The. Rev. Dr. Lydia Agnew Speller
Read the rector's blog:Things Seen and Unseen saintmarks.blogspot.com
The Rev. Dr. Lydia Agnew
Speller has served as rector (an old English term for senior
pastor) of Saint Mark's Church since 1993. After graduating
from Bryn Mawr College with a double major in Latin and History
of Religion, she got a D.Phil. in Theology from Oxford University
in England. After teaching school and college for several years,
she was ordained deacon in 1987 and priest in 1988. She's
been married for over 30 years. She and John have twin children
who graduated from college in 2008.Here's how
she describes her theological outlook:
An old teacher of mine (Patrick Henry) wrote a
book called The Ironic Christian's Companion. An
Ironic Christian, as I understand it, is one who does not have
all the answers, who is willing to live faithfully with
uncertainty and ambiguity. I am one of those.
Around the time I was ordained priest, there was a profile in the New Yorker about the controversial bishop of Durham, David Jenkins. At his consecration, it reported, he said, "I face you as an ambiguous, compromised and questioning person entering upon an ambiguous office in the midst of a threatened and threatening world. I dare to do this and I even rejoice to do this because this is where God is to be found." I took it as an epigraph for my life as an ordained person. I believe that all modern people of faith live, in a way, if we are honest, with ambiguity, compromise and questions and that church should be a place where we can share our experience of feeling that way and discovering God, none the less, with us.
My theology and my spirituality are essentially
incarnational - prayerfully looking for God in the midst of human
experience, in my story and in the stories of those I encounter.
I find myself challenged and excited by contemporary biblical
scholars and the vision they offer of Jesus as the one who
preaches that wherever healing is freely given and received and
people gather at the table - without regard to barriers of race,
gender, class, purity or religion -- the reign of God is to be
found.
The Rev. Marylen Stansbery
Vestry Officers
Senior Warden |
Allen Porter |
Junior Warden |
Tarassa Steele |
Treasurer |
Susan Healey |
Recording Treasurer |
Elaine Mickley |
Clerk |
Barbara Macke |
Other Staff & Ministry Leaders
Organist & Choirmaster |
Robert S. Mullgardt |
Parish Secretary: |
Carol Eschbacher |
Altar Guild Director |
Kelly Lattanzi |
Godly Play Teacher |
Celeste Kocot |
Trinity Lunch Coordinators |
Carey Tisdal and Amiya Thompson |
Finance |
Sue Healey & Rita Diekemper | Parish Life Coordinator |
Amanda Cashen |
Landscaping |
Rita Diekemper |
