Alumni News
Reverend Dr. Nelson Cowan (STH’19) Hired as Director of the Samford Center for Worship and the Arts
This was originally published by Samford University School of Arts on December 9, 2022 and can be found here.
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Nelson R. Cowan will join the team in January 2023 as director. He comes to Samford after serving as senior pastor at Christ United Methodist Church in Neptune, FL. He brings extensive pastoral and worship leadership experience in both church and academic settings. It’s the mission of the Center that inspired Cowan to join the work. “I am excited to join the Samford community and hit the ground running with the CWA,” he shared. “This position ushers in so many collaborative, creative possibilities with students, faculty, staff, surrounding churches, and community partners. I’m honored to play a small part in this important work.”
Reverend Vernon Kerri Walker, Jr., (STH’16) in The Guardian on Climate Change
This was originally published by The Guardian on December 8, 2022 and can be found here.
Excerpt from the article:
“Being socially isolated while trying to deal with an extreme weather event can be deadly, particularly for those who are more susceptible to dying from extreme weather,” said the Rev Vernon Walker, a co-author of the study and program director of Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (Crew), which co-published the report.
He referenced a study by the sociologist Eric Klinenberg on the 1995 Chicago heatwave that killed 739 people over five days; Klinenberg found that social isolation contributed to the death toll.
“For [Crew], it makes sense to help build social infrastructure in a community [to] increase the likelihood of people surviving during these extreme weather events,” Walker said. During a heatwave, that social infrastructure might look like neighbors calling and checking in on the most vulnerable in their communities – often the elderly or disabled – and asking if they need a ride to a cooling center, he said.
To that end, Crew hosts community workshops on topics like preparing for extreme heat, where volunteers hand out cooling kits with water and cooling patches. But most importantly, it’s a way to bring people together, Vernon said.
“What we mean by social connectedness is allowing people to get to know each other that might not have known each other, and also fostering that spirit of collaboration,” Walker said. “So when the storms come, and the heatwaves happen, and the rain descends, people are looking out for each other.”
Read the full article here.
Chasity Jones (STH’22) Publishes Black Gold: The Road to Black Infinity
Chasity Jones (STH' 22) published Black Gold: The Road to Black Infinity on December 1, 2022.
The book overvi
ew states:
The project is a collection of poems during a period of liberation and the beginning of a process called decolonizing my mind (bell hooks, Sisters in the Yam). As a southern belle from Bible Belt Louisiana that moved to the the Pacific Northwest during the 2016 Presidential elections and consistent waves of unarmed Black folk being killed by the police, I found myself at a place of honest reflection. This collection of poems captures my crisis of faith that was impacted by discovering and embracing my identity as a Black woman, the role that religious institutions play in perpetuating racism and other forms of oppression, the church's collective responses to my community members being murdered by the police in broad day light, and my own disappointment, realizations, and attempts at reconciling my spirituality with my identity in a way that would produce life for me personally. As a Black woman, the act of expression is both dangerous and sacred. I've rarely had the privacy and freedom that I had during this time and the transformation I experienced during this time has changed the trajectory of my life. Thus, this is a very meaningful project for me and I hope this contributes to the awareness of the diversity, beauty, art, pain, legacy, of Blackness in this country.
Find a copy of the book here.
Reverend Mariama White-Hammond (STH’17) Condemns Racism in Front of Prince William and Kate after Royal Scandal
This was originally published by Page Six on November 18, 2022, and can be found here.
A black reverend spoke out about the “legacy of colonialism and racism” in front of the Prince and Princess of Wales — just hours after a royal racism scandal erupted back in the UK.
Reverend Mariama White-Hammond, the city’s Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space, spoke fiercely as Prince William and Princess Kate waited to come on stage to greet fans in Boston on Wednesday.
White-Hammond’s speech comes one day after William’s godmother Lady Susan Hussey resigned from Buckingham Palace for being accused of making racist remarks at an event hosted by Queen Consort Camilla on Tuesday.
The Reverend — who founded a youth organization focused on “teaching the history of the Civil Rights Movement” — started her speech at Boston City Hall by “acknowledging the ancestral lands we stand on today.”
“On this day, I invite us all to consider the legacy of colonialism and racism,” she said. “The ways it has impacted people across the world and its connection, its deep connection to the degradation of land and our planet that we are all seeking to reverse.
“The stories lost, the species made extinct, but also the persistence of people in the face of oppression and the fundamental dignity of all of our relations.”
She added, however, that Boston was “honored” to be the first American city and the first city outside of the United Kingdom to host the Earthshot Prize, which aims to promote creative solutions to climate change.
Royal sources tell Page Six the Prince and Princess — who are in the US for the first time in eight years — were not made aware of the speech before White-Hammond spoke.
Her comments also come months after William and Kate found themselves in hot water during a trip to the Caribbean over cries that it harked back to “colonialism.”
Despite the awkward speech — and its timing — William appeared in the pouring rain on stage and told waiting fans that he and Kate were “delighted” to be in “the great city of Boston.”
He also talked about President John F. Kennedy’s famous 1962 Moonshot speech, describing it as “challenge to American innovation and ingenuity.”
“It was that Moonshot speech that inspired me to launch the Earthshot Prize with the aim of doing the same for climate change as President Kennedy did for the space race,” William explained, “and where better to hold this year’s Awards Ceremony than in President Kennedy’s hometown, in partnership with his daughter and the Foundation that continues his legacy.”
The future King added: “Like President Kennedy, Catherine and I firmly believe that we all have it in ourselves to achieve great things, and that human beings have the ability to lead, innovate and problem-solve.”
Ashley Popperson (STH’14) is New Associate Minster at Old South Church in Boston
This was originally published by Old South Church in Boston, and can be found here.
Dear Old South Church in Boston,
At the culmination of this wondrous season, we'll hear again the beloved phrase "tidings of great joy which shall be to all people" - the Christmas angels' song of annunciation to the shepherds as they abide in the fields, keeping watch. But I'm writing with unabashed glee to get a jump on the angels with an annunciation of a shepherd - to a congregation that's been doing its share of abiding and keeping watch!
I'm so very pleased to introduce you to the Rev. Ashley J. Popperson, the unanimous and enthusiastic choice of the Associate Minister Search Group as our nominee for the pastoral position on our staff that has been vacant since Shawn Fiedler concluded his ministry with us in August. On November 20 the Council unanimously approved the nomination, and Ashley will begin her ministry at Old South in February, following the completion of her current commitment as Associate Pastor of the United Church of Christ in Norwell, MA.
A native of Evergreen, Colorado, a Theology & Religious Studies major at Seattle University, Ashley has Master's Degrees in both Divinity and Social Work from Boston University (2014) - and subsequently completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Serving in Norwell since 2018, Ashley has overseen the Christian Formation program for children, youth, young adults and families; has helped to guide the church through the beginnings of its anti-racism work; and has been a creative worship leader, an admired preacher and a deeply appreciated giver of pastoral care. Prior to her call in Norwell she worked as a program manager at Episcopal Divinity School, as Lead Pastor and Minister of Liturgical Arts at The Crossing (at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul), and as sabbatical supply pastor for four months with our Back Bay neighbors at Church of the Covenant.
Ashley will serve at Old South as our Associate Minister for a Designated Term: a two-year, full-time appointment that can be renewed for another specified term if Ashley and the Council so-choose. (If at some point the Council should decide to create a position for a "settled" (i.e. open-ended) Associate Minister, Ashley will be eligible to be an applicant if she chooses.) The designated term call was designed, in consultation with Associate Conference Minister Alex Shea Will, as a way of providing critical continuity to our congregation and our ministries through the conclusion of the current period of pastoral transition and well into the settling-in of a new Senior Minister.
Ashley comes to us with a keen interest in urban ministry, a heart for pastoral care, a love of liturgy and an appetite for administration and organization. She says that she views the planning of liturgy as a means of empowering people to use their gifts for God’s glory and the coming realm of justice and joy. And she says she's never happier than when she's working on a to-do list! A former stage manager, she says, about her love of planning and organizing, "A well run structure gives peace, so that artists have room to play." Her current colleagues say: "The empathy she shows is amazing. You feel deeply heard by her. It’s her authenticity that makes the difference." "I would trust her with any pastoral care situation." "She makes beautiful prayers - she really surrenders to the Spirit."
She and her wife, the Rev. Lindsay Popperson, live in Jamaica Plain; Lindsay is chaplain at Sherrill House and a pastor at the Old North Church in Marblehead. They are foster parents for young children and have a beloved dog, Pope Joan. Ashley is an aspiring distance runner and a lover of growing, cooking, and sharing good food. She loves a good novel and the New York Times Tuesday Crossword puzzle. She looks forward to trading in her car and returning to bike commuting to Old South!
This milestone moment is the right time for a few concluding words of appreciation from me - for the marvelous company of the members of the Search Group, Randy Billings, Sarah Cowles, Eliette Hilaire; for Katherine and Kate (and all our colleagues) who have tirelessly and gracefully risen to the challenges of being pastorally short-handed for the past few months; for all of the candidates we met during this search, each a gifted and committed servant of the church; and to Ashley, for hearing the same call we did to embark on this new chapter in Old South's life.
But I'll leave the final words to her - from her Profile - so you can begin to sense God's strong hand in this call:
“May our shared ministry brighten our hearts, and lead us closer to God. May our journey together transform us, to be more courageous, more loving, and more faithful. May our church become known as a place of thriving, where joy is found and healing abounds. May our ministry reflect the no-matter-what-ness of God, that all might find a truly radical welcome among us. May our church be a home for all who seek meaning and grace, for all who question, for all who seek spiritual belonging. May we work together, giving ourselves to God's dream of justice and joy, right here and right now. Amen.”
Faithfully,
Rick Spalding
Interim Senior Minister
Jamie Webster (STH ’17) is the New Interim Campus Minister at Maryville College
This was originally published by The Highland Echo on November 18, 2022, and can be found here.
An excerpt from the article:
A native Tennessean, Webster holds a Bachelor’s in History with a minor in Religious Studies from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she also completed a post-baccalaureate in Elementary Education. Eight years ago, she moved with her husband and kids to Massachusetts for his job.
“[I was thinking] what are we going to do if we move to Boston for my husband’s job,” Webster said.
After all, her whole life and career were based in Tennessee, specifically in Blount County where she’d worked as a teacher and community organizer. Those two were not always mutually exclusive either; Webster worked as a teaching artist for multiple nonprofit and underserved youths’ organizations with the majority of her early career in service to the Community School of the Arts in Knoxville, Tennessee.
At the community school, Webster recalled how rewarding and humbling it was to be both teacher and student. She was teaching dance and movement curricula, but she was also learning how to show up “as a better support [and] a better ally”.
Beyond the classroom, Webster also worked in the Blount and Alcoa communities to welcome and help integrate immigrating families into the community, especially families for whom English was not their primary language. In 1991, she worked with the grassroots-turned-statewide organization Save Our Cumberland Mountains, a civic engagement organization then primarily based in Middle and East Tennessee.
For one year, Webster worked through a grant-funded outreach position to connect Middle and East Tennessee teens with their West Tennessee counterparts. She organized and led summer camps at both Middle Tennessee State University and Maryville College.
There was, however, one thing that Boston had that Blount County didn’t: seminary. For 25 years, she had been considering what her next steps in the church might be. And although the move was uprooting, it turned out to be everything she needed.
“I really loved being on campus again,” said Webster, who received her master’s in divinity from the Boston University School of Theology. “It wasn’t a long jump for me to realize [that] campus ministry would be such a wonderful fit for my interests, and that brings us to here and now.”
Read the full article here.
Students of a Harvard Kennedy School Course Created by Reverend Cornell Brooks (STH ’87) Campaign to Honor the Memory of Callie House
This was originally published by the Harvard Kennedy School on October 14, 2022, and can be found here.
Excerpt from the article:
Callie House, a pioneering civil rights leader at the turn of the 20th century, founded the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and Pension Association- but was later wrongfully accused of mail fraud and imprisoned, her legacy tarnished and minimized. Through Professor Cornell William Brooks’ course “Creating Justice in Real Time: Vision, Strategies and Campaigns” (MLD-375), a group of Harvard students has partnered with the Trotter Collaborative for Social Justice and the Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Institute to posthumously right the wrongs suffered by House.
“Creating Justice in Real Time” is a course designed to allow students to directly address social injustices. Students across Harvard apply to gain on-the-ground experience through a semester-long project, in which student teams are paired with external clients to develop and execute an advocacy campaign. Four of those students—Abby Brafman EdM 2022, Didier Dumerjean MPP/MBA 2024, Victoria Ennis EdM 2022, and Elam Jones MDiv 2019/GSAS PhD 2026—spoke to the Center for Public Leadership about their involvement in the Callie House project, which culminated in a petition to posthumously pardon Callie House submitted to the U.S. Office of the Pardon Attorney.
Read the full article here.
Ludwig Noya (STH ’18) Gave Lecture on “Reconsidering the Liberative Aspect of Sabbath”
This was originally published by the Spectrum on November 2, 2022, and can be found here.
“Reconsidering the Liberative Aspect of Sabbath” with Ludwig Noya
On October 30, Noya gave a presentation based on his dissertation project, "Rest as a Site of Struggle: Reconsidering the Sabbath Transgression Narratives in the Hebrew Bible." He is a PhD candidate at Vanderbilt University in religious studies, specializing in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel, and has master's degrees from Boston University and the Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Jakarta. In his research, Ludwig is interested in interrogating texts with specific attention to their social, economic, and political contexts.
You can watch the presentation on YouTube.
Frances M. Nosbisch (STH ’93, ’94) Retired as Director of the Cardinal Kelvin Felix Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in St. Lucia, West Indies
Frances M. Nosbisch (STH '93, '94) retired from her position as Director of the Cardinal Kelvin Felix Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in St. Lucia, West Indies in September of 2021. She had served in ministry there for 13 years. She now resides at Mount St. Francis Center in Dubuque, Iowa.
Dr. Shelly Matthews (STH ’87) Co-edited Race and Biblical Studies: Antiracism Pedagogy for the Classroom
Dr. Shelly Matthews (STH '87) co-edited Race and Biblical Studies: Antiracism Pedagogy for the Classroom published October 2022.
The book overview states:
The biblical studies classroom can be a site of personal and social transformation. To make it a space for positive change, the contributors to this volume question and reevaluate traditional teaching practices and assessment tools that foreground white, Western scholarship in order to offer practical guidance for an antiracist pedagogy. The introduction and fifteen essays provide tools for engaging issues of social context and scriptural authority, nationalism and religious identities, critical race theory, and how race, gender, and class can be addressed empathetically. Contributors Sonja Anderson, Randall C. Bailey, Eric D. Barreto, Denise Kimber Buell, Greg Carey, Haley Gabrielle, Wilda C. Gafney, Julián Andrés González Holguín, Sharon Jacob, Tat-siong Benny Liew, Francisco Lozada Jr., Shelly Matthews, Roger S. Nam, Wongi Park, Jean-Pierre Ruiz, Abraham Smith, and Kay Higuera Smith share their experience creating classrooms that are spaces that enable the production of new knowledge without reproducing a white subject of the geopolitical West.
Find a copy of the the book here.