The Purposes of Awe

The Rev. Dr. James Gertmenian will be leading our worship service. Jim, a native of California, is a graduate of Oberlin College and Union Theological Seminary in New York. He served parishes in upstate New York and Connecticut before becoming, in 1996, the Senior Minister of Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis. He retired from that position in 2015 and moved to Cumberland, Maine.

While in Minneapolis, Jim helped found Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative which has built nearly $120 million of supportive housing, mostly for formerly homeless people. Currently, he works on a project that brings young, progressive, faith leaders (Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Unitarian, and others) together in small gatherings around the country.

Jim is a hymn writer whose work appears in various denominational hymnals. He and his wife, Susan King, a poet, have a home on Great Cranberry Island, near Mt. Desert, where they have summered for nearly forty years.

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