• AC Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Quick Links
Austin College Logo

Sherman, Texas

Apply

Visit

MENU
  • 2022 Issue
    • From the President
    • … Worth a Thousand Words
    • Planet Hunters
    • Austin College Can Feel Like Home – For Everyone
    • The Joy of Giving While We’re Living
    • They’re Somethin’ in the Water
    • How Many Laps Make a Champion?
    • An UP and Coming Sport
    • Arts Prevail in Pandemic Times
    • How to Not Get Lost in the Woods
    • Healing in the Arts
    • From Ida Green to the LA Scene
    • ‘Roo Notes 2022
    • In Other Words
  • Issues
    • 2021 Issue
      • From the President
      • Seeing 20/20
      • On the Front Lines
      • A Broad Worldview Helps Doctors Face a Global Challenge
      • Finding A New Normal
      • Making A Way
      • This Family is All In
      • A Dream Realized
      • No One Plans for a Pandemic
      • Pastoring in 2020
      • CREATE at 5
      • Transformed: Student Success
      • An Expert in the House
      • A Voice for Good Health
      • ‘Roo Notes 2021
      • In Other Words
    • 2020 Issue
      • From the President
      • Global Life: ‘Roos Around the World
      • Good to Go
      • Just Keep Running
      • Pledged to the Public Good
      • Leaves Book and Tea Shop
      • Public Health Program Provides Popular Major and Minor
      • Power to the ‘Roos
      • ‘Roo Notes 2020
      • In Other Words
    • 2019 Issue
      • From the President
      • TWELVE
      • The Making of a Legend
      • One Legend’s Story
      • Sacred Expressions
      • Powering the Future
      • Fierce and Friendly
      • The Stories of the Stones
      • Truth in Art
      • ′Roo Notes 2019
      • In Other Words
    • Winter 2018
      • Snapshot
      • From the President
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • The President’s Home at Wood House
      • Roots
      • Home Team
      • 100 Years of Co-Education
      • President Steven P. O’Day
      • Giving to Prepare Future Servant Leaders
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
    • July 2017
      • Snapshot
      • Roots
      • From the Interim President
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Home Team
      • The Adventure of a Lifetime
      • Au Revoir
      • The Momentum of Discovery
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
    • January 2017
      • From the President
      • For Love of the Game … and the Players
      • This Is Us – Diverse and United
      • Snapshot
      • Roots
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Home Team
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
    • Winter 2016
      • From the President
      • Snapshot
      • Roots
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Home Team
      • Living the Liberal Arts
      • At Home in the Rainforest
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
    • Summer 2015
      • From the President
      • Snapshot
      • Roots
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Community Impact
      • Of Gratitude and Wonder
      • Home Team
      • Reimagining the Liberal Arts in A Digital Age
      • Medical Experience in Mexico
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
    • Spring 2014
      • From the President
      • Snapshot
      • Roots
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Preventing Pandemic
      • Home Team
      • A Wild Semester
      • The Bottom Line is Greener
      • The Business of Learning
      • Blazing Trails
      • An IDEA Realized
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
    • Winter 2014
      • From the President
      • Snapshot
      • Roots
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Making A Difference in the Natural World
      • The Mentor Advantage
      • ‘Roos Who Write
      • Storytellers’ Gift
      • Strategic Plan
      • Home Team
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
    • Summer 2013
      • From the President
      • Snap Shot
      • Roots: On the Road Again
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Heard Around Campus
      • The Austin College Experience
      • Looking Back and Planning Ahead
      • Faculty Retirees Reflect
      • The Business of Food
      • Class of 2013 Takes on the World
      • A Legacy of Law
        • What is Pre-Law?
      • Dr. Kenneth Street
      • Making History
      • Home Team
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
    • Fall 2012/Winter 2013
      • From the President
      • Mission Around the Globe
      • My Summer of Learning
      • Views of the Outback
      • Our Identity
      • IDEA Center Challenge
      • Investing in Austin College
      • Snap Shot: Opening Convocation
      • Roots: Majestic Music
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Home Team
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
    • Summer 2012
      • From the President
      • Detours to Adventure
      • At the Core of Excellence
      • Who Values Education? WE DO!
      • Sowing the Seeds
      • Banned, Buoyed, & Laureled:
      • A Lifetime In College
      • Snap Shot: Commencement
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Heard Around Campus
      • Home Team
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
      • Roos for Roos
    • Spring 2012
      • From the President
      • Postcards from Abroad
      • Costa Rica Sisters
      • Texas Super Lawyers
      • An American in…Bucharest
      • My Internship in Congress
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Home Team
      • ‘Roo Notes
    • Winter 2012
      • From the President
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • A Century of Science
        • Digging the Antarctic
        • Science in Everyday Life
        • Alumnus Integral To The Manhattan Project
        • Starry, Starry Nights
        • Telling Her Story
        • Celebrating the Unknown
        • A Look Back
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
    • Fall 2011
      • From the President
      • A New Year Begins
        • Meet the Class of 2015
        • Pieces of Home
        • Enrollee to Student
        • Freshman Legacies
        • The Summer Read
      • Gifts That Matter
        • Making Moments Matter
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Home Team
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • Honor Roll of Donors
    • Summer 2011
      • From the President
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Commencement Photos
      • The Many Faces of Success
      • Ghost Light
      • Time
      • In Full Bloom: Lives of Success
      • The Light Shines for Texas
      • Home Team
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
    • Spring 2011
      • From the President
      • From the Editor
      • JanTerm 2011
      • Commencement 2011
      • ACtivator Event #500
      • The Homesick Texan
      • Remembering Chase Gaddy
      • Along Grand Avenue
      • Home Team
      • ‘Roo Notes
      • In Other Words
  • Archives
  • Contact Us
Info For...
  • AC Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Quick Links
Home » Issues » 2021 Issue » Pastoring in 2020

Pastoring in 2020

Joshua & Amy Sutherlun

By Revs. Josh Sutherlun ’01 and Amy Poling Sutherlun ’00


The wisdom writer of the book of Ecclesiastes memorably said, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted …” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2).


HJoshua & Amy Sutherlun quotee can hardly be faulted for failing to foresee the 2020 season, making no mention of “a time to stay home, and a time to order curbside; a time to click ‘leave meeting,’ and a time to buy or sew or scavenge a mask.”

We’ve been in ministry almost two decades and this season has, hands-down, been the strangest/hardest/most surprising and disruptive yet (you know all the adjectives—you’ve lived through it, too).

For us, as co-pastors of a congregation, it has been:

  • A time to hold our first hug-banned funeral service mid-March, and then close the doors of the sanctuary for the next 25 Sundays.
  • And, a time to build an altar in our living room, stacking board game boxes and books to get the webcam at a flattering angle for our faces while cropping out our children and cats sprawled on  the couch in what would become their new worship posture.
  • A time to make ancient rituals—hymns, prayers of lament, the breaking of bread—digital so they can be streamed to congregants who are sipping coffee in their PJs while Chromecasting that  week’s liturgy, rather than wrangling children into shoes and husbands into ties to rush out the door to church.
  • And, a time to transform the natural face-to-face interactions of a community of faith into virtual substitutes that turn out to be poor-but desperately-needed approximations.
  • A time to bury a 91-year-old woman who had overcome immobilizing infirmities to be in church every Sunday, yet didn’t get to worship in her sanctuary a single time during the last six months  of her life.
  • And, a time to remind our shut-ins (now nearly everyone) that they are remembered, valued, loved by their pastors, their whole church family, and the God who was with them in the anxious  isolation. A hundred Easter lilies left their usual glorious posts on the church steps to grace the front porches of every single congregant’s home, fragrant symbols of resurrection hope.

Pastoring in 2020 Pastoring in 2020 Pastoring in 2020

This coronavirus season has been a time to defy disconnection with new forms of community, loving our neighbors with unprecedented generosity, and a time to believe, even when it might not  seem apparent, that God makes everything beautiful, in God’s time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

… and Parenting in a Pandemic

As co-pastors we each work part-time and flexible hours, meaning we also each have chunks of the day when we’re the “at-home” parent. We regularly (and with varying degrees of fluidity) make  the work-to-home and reverse transition—been doing it for 14 years, through the arrival and wild growing years of our four kids, now ages 14, 12, 10, and 9.

And yet none of that prepared us for the sudden onset of the world’s longest and least-fun spring break. With all of us quarantining at home, every day became “bring your kid to work” day. Or  maybe it was “bring your work to your kids” day. Or “let your work and kids intermingle in a totally chaotic way” day. Every day. For all the hours. When school was in session, up to six people  might need a device to Zoom at the same time. And “This link doesn’t work, Mom.” And “Honey, is the Wi-Fi on?” And “He stole my headphones!”

Parenting in 2020 Parenting in 2020 Parenting in 2020 Parenting in 2020

Once school was out for the summer, the days stretched long, lazy, and hot. No sports. No camps. No friends coming over. Week at Grandma’s not allowed. River closed. Road trip to Yellowstone  canceled. All of which meant endless, unstructured time together as a family. All day everyday was Legos, rollerblades, board games, soccer, Minecraft, running, and waiting for something to  happen … with the same siblings. (How did only children and their parents survive without built-in playmates?) The two of us walked the neighborhood every night, debriefing all the things that  hadn’t happened that day, hoping our now nearly feral kids didn’t burn the house down or fall off the roof while we were gone.

Of course, there was bickering and boredom, desperation and despair mingled in among the new hobbies and precious sibling bonds. Co-parenting became cope-parenting in some healthy (and  not-so-healthy) ways. We by no means “killed it” during the global pandemic, but we managed not to kill each other. We got good enough at slow, to choose our busy more wisely. We’ve grown  some in gratitude and shrunk some of our certainty. We guarded closely the friends and family in our “bubble” and know them more richly for it. And, each of us, almost always, remembers to bring our mask when we leave the house. Shoes? Less often.

Revs. Josh Sutherlun ’01 and Amy Poling Sutherlun ’00 have served as co-pastors of First Presbyterian Church of San Marcos, Texas, since 2013.

GET IN TOUCH

903.813.2000
Austin College
900 N. Grand Ave.
Sherman, TX 75090

Contact Us

GET SOCIAL

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

GET LINKED

  • Quick Links
  • Human Resources
  • Campus Offices
  • Directory
  • Email

GET CONNECTED

Subscribe to Austin College E-Communication

Connect to AC

Copyright © 2022 - All rights reserved | Privacy Policy | Consumer Information | Site by thrive-logo