-10 hours a week in leadership training, spiritual reflection and vocational discernment. We also live in an intentional community where we eat and pray together 3 times a week and meet weekly as a house. 

I spend my 30 hours working for Grace Episcopal Church in Medford MA where I participate in the life of the church, I help serve on the altar on Sundays, I help teach rite 13 and adult education on Wednesdays, I’m organizing a mission trip with the senior high youth group for the summer, I am part of the outreach and pastoral care committees, and I organized a campaign around hunger justice during Lent. I also work with college students at Tufts University, where we hope to restart a Lutheran-Episcopal Chaplaincy in the next year. 

I have learned so much this year about myself and about what my purpose in this world is. I have learned that it takes all kinds of people to serve God. 

I learned that we are meant for community, even when community is hard. 

I learned that conflicts are an important part of relationships and the only way to become more intimate with one another is to work through those conflicts. 

I have learned that it is better to work together and to empower others to use their talents and skills rather than trying to do things on my own. 

Above all, I have learned that Episcopal church is where I belong. And I want to spend my life serving God and working for justice and peace in all that I do. 

This program is something that I care a lot about - if any of you are interested in hearing more about it, or if you know anyone who would be interested in applying to these programs, I and my fellow interns would love to speak with you about it after the service. Thank you.