Sudbury clergy to host panel discussion

COURTESY OF MASS COMMUNICATIONS CONCEPTS

The Rev. Marjorie Matty of First Parish of Sudbury, the Rev. Desiree Lawson of the Presbyterian Church in Sudbury and Rabbi Lisa Eiduson of B’nai Torah, members of the Sudbury Clergy Association, will present the panel discussion "Envisioning the Future of Congregational Life" May 14 online.

Congregation B’nai Torah of Sudbury, First Parish of Sudbury and the Presbyterian Church in Sudbury will host “Envisioning the Future of Congregational Life—Planting the Seeds for Tomorrow,” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. May 14.

The even is a panel discussion with Rabbi Lisa Eiduson of B’nai Torah, Rev. Marjorie Matty of First Parish and Rev. Desiree Lawson of the Presbyterian Church.

The local clergy will share insights about their faith-based organizations and assess how they see the future of religious congregational life. The program will begin with an abbreviated Shabbat Service, led by Eiduson, and will be followed by the panel discussion, moderated by Richard Morse, an active participant of the MultiFaith Committee at Congregation Bnai Torah.

Eiduson joined Congregation B'nai Torah in 2015 after serving as rabbi/educator at Temple Beth Avodah. She received a Bachelor of Arts in religion and Jewish Studies from Boston University. Following rabbinic ordination from HUC-JIR in Cincinnati, she went on to serve at a number of Reform congregations. In addition to her synagogue work, Eiduson was an adjunct faculty member at Xavier University and at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She received a Doctorate of Education with a concentration in organizational leadership studies from the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University in 2019. Her dissertation, "Shared Spiritual Leadership in a Reform Synagogue Setting: An Instrumental Case Study," investigated the sharing of spiritual leadership by a congregational rabbi and a professional staff team at that synagogue.

Matty began her professional life as a zookeeper in Syracuse, New York, and then expanded into a career in the technology industry specializing in architectural software and computer-aided design. She earned a Bachelor in Comparative Religions and Consciousness Studies from Goddard College and a Masters of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School. Matty worked at the Unitarian Universalist Association in International Relations and then served as the executive assistant to the President of the UUA. Matty completed her dissertation, "Engaging Technology in Twentieth-Century Patterns of Meaning Making," in 2013. Her focus was to meld two of her passions: technology and spirituality. Upon completion of her doctorate, Matty became the senior minister at the First Parish of Sudbury Unitarian Universalist.

Lawson, senior pastor at Presbyterian Church in Sudbury, earned a bachelor’s in psychology from Cambridge College and a Master of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School. She is a bible-based preacher and has served as a teacher, workshop facilitator and worship leader at various conferences and retreats. Lawson was the first installed pastor of Trinity United Presbyterian Church in Flint, Michigan in 2011.

For the Zoom link, visit https://bit.ly/3hfnBMn. For more information of any of the congregations, visit http://bnaitorah.com, http://fpsudbury.org or http://pcsudbury.org.