No, this photograph has not been altered by Photoshop or some other software. (Trust me- I don’t begin to know how to do that.) This picture authentically captures what Pastor Jeff looked like as he gave the announcements today at Holy Communion. And the woman in the foreground is Elaine Lewis, one of the altos in my church choir and one of the guitarists when we do my “O the Joy” folk service. Even seeing just the back of her head, we can pretty much read her mind. She is surely thinking to herself “Whatever happened to the normal pastors we used to have at this church! “
Here’s what happened- The Sunday School at HC wanted to get the children excited about donating items to our food pantry, and they were brainstorming on what could be done to give the kids some extra incentive. They wanted something very special to happen if the kids donated a total of 1000 food items. . . the pastors would sit on the roof for 24 hours? the pastors would go into a dunk tank? the pastors would give only children’s sermons for the next year? Nothing seemed quite right. Then some genius came up with the idea that if the goal of 1000 items was reached, the pastors would dye their hairs pink. And Pastor Kathy upped the ante by agreeing to one additional color in her hair for every 100 items above 1000 that were donated. Well, lo and behold the kids came through in magnificent fashion with over 1300 items. . . and today was the day when the great dye jobs were done and the handiwork revealed to the congregation.
I got to church about 7:40 this morning, as I usually do when it’s a folk service, and I came across Kate Barrow in the office, who was right in the middle of spray-dyeing Pastor Kathy – and a couple of minutes later I got to see Pastor Jeff in all of his pink splendor. A few parishoners saw the dye jobs ahead of time, but most of the congregation didn’t see the two pastors until they came out at the beginning of the service – Jeff in hot pink and Kathy in a wild multi-colored mix with a big pink “J” (for Jesus) on the back of her head.
I really wish I could remember what Jeff said about it in his announcements… but I know he began his comments with “a special welcome to any visitors today who thought you were visiting a traditionally-minded congregation which has no interest in gimmicks.” It was classic Jeff Barrow- managing to make an already funny situation absolutely hysterical by saying exactly the right thing. What I especially appreciated is that at the end of his remarks he brought us back to what all of this was really about- how excited the kids were about donating food to the hungry.
I am almost always proud and pleased to be part of Holy Communion. . . but never more so than I was today. I am really proud to be part of a congregation that cares about its community and those in need- that does something about those concerns- and that manages to do so not with grim determination but rather with joyful enthusiasm.
And with pink hair.