• Erick Ramirez
A coat of many colors
• Uno Hevita • Daniel W.R. Camp
Congregation, synod wrap a needy community in care
Text by Wendy Healy Photos by Amy C. Elliott
• Jonathan Hevita A
woman who goes by the name Lady Lexus stands in front of the altar on a Saturday night and reads a poem she wrote about her dream called “ ’Cause the
World Ain’t Sufferin’ No More.” The somberness in the sanctuary quickly changes to
Healy, former director of communications for Lutheran Disaster Response of New York, is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Brewster, N.Y.
laughter as audio is played of comedian Larry Wilmore discussing biblical clues that Jesus was black. Clue No. 1: Jesus walked on water. “Why would anyone walk on water?” he asks. Punchline: “Because brothers can’t swim.” He continues: “Jesus also had a cousin with the first hip-hop name—John the Baptist.” In levity and seriousness, people take the microphone at Spoken Word Works, an outreach min- istry of Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors, a revitalized Lutheran congregation in Bridgeport, Conn. People are invited to present original writings, music, dance or simply discuss what’s on their minds. “Our God is a listening God,” said
30 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Jonathan Hevita, pastor of the congregation. Spoken Word Works is an experiment for Joseph’s
Coat. The congregation is another experiment. Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors opened in 2011 after St. Paul Lutheran, founded by German immigrants, closed. Located in one of the state’s poorest cities, the former congregation had no mortgage and a large build- ing. It also had a preschool that was doing fairly well. “Big buildings are mixed blessings,” said Margaret Payne, bishop of the New England Synod. “[But] we wanted to try and keep this building alive as a sign of hope in the community”—a growing area on the fringe of the inner city.
So the New England Synod decided to step out of its
comfort zone and do something new. It kept the large building and called Hevita, the first ordained ELCA pas- tor from Namibia, to develop a congregation. Hevita is just right for the job, Payne said. With a background working for the local Council of Churches, he had a vision for Joseph’s Coat. One of Hevita’s first tasks was to address deferred maintenance. With $10,000 in start-up funds from the synod, a fresh coat of paint, hand-drawn colorful murals, and a cool new sign on the front steps, Joseph’s Coat is reimagining what a Lutheran church can look like. What takes place inside, like Spoken Word Works, is also being reimagined. Hevita said he wants to give the community a different way to get acquainted with the church.
• Robert Jefferson
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52