Reverend Terri Colburn
I'm the Rev. Terri Colburn, and I am humbled and grateful to accept your call to serve as quarter-time Vicar of St. Elizabeth's.
Just a little about me: I was born in Chicago, Illinois, and have family there and in Florida. I came to Colorado in 1976, lured by the beauty of the mountains. Early on, I worked as a chemist at companies serving the mining industry, and then in data processing. I finished my computer career as a lead software test engineer, able to break any computer application known to humankind. I left computers to attend Iliff School of Theology, finally acknowledging a call to serve God by helping to spread knowledge of God’s love. This call began, I believe, when I was a child, though God had to work in me for a long time to take it seriously! In seminary, I fell in love with Scripture, and I learned about how many different ways there are, even in Christian community, to understand and connect to God. After seminary, I spent ten years in health care as a hospice chaplain, where I learned to trust how determined God is to reach each of us, God’s beloved children – determined to use anything and everything to connect to us. I saw people find God in marriage and family, work, service, art and music, the beauty of nature. I saw God reach through anything you can imagine, and more. I learned, as well, that theology matters and that how we treat each other matters, that blessing matters and sacrament matters. I learned that care of the spirit can sometimes look like prayer and communion and Scripture, and other times look like ice water, hot coffee, an extra chair, or a warm blanket.
I was ordained an Episcopal priest by Bishop Robert O’Neill in 2017. I spent a year as an intern at St. Timothy's Parish in Centennial, learning about the richness and variety of parish ministry. For the last four years, I've served as part-time associate for pastoral care at Christ Church Denver, where we all took on new responsibilities during the COVID pandemic. I got to be the person who tracked COVID positives in the congregation! And I learned how to preach to a camera in an empty sanctuary, by imagining beloved faces where they typically sat, and talking to them as if they were there.
It is a wonderful new opportunity to work with a small congregation! The context is much different, and both the challenges and the opportunities are new. Though big churches may have easier access to resources, the worship services here take on a more intimate and immediate character that is lovely. I have SO much to learn from you, and I hope I can be of service at this point in the life of your parish. Your faith, your kindness and welcome, and your love and care for one another and for your community of Brighton, have touched me. I look forward to being part of the community as we continue to listen for the voice and guiding of God in our work. I love good conversation, laughter, coffee, and dogs!
“At Christ Church, one of my duties was to be the central contact point for people who tested positive for COVID (since we were required to report any group of positive tests that might meet the health department's definition of an Outbreak). It made my hair stand on end at times.