|
Katherine Willis Pershey ~ katherinepershey(at)gmail.com ~ .any day a beautiful change. ~ South Bay Christian Church
I can't really remember a time when writing wasn't a part of my life. I wrote an ambitious yet awful mystery novel at age nine. I talked my way into Maj Ragain's Introduction to Creative Writing class during my senior year of high school, and then I transferred back to Kent State a while later so I could take his Poetry I. It was in that class that big things happened. At the time, I thought the important thing was winning the Undergraduate Poetry Contest with my poem, "Jesus Rests," but in fact the most important thing was meeting my husband.
Maj taught me how to write (and in many ways, how to live and pray and celebrate). David taught me how to teach poetry. Maggie advised my senior honors thesis, a poetry manuscript. These and other Kent poets (Alice! Paul! Carly! Amanda! Bryan! Not to mention Ben!) became so dear to me, not only for their words, but for their friendship.
Then as now, my writing life is as much about words as it is about relationships.
I briefly considered pursuing an MFA, but a parallel calling lead me into ordained ministry in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I have an Master of Divinity degree from the Claremont School of Theology, and am serving as a solo pastor of South Bay Christian Church in Redondo Beach, California.
But I'm still a writer. More than ever. Every week, I preach. Every week, I am amazed by the complexity and beauty and horror and grit of the book that is my primary resource. I love the discipline required of weekly preaching. I love that it is inextricably rooted in relationship - with the text, with the people, with God. Preaching is about proclaining the Word-Made-Flesh, and to do that, the words have to be made flesh. They have to breathe and bite and resonate. And I have to believe in them.
I love what I do.
|