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United Church of Chester Rev. Peters Retires

After a decade of service, the Rev. Kathy Peters of the United Church of Chester (UCC) retired after delivering her June 21 sermon.

Harold Jones, Jr., recalled being on the search committee that brought Peters to the UCC a decade ago. Part of the church for 75-plus years, Jones was also the person who got to show her around on her arrival at “the Church on the Hill” or, as members proudly call it, “the Outreach Church.”

Speaking at the final annual meeting at which Peters was the minister, Jones acknowledged her service and then pointed to the four times “of great sadness” in his family when Peters played a vital role.

“I suspected that is true for many in the room,” he added.

Peters, a one-time special education teacher, was ordained in 1994 with a Yale divinity degree. She arrived at Chester with husband Stanley and children Matt and Sarah in 2005 and will deliver her final sermon on June 21. A reception will follow in recognition of the many lives the retiring Peters has affected in and out of the UCC.

Cheryl Archer remembered the newly arrived Peters asking about the UCC’s sacred cows. Chair of the diaconate at the time, Archer said there were none. Peters soon informed Archer of just how many there were. She learned to handle some and overcome others to lead her flock both near and far.

“Kathy is probably the most genuine clergy colleague I have ever had the blessing to meet,” said Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg of Chester’s Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek. Goldenberg, who has worked with Peters since coming to Chester in 2007, added, “She tells it like it is, and she tells you who she is—there is no pastor persona...She is who she is, on and off the pulpit.”

There are a host of personal memories.

Karli Gilbertson, one of the church’s two music directors, recalled Kathy “coming to tears” when daughter Sarah sang an assigned solo with “great confidence.” Archer fondly recalled praying after a deacons’ meeting around the communion grape juice stains on the parlor carpet. Longtime church member Diane Lindsey pointed to Peters’ patience during the Open and Affirming process and her references to God without “him or her” pronouns.

Rosie Bininger, Chester’s director of social services, has worked with Peters on many projects.

“I will miss her kindness and her sense of humor,” Bininger said. “She served the town so well. She helped to solve problems and so often we did it laughing.”

“She has tugged and pulled and prodded the congregation to serve those who need help,” said Chris and Cliff Vermilya, part of the Chester Village West community that has found a home in the UCC. “She has been unrelenting in focusing our attention on the teaching of Jesus concerning serving the least of us.”

The UCC is known in Haiti, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and most recently in war-torn Colombia; residents know about it on poverty-stricken Indian reservations in the Dakotas and in the areas ravaged by natural disasters and they know about it right outside the doors where the church lives up to the outreach label with continual efforts to aid “the least of us.”

“Loving God in Jesus means never forgetting justice is a mandate from God,” said parishioner Rev. Toni Smith. “When Kathy went to Hartford to advocate for justice for the vulnerable, she showed me the words of St. Francis of Assisi—’preach the Gospel and if necessary, use words.’” Kathy preached the Gospel in word and deed.”

Often, pointed out Rick Holloway, the trips were in the face of “considerable hardship, even personal danger. Her courage and concern have inspired others to set aside the comforts of Chester and follow her lead. At least two young people ended up pursuing careers in nursing and public health as a result of their exposure to those situations. And the adult participants were deeply moved by those experiences.”

Hannah Lawrie went to the Dominican Republic as a 17-year-old. Now a nurse, she has made several return trips and will go back this summer. The UCC strongly supports her.

Lindsey, who twice accompanied Peters to the Dominican Republic and to Israel as well, said, “Kathy encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and try new things.”

Choir member Diane Adams, who along with daughter Jordan made some trips as well, concluded, “The memories that will stay with me are not a minister on a pedestal, but the person behind the pulpit, full of humor, caring, strong, an incredible role model, but most of all, human.”