God had a plan for new campus pastor
(Pr. Gladys G. Moore)
Editor's Note: The Rev. Gladys G. Moore has served as keynote speaker at two of our synod assemblies: in 2000, the year the Rev. Margaret G. Payne was first elected as bishop of the New England Synod, and again in 2002.
God had a plan for Pr. Gladys G. Moore, the new Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life and Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass. She became a campus pastor at Mount Holyoke in July of 2007 and was installed in October 2007 by her former colleague from New Jersey, Bishop Margaret G. Payne.
Prior to moving to Massachusetts, Moore served for 15½ years as an assistant to Bishop Roy Riley of the New Jersey Synod, ELCA. (Little did she know that her colleague of eight years would later become her new bishop. In fact, for 11 years, Moore lived in the house that Payne so lovingly renovated!)
During her time on the staff of the New Jersey Synod, Moore also served two urban congregations: St. John’s, Newark, and St. Matthew, Jersey City. Prior to joining Bishop Riley’s staff, Moore was the pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church, Jersey City, and the director of the Youth in Action Program at Youth Consultation Services in Newark.
It was fitting that she concluded her ministry at St. Matthew’s (where she herself did her internship with Pr. Mary Forell from 1982-1983) by supervising another intern, Marsha Anderson, a senior at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Perhaps it was the joy of working with a young student that led Moore to campus ministry; that and a deep appreciation for St. Paul’s spiritual wisdom captured in Romans 8:28: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God’s purpose.”
Indeed, during the summer of 2006, while attending the ELCA’s Global Mission Event (GME) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Moore had a conversation with Bishop Payne, in which she confided that before retiring she’d like to serve somewhere else other than New Jersey, and she thought the New England Synod would be a good possibility – in five years!
On the same day that she spoke with Bishop Payne, Moore had lunch with Jeanne Friedman, her best friend from high school (the Philadelphia High School for Girls, which Bishop Payne also attended), who has been the crew coach at Mount Holyoke for the past 15 years. Moore told Friedman, as well, of her desire to move to Massachusetts within the next five years.
But God had other plans. Shortly after the GME, Moore’s beloved five-year-old dachshund, Tucker, accidentally drowned in a neighbor’s pool. When Bishop Payne heard about it, unbeknownst to Moore, she commissioned her pottery teacher to make an urn for Tucker’s ashes. Then the most amazing God-incident occurred.
Late in September, Moore retrieved the Bishop’s package from the post office. On the same day, she also received an e-mail from Friedman encouraging her to apply for a newly-posted position at Mount Holyoke for the Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life. As she realized that she was receiving messages from the only two persons in the world in whom she had confided about changing calls and moving to New England (and on the very same day), she knew that God was telling her that now was the time to make a change, and she proceeded to apply for the position. After two months of intensive interviews, she received a call from President Joanne Creighton on Dec. 22, 2006, welcoming her to Mount Holyoke!
Long ago, when the prophet Jeremiah was addressing the exiled Israelites he said, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” God does indeed have plans for us all, to give us a future with hope. It is this vocational clarity that Gladys brings to Mount Holyoke College where she listens to, counsels and mentors a wonderfully diverse group of undergraduate students and serves as pastor to the campus faculty and staff. In addition, in her role as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Moore is helping to provide leadership to the college's efforts to build and maintain a campus environment that is inclusive, pluralistic and free of discrimination.
Moore comes to New England with no regrets except for the large amounts of snow we are getting this winter. But she sees that as a sign, too, that she is where she’s supposed to be: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11