Ministers Times Three at HUU
Three ministers who have spoken at HUU in the past several months (Emma Chattin, Robert Hughes, and John Irvine) have agreed to be regular pulpit guests here. The Sunday Services Committee has created a “third Sunday ministry” plan, where the third Sunday of each month one of these ministers will speak. Each minister will come once every three months. Their topics will be determined by the ministers and the Sunday Services Committee. We are open to topic suggestions from the congregation, as well. The other services each month will be scheduled as before with a mix of speakers from the congregation and the community. Our regular commitment to these three ministers doesn’t preclude inviting other ministers for other Sundays during the year.
Our hope is that this system will provide more continuity for the year’s services and allow us all to know these talented individuals better. Also, with three different ministerial voices and perspectives, we hope to broaden and deepen our spiritual lives. All parties have committed to a year’s trial of this system. We welcome your comments and suggestions.
Each minister brings unique gifts to this endeavor. Below are biographical sketches for each of our new guest ministers:
Emma
Chattin was born in the Allegheny Mountains. She has been blessed
to live in many different places, all over the state of Virginia. In
1997, she discovered and joined the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community
Churches, a denomination founded in 1968 with a primary outreach to Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgendered, and Questioning individuals. Soon after, she resumed
her studies to enter the ministry. She was ordained in 2004 at MCC Richmond.
Her father and her Uncle, both Methodist ministers, participated in the service
(at 87 years of age, her father still preaches from time to time). Emma currently
resides in Fairfax, Virginia, with Heather, her life-partner of 10 years.
While she lives and works in Northern Virginia, she currently spends a portion of
the weekend in the Shenandoah Valley, and is hoping to plant an MCC Church here.
She enjoys religious diversity, and her theological perspective can be succinctly
summed up with the words of her bumper sticker: "God [Divinity] is too big to fit
into one religion."
Robert T. Hughes is a graduate of East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN (1966) and the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, SC (1970). He served nearly 25 years as a Lutheran pastor. After receiving a Master of Social Work degree and moving to Pennsylvania, he worked as a medical social worker and discovered Unitarian Universalism. He eventually transferred his ordination, served as interim minister of First UU, Nashville, and for 6 years as minister of the UU Church of the Shenandoah Valley. Since June, 2002, he has worked full time as owner of the Home Instead Senior Care franchise in the northern Shenandoah Valley. He continues to teach as adjunct faculty in world religions at Shenandoah University's business school and has taught at Lord Fairfax Community College. He is also a Certified Senior Advisor, and the pin he sometimes wears with the letters "CSA" refer to that designation. He has a particular interest in spirituality and aging. He is married and has two children.
The Rev. Dr. John Montgomery Irvine, IV, was born in Biltmore, NC, and grew up in northern New Jersey. His Scots-Irish immigrant ancestors settled around 1740 in Long Glade just south of Bridgewater; his father grew up in Charlottesville and his mother in Churchville, but he never lived in this area until he retired here in 1992. He is directly descended from four Presbyterian ministers all of whom served in Virginia. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College and Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, and also from the Presbyterian School for Christian Education in Richmond, and from Union Theological Seminary in New York and Teachers College of Columbia University with the Ed. D. degree. During his ministerial career he served five churches: Presbyterian churches near Wilmington, NC, in Winchester, VA, and Millersburg, KY; and United Church of Christ churches in Park Ridge, NJ, and Elon, NC. He is married with 3 children and 5 grandchildren. Among his many interests several predominate: birds, genealogy, classical music, poetry, history, hymnody, and teaching an adult Sunday School class at Massanutten Presbyterian Church. The Irvines live in Highland Park but will move to Sunnyside in about a year when their new cottage in the Glen is finished.