Windham Hill United Church of Christ installs new pastor on Sunday

Rev. Sharon Rankin, the new pastor of Windham
Hill United Church of Christ, is looking forward
to working with her congregation for the church
to become more involved in the community, to
be relevant, and to make a difference.
SUBMITTED PHOTO  

By Lorraine Glowczak

Sharon Rankin, who accepted the invitation to be the new pastor of Windham Hill United Church of Christ (WHUCC) will be officially installed on Sunday, Nov. 14^th at 2:00 PM.

Rev. Rankin replaced Rev. Sally Colegrove upon her retirement this past summer.

Although Rankin fills the new position, she is not new to this family of faith and thus the reason for the congregation’s choice.

“Sharon was already well-known to the Windham Hill congregation because she was a member of our church for many years as a layperson before she began her pastoral ministry,” Eric Lund, WHUCC Church Moderator said. “She served on almost every board or committee imaginable and was much loved as a friend by so many in the church. Now that she is ordained, she has been much sought after by other UCC congregations in the area. We were fortunate to be able to get her to serve now in a new capacity as our pastor.”

Although the call into the clerical field occurred at a young age, the role as a minister is Rankin’s second career. After 38 years as a Maine state employee in the community care and social work divisions, Rankin retired to follow her call to ministry.

“I worked on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota as a teenager and that was the beginning of feeling ‘the call.” I just didn’t know where or how it would look at that point.”

A contributing factor in not knowing the direction into the ministry was how she was taught in her childhood religion. “I was raised Pentecostal when women were not allowed to speak from the pulpit,” Rankin said. “But 25 years ago, I attended a UCC church in Portland and there was an interim pastor who spoke that day. It just happened to be Rev. Nancy Foran, now the retired pastor of Raymond Village Community Church. She was the first woman I heard preach from the pulpit and was my inspiration to follow that inward call.”

Once Rankin discovered that women could indeed be the “hands and feet of Jesus” as she calls it, she began taking classes. Because she and her wife, Rebecca, were raising a family and working full time, going to a seminary was time prohibitive and expensive, so she took one or two classes at a time attending the Bangor Theological Seminary and taking courses at St. Joseph College, and then moving on to the Maine School of Ministry where she received her certification. Rankin was ordained in March of this year.

Retiring from state service in 2019, Rankin has served as a licensed supply pastor in many local churches over the past sixteen years, filled the pulpit for a pastor on sabbatical leave and most recently completed a six-month designated term ministry position at the Second Congregational UCC Church in Norway, Maine before being called to Windham Hill UCC as a three-year designated pastor. 

Under her guidance, the congregation has plans for the future to become more involved in the community.

“We want to be relevant and to a make a difference,” Rankin said. “We want to continue to be inclusive in the community. I know what it is like from personal experience when churches put that judging hat on. I’ve always loved the Planet Fitness’ motto, ‘Judgement Free Zone’. That’s what we are about.”

Projects for the future include updating the parsonage. Rankin and the church members are in the process of discerning how best to use the parsonage to support the greater community needs. WHUCC hopes to work with other churches in the area as they seek the best use of this building.

Always an inclusive religion, WHUCC is taking inclusivity a step further, changing certain terminology to encompass both genders and updating antiquated language to a more modern understanding. But perhaps just as importantly, the congregation is creating a path to retain its deep spiritual roots after being presented with challenges by the pandemic having had to close its church building for well over a year and offer all on-line worship services.

“We at WHUCC are excited to see where God is leading as we begin our ministry together,” Rankin said. “While it has been challenging to feel rooted as we have weathered the storms of COVID, we have not lost our rootedness in God’s love. It is that root system that binds us all together here at Windham Hill where our spiritual roots are nurtured and watered.”

Members of the congregation are looking forward to celebrating their new pastor this Sunday at the installation ceremony. They are pleased with her knowledge and personal virtues. “I could give a long list of qualities that make Sharon a great pastor,” Lund said. “What immediately comes to mind are her compassion and her energy. She really cares about the members of our congregation and is also full of good ideas about how the church might respond to the needs of the Windham community. Being a pastor is a second career for her and her many years serving earlier as a social worker also developed capacities in her that is very much needed in an effective pastor. I encourage members of the community to visit us because Sharon also puts together very meaningful worship services and is a very good preacher.”

Along with in-person worship on Sunday mornings at 9:30, services can be viewed live on Windham Hill’s Facebook page (Windham Hill UCC).

Rankin lives in Windham with her wife, Rebecca. They have two adult children and four grandchildren. <