My role in the body of Christ

by Gloria McCanna

edited by Bob Terwilliger, fall 2023

As 2017 rolled around, there was a “little tap on my shoulder,” and slowly it dawned on me that I was entering my last year in full time ministry. I was surprised, but knew it was right. I love leading worship, preaching, pastoring, and teaching. I love being in the midst of the great congregation and planned on serving until I was 70.

But I knew that I had neither the energy, nor the call, to continue. So, each “last time” with that beloved congregation became precious: last Easter, last confirmation class, last Bible study, last baptism, last Christmas, last coffee hour, last funeral, last celebration of the Lord’s Supper…. Oh, the gifts and the privileges granted me were abundant.

Once retired, it took me a good fifteen minutes to adjust! But it took me a full year to feel rested. Making a deliberate decision not to be “busy,” I rested, began reading the books stacked up in the corner, completed an online French lessons, (still can’t speak it), took pottery classes, painted, committed to the NY Times crossword puzzle, tried new recipes, cooked for the emergency shelter, started a neighborhood text group to help with food drives, etc., and generally enjoyed each day fully. The first year I worshiped at all the churches in Mid- Hudson Classis. This turned out to be delightful and opened my eyes to the many faithful and wonderful ministries in our classis.

Without the constraints of working full-time, I now have the time to give back to the greater community. My response to the political scene is to work for the Dutchess County Board of Elections for the primaries and general elections. Daily walking my retired Guiding Eyes for the Blind breed dog and doing Tai Chi keep me moving. As a certified teacher of Tai Chi for Arthritis and Balance, I teach through the Office for the Aging.

The only time I step into the pulpit is when I visit my brother in West Virginia, who serves in the United Methodist Church. I haven’t been able to say no to him. With siblings all around the country, it is nice to have the time and funds to visit them.

On Sunday, you will find me at The Reformed Church in Poughkeepsie. It’s a good church, and Rev. Jason Elder is a good preacher, pastor, and friend. And the Mid-Hudson Classis, like the RCA, is full of good ministers, elders, deacons, and laity who faithfully show up, serve, pray, worship, and look out for one another. They know how to be the church. And they help me to discern my role in the body of Christ.

But I’m not sure the recent decisions made by General Synod and GSC staff will help the local church. As the latest diagram is posted, we are like children with a new box of crayons, scrambling to color in the circles with our favorite color without even knowing what the circle is. New programs, new organizational charts, new buzz words are not going to suddenly deepen our faith, widen our circle, help us to hear one another, settle debates, or make us love one another or serve the greater community. If we struggle to follow the polity in our little orange book (yes, I still have a printed copy), how is a new system going to help us be the church?

The beauty of our petite denomination shines when it enables classes and churches to be engaged in ministry. Gathering the people together to worship, working out our theology, doing church business, and then getting out of the way, so that ministry can happen. The focus of the denomination is not on itself, but on pointing to, listening to, and serving the local church, as we all seek to follow the One Lord in the midst of all of God’s glorious creation.

Who knows what will happen in the coming years? But I know I have too much love invested in the RCA to let go without a prayer and a fight, and I hope others feel the same.

Gloria received a BA from Wheaton College and a BD from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. She served the New Hackensack Reformed Church in Wappingers Falls, New York; First Reformed of Fishkill in New York; and First Reformed in Poughkeepsie, New York. She also served as assistant director of Ministry and Personnel Services for the RCA, on the Commission for Women, and the General Synod Council. Gloria lives in Poughkeepsie, New York. gloriajmccanna@gmail.com