I grew up in a Christmas & Easter home in Spokane, Washington. When I was 23, I personally encountered the God Who would not let me go, and I was baptized on May 17, 1981 at University Congregational UCC in Seattle, Washington. In response, I decided to study Comparative Religions as an Undergraduate.
While studying the Hebrew Scriptures at the University of Washington, I learned a word which resonated with my experience of God, and which began to form my understanding of ministry. 'Chesed', translated "steadfast love", is a Hebrew word which describes the faithful covenant of God with God's people; it is "the love which will not let us go":
"O give thanks to the Lord for the Lord is good;
God's steadfast love endures forever." (Psalm 136)
'Chesed', is the foundation of covenant as I understand it: I/we will stand by each other faithfully in steadfast love not because we agree; nor because we have a common background, age, orientation, gender, race, or ability... but because we are sisters and brothers in God, who stands by us unconditionally. In this understanding of covenantal ‘chesed’, we recognize that personal and institutional sin is real; we recognize that we are accountable to the Love which has been revealed to us- personally and institutionally; and we recognize the majesty and the beauty of that Love which will not let us go. We are a people called to the covenant of steadfast love.
I went on to get my Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1987. St. Paul’s UCC in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania was my first church. A mile up the road from St. Paul’s was St. Thomas Episcopal Church, where I met my husband, Dick Hawkins. We married in 1989, and were blessed by our daughter Caitlin in 1991.
Between then and now, I served Bethany UCC in NE Philadelphia, and Sammamish Congregational UCC in Sammamish, Washington. I was called to Emmanuel UCC in the Spring of 2004. It is my pleasure and delight to serve God among this people… and maybe get to be your pastor as well!
In Christ’s love,
Pastor Nansi Hawkins