Rev. Dr. Nancy Cocks has served in pastoral ministry and taught theology in five presbyteries across the country. She was a professor of pastoral theology at the Vancouver School of Theology and Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax. Today, she ministers at St. John’s in Medicine Hat, Alta.
She’s also been associate secretary of Faith and Witness with the Canadian Council of Churches, a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, and for three years she was in Scotland as deputy warden of the Iona Community’s island centres. She’s served several times on the Committee on Church Doctrine and Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee, and a bunch more besides. She’s also quite a prolific writer, penning 16 books for children and two books of worship resources.
The Record sent her some questions to help you get to know her better.
Tell me about yourself. How would you describe your faith journey?
I am a lifelong Presbyterian, baptized as an infant in the congregation I now serve. I grew up in Sunday school, junior choir, and youth group. When I attended University of Saskatchewan, I sought out Presbyterian congregations because for me, church is home. Even before I responded to God’s call to ministry, my faith took me on a journey, serving in children’s ministry in northern Saskatchewan for three summers. Perhaps the Celtic sense of “pilgrimage” best describes my journey – willing to go where God’s Spirit is leading or pushing: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, B.C., Scotland, Nova Scotia, back to Alberta. I have a deep trust in God which accompanies a sense of adventure. Everywhere I’ve served, I have learned something very significant to broaden the horizons of my faith and show me something fresh in the ways Christ encounters us.
My education and my ministry in teaching provide a second layer in my pilgrimage. Every class I took or taught invited me to look in new directions, hear someone else’s witness to Christ, and to understand God’s Word from another perspective. I have learned never to be afraid to ask a new question or read another point of view because with God’s Spirit as companion, I will continue to grow in relationship to God. After all, we have never exhausted God’s wisdom!
What would you say is your passion?
I have long had a passion for ministry with children. I think because the church was such an essential part of my own childhood, teaching me how to pray and affirming my gifts as I grew, I have always wanted to pass along the same gifts to other generations of children. My storytelling grew out of that interest – and now several generations of kids in Ontario, B.C., Alberta and beyond love Fergie the Frog, the character featured in my books. Storytelling has shown me how important it is to honour children’s experience and explore how God is present in our lives from our earliest years.
My other passion is language. I love to write and to read. I learned working in Scotland that language in worship can be clear and simple yet still profound. So I engage my love of language in service of God’s Word and have found the model of worship renewal developed through the Iona Community especially nourishing. It is such a privilege to offer one’s words in service of the Word made flesh.
What concerns you most?
The short answer would be poverty and violence in the world….I hear Jesus inviting us to live in ways that offer wellbeing to those in need and which model forgiveness and mercy, resist retaliation and build peaceable relationships throughout God’s world. I am concerned about the ways we do violence to God’s creation and make the world a poorer place for the generations of all creatures yet to come. Through Presbyterian World Service & Development our church witnesses to Jesus’ invitation through generosity and committed relationships, especially in international partnerships. I wonder, though, how else we are called as individuals, as Canadian citizens and as congregations to model the same generosity and commitment locally and nationally, economically and ecologically?
What gives you the most hope?
“All my hope on God is founded” – the words to hymn 462 express my hope so well, reminding me that human initiatives rise and fall but God’s goodness and wisdom endure. The hymn speaks of God’s desire “delighting our souls” as we follow Christ’s call – and “shall not fall.” This faithful conviction allows me to fret less about institutional decline and trust that God can always raise up a different kind of community to bear Christ’s love into the world. I find hope in the compassion of the children in my church and the wisdom of our seniors whose faithfulness endures through so many challenges. I am a hopeful person who trusts in God’s creativity to do a new thing whenever human creativity is wearing thin.
Some moderators in the past have chosen a particular theme or idea to focus on during the year. Have you thought about choosing a theme? If so, what might it be?
It seems a little presumptuous to pick a theme before the church has spoken. That being said, my passion working with children and my curiosity about children’s spirituality might suggest a theme, if the church were to call me to the post.
And is there anything else you’d like to add?
Just that it is an honour to be nominated for this role and that I recognize in the other candidates so many gifts and so much experience which continue to bless the church, that I am humbled to be named in their company.
