Vestry Notes

An interview with Mary Anne Brock

Mary Anne was kind enough to let St Davids invade her privacy for this interview. It is a kind of get-to-know-you interview that will let you in on her great personality and warmth. Currently, both she and her husband Rev Scotty Brock are incredibly busy trying to sell their house, move possessions and find suitable habitat here with us.

St Davids) Can you give us some background info - education, hobbies, etc.?

Mary Anne) I am a native South Carolinian and—after living more than 22 years in exile (9 in North Carolina and almost 13 in Georgia)—I am thrilled to be returning home: beautiful, quirky South Carolina. I attended Furman University and graduated with a major in English. After moving to North Carolina with Scotty, I completed my masters degree in English at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
I love reading, and my favorite kinds of books are spiritual reflection/meditation books. My current favorite authors include Henri J. M. Nouwen, Kathleen Norris, and poet Mary Oliver.
I have not done any needle work in a while, but am interested in picking it up again (if, that is, I can find magnifying readers strong enough to see my stitches!). I love music of all kinds and can not imagine a life without it.

St Davids) What is the most fun part of your life in the church?

Mary Anne) Wow. I love being Christ-friends with people. There is great freedom in being Christ-friends: lots of room for laughter and play and silliness and fun, all of which is somehow more fun because of the deep caring and tender sharing of burdens and loving commitment to be Gods family in this place. There is a wonderful give-and-take within Christian family that can create the room we all need to support and forgive one another, to heal the hurting places, to truly allow ourselves to be Christ for one another.

St Davids) What is the worst part?

Mary Anne) Sometimes, as the clergy-spouse, I feel that I do not have “permission” to be completely authentic. Whether I am sensing unspoken expectations that do not fit me or am misperceiving others and creating my own barriers out of a fear of rejection, I sometimes feel a pressure to be something—someone—“other” than my real self. The result is a stint of personal misery as I lose sight of the love and peace of resting in God (while living into some kind of lie that I am supposed to be perfect).

St Davids) What would you like to build or be a part of when you come to St. Davids?

Mary Anne) Scotty and I have both been mentors (separately) in the Education for Ministry (EfM) program that comes out of the (Episcopal) School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee (TN). It is a program to help lay people learn about the Bible, the Church, and Theology so that we can be better lay ministers in the world. I hope that sometime soon Scotty and I can go to Sewanee and get ourselves “recertified” to be mentors and can start a group at St. Davids.

St Davids) Is there a part of St. Michaels that you would like to bring with you?

Mary Anne) While Scotty and I have never mentored an EfM group together, we have taught some adult Christian Education classes together, and I have loved working with him in that kind of setting. (We are different enough that we waited until we had been married about 20 years before we ever tried teaching together. I think we were both pleasantly surprised at how our differences complemented one another rather than being problematic.)

St Davids) Do you think that the (national) church is headed in the right direction?

Mary Anne) Here is what I can say about the National Church (alongside each and every other layer of the “political” church right down to an individual congregations vestry: when we let the political “side” of the church dominate our lives, our thoughts, our hearts, we risk losing the real church—that spiritual entity that includes all believers of every nation, every tribe, every stripe. Jesus summed up the law into the two great commandments: love God with everything that you have—heart, mind, soul, strength—our whole being, every ounce of strength and breath that we have—and love your neighbor as yourself. When we—whether collectively as “the church” or as particular individuals—choose day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute to live into these commandments, we can trust that we are on a holy path, doing the will of God.

St Davids) From meeting you last, I feel music is an important part of your life. Can you talk a little about that?

Mary Anne) I cannot imagine life without music. It is a marvelous gift of (and from) God. Music can open hearts and minds; it can touch—and change—lives. Whether I am singing in a church choir or playing my guitar and leading a group in “Jesus music” or sitting in the congregation on a Sunday morning singing hymns or driving down the highway with my car stereo up loud listening to Mothers Finest or the Black Eyed Peas, I love music. And while my formal participation in music within the church will vary from time to time (i.e.—I likely will not be joining the choir immediately), I definitely will be listening for (and to) the various sounds of music at St. Davids from Day 1!

St Davids) What is your favorite thing to do?

Mary Anne) At this moment in our transition, that would be to sleep! And I am not getting to do it nearly enough these days!

St Davids) Is there something you feel is important for people to know?

Mary Anne) I am not shy, but I am definitely an introvert—especially as defined by the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator: being with people or being “on stage” or needing to speak to a large group of people is something that requires me to spend energy—to put forth significant effort. There are times when I can feel overwhelmed by being in a large group, and I can walk into a room with a lot of people and truly not “see” individual people. I recoup my energy when alone or with one or two (okay, maybe three) people. Here in Savannah, I have had many weeks when the work week required my interaction with so many people that I was overextended and over stimulated and depleted. I would tell Scotty “I have hit my quota of humans for the week: sorry, but I will not be going to church tomorrow.” And I am grateful that he always understood. (He is a not-at-all shy introvert too.) End of Interview.

Folks, let us really give a hearty thank you and welcome to F Scotty and Mary Anne Brock!

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