Forrest Todd Parkinson
WELCOME!
I hope that you are enjoying your exploration of our website. Like most good things, it is a work in progress, and we hope our presence on the web will be a blessing to you and pray it will increase in God's good time.
Asking about the pastor is only due diligence when looking at a congregation. While the Community Church of East Williston is much, much more than its pastor, perhaps knowing something about me will help you to know more about the community that called me. So, opening up is all part of our welcome to you!
ABOUT MY FAITH PERSPECTIVE
I look to what I call a "local spirituality" to ground our ministry in the community. This begins with my conviction that
- the Holy Spirit is a light in every person's conscience and that everyone's life has a sacredpurpose,
- our purpose in Creation is unique, and that is why we are, each of us, needed and necessary.
- the light within us, the still small voice, the hurricane of living, all teach us about our deep purpose.
- this purpose may, in moments of clarity, frighten us yet it is the sacred end that draws out our best, most loving offering.
In the breadth of human relationships we experientially grasp and express our sacred calling; our unique vocation.
Our best hope for aware, authentic living is in the midst of a community.
A community comprised of seekers who are becoming more fully alive will be a potent instrument of God's love in a world thirsting to experience the Holy.
Local Spirituality suggests a perspective that looks for God and the Holy in the people, systems and opportunities close at hand.
I question the usefulness of focusing on subtle abstractions about the soul and salvation when real and powerful opportunities to live authentic spirituality are right at hand.
Consider the challenges of kindness, the quandary of an ethical choice, the energy to maintain a good boundary, all of which you have faced in last 24 hours!
Jesus preached that the Kingdom of heaven is right at hand. I suggest that you've faced the gates, and they are right in your neighborhood.
MY HOPES FOR COMMUNITY CHURCH
I thank God for the Community Church of East Williston. This is a remarkable community that understands respect for the individual person. As I get to know this congregation, I'm coming to deeply appreciate this community's commitment
- to honoring every individual's conscience,
- to learning from diversity and respecting intellectual freedom in the pulpit and in the pew, and
- to reflecting on Scriptures, in light of contemporary biblical scholarship, to discover real life applications.
A "Covenant Community" is one that recognizes the relationships that constitute it are sacred because they reflect and reveal the relationship God has with the universal church. And a covenant community is a human one; with strengths and limitations, with a prophetic voice and standing in need of a good prophet! We set out to do our best, and our heart's desire is to be an instrument of God. We covenant with God and with one another
- to illustrate the teachings of Jesus Christ with our lives,
- to create a faithful ministry in our community, celebrating the joys and consolation of our faith and respond to real human needs in our neighborhood and beyond, and
- whether in trials or prosperity, to cooperate with one another to build an inviting community of friendship, fellowship and mutual care.
SOMETHING ABOUT MY HISTORY
I'm a native Long Islander, born in Huntington and my family has been long associated with that area. I moved with my father to the Shenandoah Valley in my high school years, and my father and brothers still farm there. It was there, as a member of the Church of the Brethren (Anabaptist) that I first felt a call ministry. Attending college in Manhattan, I felt a distanced from my conservative Evangelical background by differing social and Scriptural positions, and I found a home among the progressive Roman Catholics I met in college. After college I joined the Catholic Church, attended seminary and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, here on Long Island.
As my pastoral assignment at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church in Deer Park came to an end in 1999, I requested a leave of absence from ministry. I attended the School of Social Welfare at Stony Brook and took psychoanalytic training at the Blanton-Peale Graduate Institute where I continued as a staff psychotherapist and pastoral counselor at the Blanton Peale Counseling Center. I have continued post-graduate training at C. G. Jung Institute in New York City and I hold New York State licenses in social work and psychoanalysis.
During this time after leaving ministry as a priest, I was fortunate to find frequent work as a preaching substitute in Protestant churches in the Metropolitan area and then as an interim pastor, most recently at the Wantagh Memorial Congregational Church. Having been immersed in ministry to Protestant congregations, I was granted full standing as an ordained minister by the Metropolitan Association of the United Church of Christ.
I married the Reverend Moira Ahearne, pastor of the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in Manhattan in 2002. We have two children, Andrew (17) and Hannah (13), who will attend the Wheatley School. We live in the manse nearby the church and rejoice in our neighborhood.