Wes+Burwell

**Wes Burwell** The other day when I heard the news that Odetta had died, my mind went back to our days at PSR where I first heard about Odetta and her emotionally powerful music. She was booked at the Hungry Eye in San Francisco. I still have her old 33 RPM recording I bought in Berkeley. Her style represented so much of the longing and pain of our generation: the turbulent search for freedom in the 60’s; the civil rights movement; Vietnam; gay rights; earth day; global warming; 9/11; Afghanistan; Iraq …. This turmoil and the search to understand the craziness of human beings, myself included, is a major force which has shaped my life and ministry.
 * REFLECTIONS ON MINISTRY**

After graduation in 1959, Dot, our two year old daughter Deb, and I packed up and headed east. I had served an interim in Center Harbor, New Hampshire (do you hear my New Hampshire accent as I say that?) the previous summer and had been invited to return as full time pastor in June of 1959. Our son, Tom, was born the following year.

In the first 20 years out of PSR I served four different parishes, struggling to find ways to speak to the issues of the day when congregations seemed to be predominantly politically conservative. I never would have survived without the support of a weekly group of a half dozen area clergy and the broader work of the New Hampshire Conference UCC.

When I had been out of PSR 10 years, I decided to go back to school part time, commuting to Andover Newton Theological School and registering for the D.Min. program in their Psychology Department. It took six years to complete both the academic and clinical work and be certified as Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. Frankly I had chosen the psychology program not only to be more helpful to my parishioners but equally to understand myself. AAPC certification required personal psychotherapy and I was lucky to find a great therapist with whom I worked for 7 tears.

The last parish which I served sponsored a Pastoral Counseling Center and even though I led a multiple staff at the church, I maintained a small case load at the Counseling Center. My interest was increasingly drawn into the therapeutic work and I decided to resign from the church. I then put full time into doing therapy, eventually putting together an interdisciplinary group of six in which I worked for 21 years.

**REFLECTIONS ON MINISTRY** **Wes Burwell** The other day when I heard the news that Odetta had died, my mind went back to our days at PSR where I first heard about Odetta and her emotionally powerful music. She was booked at the Hungry Eye in San Francisco. I still have her old 33 RPM recording I bought in Berkeley. Her style represented so much of the longing and pain of our generation: the turbulent search for freedom in the 60’s; the civil rights movement; Vietnam; gay rights; earth day; global warming; 9/11; Afghanistan; Iraq …. This turmoil and the search to understand the craziness of human beings, myself included, is a major force which has shaped my life and ministry.

After graduation in 1959, Dot, our two year old daughter Deb, and I packed up and headed east. I had served an interim in Center Harbor, New Hampshire (do you hear my New Hampshire accent as I say that?) the previous summer and had been invited to return as full time pastor in June of 1959. Our son, Tom, was born the following year.

In the first 20 years out of PSR I served four different parishes, struggling to find ways to speak to the issues of the day when congregations seemed to be predominantly politically conservative. I never would have survived without the support of a weekly group of a half dozen area clergy and the broader work of the New Hampshire Conference UCC.

When I had been out of PSR 10 years, I decided to go back to school part time, commuting to Andover Newton Theological School and registering for the D.Min. program in their Psychology Department. It took six years to complete both the academic and clinical work and be certified as Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. Frankly I had chosen the psychology program not only to be more helpful to my parishioners but equally to understand myself. AAPC certification required personal psychotherapy and I was lucky to find a great therapist with whom I worked for 7 tears.

The last parish which I served sponsored a Pastoral Counseling Center and even though I led a multiple staff at the church, I maintained a small case load at the Counseling Center. My interest was increasingly drawn into the therapeutic work and I decided to resign from the church. I then put full time into doing therapy, eventually putting together an interdisciplinary group of six in which I worked for 21 years.

As I approached my 60th birthday I felt the need to take stock of where I had been and where I was going. I signed up for a Vision Quest sponsored by Animas Valley Institute in Durango, CO and held in the red rock country of southeast Utah. After preparation in the group I spent four days in solitude and fasting. I emerged from that experience feeling called to work as a Hospice Chaplain. At 65 I retired from the group practice of which I was a partner and within two months was working part time as Spiritual Care Coordinator at a local Hospice. As I work with the dying, I am learning how important it is for dying well to finish one’s unfinished business and to develop some kind of centering practice, deepening the spirit and sensing the presence of the great mystery.