Today we’d like to introduce you to Shawn Brandon.
Hi Shawn, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
After having lived for forty years in Minnesota, I moved to the Eastern Seaboard in 2012 living in Washginton DC, then Annapolis, and, now, Baltimore. In 2003, I was ordained into the ministry of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and since then have served several congregations in Minnesota and Maryland. Currently, I have been called to serve as Pastor at Church of the Nativity & Holy Comforter; a multi-racial Episcopal Lutheran community located on York Road in the Cedarcroft neighborhood at the north edge of the city of Baltimore. I live downtown with my husband, Mo Goff, also a Lutheran pastor who serves an LGBTQ worshiping community in the Station North neighborhood, and our beagle/terrier mix, Lola. Our daughter, Emma, lives in Washington, DC.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been a surprising road! I never would have imagined I would leave Minnesota and yet, here I am. As a Lutheran pastor for over twenty years, I hadn’t imagined serving a Lutheran/Episcopal federated congregation and yet, that is what I am doing. Getting through the COVID Pandemic was certainly a challenge. However, navigating the current rise in Christian nationalism and animus toward immigrants, people of color, and the LGBTQ community as well as the unfortunate if not downright devasting course of the political landscape have been the greatest struggles currently.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As I have indicated, I work/serve as a Lutheran pastor at a Lutheran Episcopalian federated congregation. We use the term, ‘Lutherpalian’ to describe ourselves. The congreation was formed in 2018 by the coming together of the Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Cedarcroft and the Lutheran Church of the Holy Comforter, Govans. This congregation blends the rich histories of both traditions in its worship, service, and fellowship. Both congregations were racially diverse before coming together and have continued to be such in their union, something which is not that common. My particular areas of passion are in worship planning and equipping people to connect with and live into and out of their faith, wherever they may be on the spiritual journey or path of life.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
I believe it is vitally important for every person to nurture up within themselves the sense that just as he/she/they embody the creative work of God so, too, does every other person and striving to see the evidence of that, the marks of the divine in others can radically alter our interractions with others in a healthy way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nativitycomforter.org
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/nativitycomforter
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@churchofthenativityholycom7809
