The Rev. Anthony Hutchinson spent a quarter-century in the foreign service in China and was an assistant pastor in Beijing
The Rev. Anthony Hutchinson was installed Thursday as rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Ashland. Mail Tribune / Julia MooreJulia Moore
April 20, 2012
ASHLAND — Fresh from 25 years as a U.S. diplomat — most of it on the front lines of international political and cultural interactions in China — the Rev. Anthony Hutchinson was installed Thursday as rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Ashland.
Hutchinson, 58, who was ordained in the Hong Kong Anglican Church in 2008, took the Ashland post on Jan. 1. He says he brings a church tradition rooted in thoughtfulness and faith, not "bumper-sticker slogans."
"I bring an international Anglican breadth to the church, a sacramental view," he says, noting the Episcopal Church is rooted in Protestant and Catholic traditions. "It's a prayer made manifest."
From 2009 to 2011, Hutchinson served as assisting pastor and minister of music at the Congregation of the Good Shepherd in Beijing, where his parishioners hailed from a wide spectrum of Christian faiths. He also had served as chaplain at St. John's Cathedral, and taught biblical languages and literature at Minghua Theological Seminary in Hong Kong.
In the Foreign Service, he specialized in public diplomacy in China and also served in Africa. In China, Hutchinson was a right-hand man for ambassadors, sometimes providing the prayers for the embassy's solemn occasions, including on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
He retired in 2011 as a counselor in the Senior Foreign Service, which is equivalent to a one-star general.
The church's search committee took more than two years to replace the Rev. Anne Bartlett, who lives in Talent and now is working with a small Church of England chapel in Spain.
She has been named an assistant clergy, meaning she sometimes will perform services at Trinity.
Search committee member Colleen Graves says Bartlett "had raised the bar very high, and it was tough to think we could replace her."
"When we met the four finalists, we knew instantly who the right person would be," Graves says. "The congregation likes him, there was no problem in transition from the interim priest, and it was cool how he picked up where we left off and naturally fit right in."
Search committee member Russ Otte says members were "impressed by his intellectual capacity and scholarship, and his background in musical skills, which is a very important ingredient."
The committee was looking for a veteran more in life experience than the clergy, says Otte, adding that Hutchinson "had experience overseas, in management and large budgets, and it gave him a set of skills that, even though this was his first parish, made him a good deal."
A big selling moment, Otte adds, was when one search committee member who had lived in China began speaking Chinese with him, "and it blew us away."
Hutchinson and other church leaders soon will install the technology for blogging sermons and other messages, and streaming video of sermons for those who can't make it to church, Hutchinson says. His longtime blog is at ellipticalglory.blogspot.com.
From his diplomatic work over eight postings in China, Hutchinson, a native of Moses Lake, Wash., says he learned "to listen a lot, and that's also important to the job as priest."
As top cultural affairs officer and an old "China hand," Hutchinson played a role in directing large affairs of state, working at the elbow of Ambassadors Gary Locke (former Washington state governor) and John Huntsman (former Utah governor and presidential candidate), interfacing directly with the offices of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her counterpart in China, and handling such notables as Meryl Streep, Vogue Editor Anna Wintour and famed chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse.
"It was difficult because of the tensions of two very proud, continent-sized nations, very much aware of their strengths and huge economies," he says.
As assistant minister of the Good Shepherd in Beijing, "I learned to deal with a whole bunch of different kinds of Christians — and I did a lot of study of Buddhism," he says.
Hutchinson preached to Western expatriats for a good reason. China banned all religions during its Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s but lifted the ban in 1979. Now Christian churches are "packed" with Chinese people, he said, but the Communist PolitBuro still frowns on Western preachers sermonizing to the Chinese.
Hutchinson says he backs the Episcopal tradition as "the democratic church, broad and accepting, not run by bishops and priests. We listen to our laity. As a result, we've been at the front of all social justice movements. We ordained women early and welcome gays," he says.
"I love that comment by Desmond Tutu that he can't imagine a God who says you can't access parts of my grace because you're a woman, black or gay person," Hutchinson said. "You won't hear us give bumper-sticker slogans here and call it a sermon. We try to wrestle with our faith as we preach it."
John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. Email him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.
0 comments:
Post a Comment