Synod names ‘green’ liaison: Pr. Nancy Wright

As the New England Synod begins to listen to God’s call to earthkeeping, Pr. Nancy G. Wright, Ascension, South Burlington, Vt., who formerly served with two ecumenical agencies focusing on environmental justice, has agreed to be the synod’s environmental liaison to encourage, empower, and equip congregations to care for creation. Pr. Wright, who grew up in Colorado, has a Master’s degree in Environmental Conservation Education. She will be working with Calumet Lutheran Ministries, the synod’s outdoor ministry partner headquartered in Freedom, N.H., which plans to re-create itself into a “green” resource for the synod. (SeeThe Lutheran Link, May 2008, p.1.) If you want to join the synod’s “Green Team,” contact Sister Virginia Strahan, the synod’s communication specialist, at (508) 791-1530 x103 or sisterv@nesynod.org.

Biography

Pr. Nancy G. Wright, who grew up in Colorado, is the daughter of a geologist and librarian. She and her family, including three younger siblings, enjoyed camping trips in the Colorado Rockies. Ordained in 1973 in the United Church of Christ, she later received a Masters Degree in Environmental Conservation Education from New York University.

From 1973 to 1984, she served as founder and executive director of the Westside Ecumenical Ministry to the Elderly in New York City. This ministry located isolated older persons in welfare hotels, matched them up to “friendly visitors” from churches and synagogues, and also created housing and a social services one-stop center. From1984 to 1995, she served part-time on the staff of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, New York City, as spiritual director.

She also worked for two ecumenical agencies with a focus on stewardship of creation. She served as 1) environment director for CODEL (Coordination in Development) in New York City, which served people in poor communities internationally through 38 Christian organizations, including Lutheran World Relief; and as 2) program associate for Earth Ministry in Seattle, Wash., where she contributed to the Greening Congregations Handbook: Stories, Ideas and Resources for Cultivating Creation Awareness and Care in Your Congregation.

While serving as an intentional interim pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church, Brooklyn N.Y., she was drawn to Lutheranism and was rostered in the ELCA. In 2006, she was called to serve as pastor at Ascension, South Burlington, Vt. She is especially interested in where God wants the church to bring healing in situations of poverty, injustice and environmental degradation.

She has co-authored a book, Ecological Healing: A Christian Vision (Orbis Books, 1993) and has worked as an editor for both United Church Press and Macmillan Publishing Company, New York.