Susan Quinn Bryan is a native Houstonian, although she has lived in various places in Texas, as well as in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Atlanta, Georgia. She did undergraduate work at West Texas State University (now called West Texas A&M). Before attending Columbia Theological Seminary, she was a newspaper columnist, free-lance writer and a Christian Educator, and served on presbytery, synod and General Assembly committees, as well as a volunteer in various community organizations.

Since 1986, Susan has been the pastor at A Community of the Servant-Savior, PCUSA - a More Light Church in Houston, Texas. She was a founding member of New Covenant Presbytery’s More Light/That All May Freely Serve organization. She has served on numerous presbytery committees (most recently the Peace, Unity and Purity Task Force), and has been an active member of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Susan’s interests in justice ministries is reflected by the memberships she holds in several Presbyterian organizations, including Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, Voices of Sophia (feminist theology), Witherspoon Society, Covenant Network, and Presbyterians for Restoring Creation.

She is the mother of three daughters: D’Arcy Bryan-Wilson, an actress (married to Kevin Murphy, an ethno-musicologist and law student) who lives in Pearland, Texas; Dr. Julia Bryan-Wilson, a professor of Art History at Rhode Island School of Design who lives in Providence, RI; and Rebecca Clark, a director of a Mother’s Day Out (married to Craig Clark, who works for FedEx and races motorcycles) who lives in League City, Texas. Susan also has four grandchildren: Seth, 7, and Trent 3, (sons of Becca and Craig), and Abby, 5, and Lulu, 9 months (daughters of D’Arcy and Kevin). Susan is an avid reader, loves film and theater, and enjoys music of many different kinds. She likes art, museums, travel, cooking, baking bread, sewing, crafts and lively discussions. She dreams of doing more creative writing. Photo at left: Susan with two of her grandchildren.

• Voted “Poet Laureate” and “Wittiest” in her high school senior class
• On the “birth team” for all four of her grandchildren, watching each of them come into the world
• A seventh generation Texan (and she also knows that is nothing about which to brag!)
• Baptized at Mule Creek, Texas, where her family has had a family reunion every Labor Day weekend for the last 72 years.

My ministry is about what I call the “kin-dom” (I don’t know who coined the word). The term relates to a time when all God’s children will live as one family in God’s reign.
 

My progressive theology can best be described by an old story told about Karl Barth, the prolific theologian, who said he imagined arriving at heaven’s gates with a wheelbarrow filled with the many books he had authored. “So, what did you learn about God from all that time and energy spent doing theology?” he imagined St. Peter asking. After a few minutes, Barth found himself saying, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

I believe in an inclusive, forgiving God of grace, who loves diversity, and longs for us to embrace that love for ourselves and extend that love to all others. Karen Armstrong recently said something with which I agree: “Anyone who uses scripture to exclude or hurt anyone else has missed the plot!”

Marcus Borg uses a term with which I resonate: panenthiest. That is to say, everything exists within the womb of God, where we live and move and have our being. To love ourselves is to love all.
 

Because my theology begins with the understanding that we are all created in the image of a loving, forgiving, and inclusive God, I see social injustice and exclusion as sin, no matter what form it takes. I think God is still at work, moving creation toward its intended order which is both just and peaceful: the “kin-dom” of God.
 

I have known of the prophetic witness of the Mt. Auburn Church for years. Mt. Auburn has been a “city on a hill” to those involved in justice work in the PCUSA, a passion I share. When David, as a young boy, was chosen as the next king for Israel, we are told that “God does not see as human beings see, but that God looks upon the heart.” I think God looked upon my heart and the heart of Mt. Auburn and saw that they already beat as one.
 

We need not create community. We are community, through the grace of God. Our task is to remove any obstacles which may keep us from experiencing that community fully. As Jacquelyn Floyd recently wrote: “The glue that binds us is often messy and awkward. And it is miraculous stuff.
 

I entered ministry first through Christian education and it remains one of my passions. It is my belief that true Christian education is for transformation rather than information. It is the difference between studying running or actually running! I think faith is much more a matter of the heart, something to be practiced more than discussed. After all, God is love, not doctrine.
 

In 2004, the Pastor Nominating Committee was elected by the congregation and charged with finding a pastoral candidate committed to being part of this justice-oriented, theologically progressive, steadfastly inclusive Presbyterian church. The congregation's expressed vision was for a leader who would guide us with enthusiasm, grace, and stability as we strive to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

Now it is with joy and excitement that the PNC unanimously recommends Rev. Susan Quinn Bryan as Pastor of Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church.

Susan has spent 19 years serving a More Light church that, despite its small size, received national recognition for its extraordinary commitment to social action. Her work with justice ministries has ranged from peace initiatives to ecological concerns. She delights in fellowship and hospitality, and she truly has a pastor's heart - compassionate and insightful. As a leader, Susan is a skilled communicator and consensus-builder. As a preacher, she is inspired and inspiring. As a theologian, she is rooted in the conviction that God's love is a gift to all.

Those of us on the PNC are excited about what Susan could bring to Mt. Auburn, and about what we might accomplish together. It is our hope that you will find the same excitement and that you will support our recommendation to extend a call to Susan as your pastor.

The Pastor Nominating Committee
Bill Bogden (chair)
Randy Bailey
Valerie Bernardino
Kathy Bower
Peter LePage
Robin Pendery
Linda Vaccariello
Shirley Brewster (Presbyterian liaison)
 

G-14.0501b.

A pastor or associate pastor shall be elected by the vote of the congregation and the relationship between them shall be established by the presbytery.

G-14.0502a.

[The PNC’s] duty shall be to nominate a minister to the congregation for election as pastor.

G-14.0502c.

When the committee [PNC] is ready to report, it shall notify the session, which shall call a congregational meeting ... for the purpose of acting on the report of the nominating committee ... The action of the congregation, if favorable, shall be presented to the presbytery for its concurrence. If the presbytery concurs, it shall make arrangements for the minister’s installation.

For more information, refer to the PC(USA) Book of Order, which can be found online at www.pcusa.org under “Resources/Publications.”

Note: The Mount Auburn congregation elected The Rev. Susan Quinn Bryan as pastor at a congregational meeting on October 16, 2005.  This action will be presented to the Presbytery of Cincinnati for its concurrence.  A formal installation service will then be scheduled at a future date (to be determined).  Further details will be posted on this website as more information becomes available.