Author: Matt Hubbard
Matt is a graduate of Drew Theological Seminary who is currently serving as the Associate Pastor at the United Methodist Church of New Canaan in New Canaan, CT.
Here it is: I’m a pastor and a millennial. A millennial that’s a pastor. I don’t know how to say that in a way that helps it sound more like it makes sense. Because, really, even to me those labels don’t sound like they belong together. I love what I do, but let’s be honest, its not exactly the sexiest job title floating around out there. And that’s entirely a result of what people expect a pastor to be like – what people expect you to be like as a person of faith in general. There are always plenty of winces when I throw back a few beers, delve deep into conversation about my favorite gin, or someone notices my tattoos. There’s likely a gasp or two when I’m heard screaming at the TV like a pregnant hyena, but hey, I’m a Jets fan, so what do you expect? And naturally my excitement for bringing up social and political issues along with a thirst for challenging long accepted Christian standards is always welcomed with cheers and smiles #saidnooneever, and yet I think it is exactly that passion for questioning and challenging the status quo that bridges those two aspects of my identity together.
That’s more or less exactly what I hope for this page to be about. What does it mean to be a person of faith in today’s social, political, ecological, and economic climate? The Christian faith has been subject to much criticism in recent times, and rightfully so. For those of us that walk in the Christian faith, the perceptions that have been cultivated of who we are and what we’re about are ours to own, but they don’t have to be our reality. I believe the church (read, people of the church) have the power to change the world, but only once we are willing to have the difficult conversations, look within ourselves, ask the challenging questions, and admit to ourselves our own shortcomings. It’s time we get unconventional. It’s time we become new. It’s time we become part of a radical moral transformation. And it has to start with us, re-learning to think, talk, and act like the Christian disciples we profess to be.
Pastor Matt Hubbard