New minister is long-familiar with town

The first time Rev. Christine Elliott was in Arlington, she was watching Heifer International’s donkey Chester walk up Massachusetts Avenue, part of a rally for the anti-hunger organization. At that moment, she knew there was something special about this town.

“He’s an elderly donkey — he’s almost 20 years old — and he lives in Rutland and doesn’t travel well,” said Elliott. “But the fact that he comes to Arlington every year and takes part in this tradition, it put Arlington on the map pretty early for me.”

Elliott — who started her tenure as pastor of Calvary Church, United Methodist on July 1 — is of course referring to the town’s annual Palm Sunday tradition, when Chester travels to Arlington and makes stops at the town’s Christian churches. For years, Elliott has been an active volunteer for Heifer International, which aims to end world hunger by helping people obtain a sustainable source of food and income. Many Calvary Church members are also active Heifer volunteers.

“I’m happy to be here with people who love the organization,” she says. “I know Arlington is an active center for Heifer International activity, and I’m looking forward to getting to know people in other congregations as well.”

After serving at congregations from Everett to Gloucester, Elliott came to Calvary after having several stints as interim pastor at churches throughout the region. Last summer, she spent three months at Calvary filling in for predecessor, the Rev. John Mueller, who was on sabbatical at the time.

“Calvary is a wonderful, creative and open congregation, dedicated to both ministries of mission service and social action,” said Elliott.

She praises the volunteer service of her congregation and the strong spirit of caring that exists among its members.

“Sometimes I think of it as an inward and outward journey,” Elliott said. “It’s a little bit of a dance, caring for one another, but also, moving outward to social justice and social change.”

As a teenager growing up in Milwaukee, Elliott became involved in her church congregation early on, taking on leadership positions and even getting the chance to preach.

“The church, for me, was a way of learning about the world,” Elliott said. “It taught me to have compassion for other people’s experience and it taught me a lot about my own talents and strengths.”

After high school she attended Earlham College and the Andover Newton Theological Seminary. It was at Andover Newton where she met the women who would inspire her to enter the ministry.

“The socialization of women — the nurturing of family — makes them very natural leaders in the church,” Elliott said. “It’s a place where people are sent forward into the world, and as a woman, that role feels quite natural for me.”

Being a minister has brought its joys and its heartaches, Elliott says, and in the 21^st Century, her role also allows her to bear witness to major changes within the institution.

“The church has changed much since I was growing up,” she says. “There’s never been a more difficult or interesting time to be a pastor and be part of a church. We’re all trying to figure out how to relate to each other with tolerance and respect.”

Elliott says Calvary’s community — which shares its church building with Vision Community United Methodist, a Korean worship community — is extremely fortunate to be racially and ethnically diverse.

“That’s a real gift. It’s a glimpse of the way the world will be someday, with all of us in partnership and everyone on equal turf,” she says.

Elliott’s husband, the Rev. Michael Clark, has been pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Watertown, where they live, for the last five years. The couple met at a retreat center in Pennsylvania when they were both involved in a protest against nuclear weapons. They’ve lived in New England together for the last 25 years, and though neither of them is a native, they now think of Boston as home.

“We’ve found a lot of wonderful people here who share common values and priorities,” she says.