All About You – Kathy Platt
Kathy Platt has been serving as chaplain to the Spring Learning Circle for the past three weeks. As the Learning Circle wraps up today, it seems like a good idea to profile Kathy…
Kathy Platt
I graduated from CCS in 2000, and was commissioned to diaconal ministry in 2001. I was settled into a 3 point pastoral charge in rural Manitoba. Every Sunday I would drive 200 km, and preach the same service 3 times, which I did for 5 years. Good thing I love leading worship!
I moved to Regina in 2006 to be in ministry at Sunset United Church. What drew me to ministry here was the fact that this community worships in the round, and that they are committed to continuing to live into their call to be an Affirming Ministry in the United Church. Every Sunday that I preach is an opportunity to live out my call to diaconal ministry – to offer pastoral care, education and social justice in the words I speak, in the music we sing, in the prayers that are offered.
I am deeply thankful for the education I received at CCS: for the excellent modelling of “learning in the round” – for the ways that my passion for social justice was inspired and challenged – for the ways that my diaconal colleagues continue to “hear me into speech” so that I can truly speak my truth in whatever setting I find myself in. I am hugely looking forward to being part of a learning circle at CCS yet again!
In order to come to the 17 day learning circle at CCS, I had to be away from Sunset for two Sundays. Before I left I asked two women from the congregation to lead in worship for one of the Sundays. One of them directs our choir, and the other one is new to the congregation, but these two women have been singing in choirs together for over 40 years. I met with them to talk about how to share not as a performance, but as a way of sharing their faith story. How has the music shaped who they are as people of faith? How has the music led them to their involvement at Sunset United Church?
In the preparation, I used the spiral reflection process to help them take their stories a little deeper. In our conversation, I was drawing on the model of my own education of learning in the round – I was “hearing them into speech” enabling them to speak their own truth.
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