SUSAN LANEY (M.Div. 1994) came to Beeson in 1990 when our school was barely two years old. We had a skeletal faculty, a barebones curriculum, some modest, newly renovated temporary classrooms, and a cadre of hearty students who had decided to study for their life’s work in what was then a new, untested, and still quite fragile experiment. Ralph Beeson died in the same year that Susan became one of our students. We often talked, as we still do, about Mr. Beeson’s wonderful generosity that had made our school possible, of the clear mandate he had given us to develop a divinity school that was rock solid in its evangelical theological commitments, open to a wide variety of denominations, and focused outward on the world and its great need for the life-giving Gospel of Christ.
Susan was a wonderful student, one of our brightest. She was blessed with an abundance of intellectual curiosity, deeply committed to ministry in the local church, and just plain fun to be around. When the renowned Presbyterian theologian, John Leith, spent a semester at our school, Susan served as his teaching assistant, and her work with him was much appreciated. Her life and witness for Christ shone brightly and it was clear that God had placed his hand on Susan Laney in a special way.
This is how Susan remembers her student days at Beeson some twenty years ago:
I was only a child, a mere 38, when I entered Beeson Divinity School in the fall of 1990. This child entered as one of many steps in the journey to become a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. I graduated Beeson in the spring of 1994 no longer the naïve woman of the Presbyterian world I had grown up in. At Beeson I learned the beauty and spirituality within all denominations and the most important of lessons. Who we are as Christians should not be based on our differences but on the one thing we all hold in common—our belief in the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ.
A few days ago, on February 12, I celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of my ordination. Not a day has gone by in those fifteen years that I do not wake up and say, “Thank you God. Thank you that through my mentors at Beeson, Fred Widmer, Frank Thielman, Timothy George, Gerald Bray and especially Ken Mathews, I have not only been given the heart but also the mind to serve you to the best of my ability. Thank you for my wonderful Beeson friends who taught me that who I AM as a pastor is more important than the words that define me as a pastor.
Over the years, Susan has held various positions of leadership within her denomination. She currently serves as the Director of Adult Ministries at South Highland Presbyterian Church located in Birmingham’s Southside neighborhood. South Highland is a dynamic congregation with a great outreach to its community, and Susan plays a significant role in its witness. The Southside area is home to three HUD housing facilities which provide low rent housing for seniors and the severely disabled. Susan has led her church to reach out to this oft-neglected part of the community. She has organized a small army of volunteers who minister to the sick and also sit and care for those who are dying. When I visited South Highland not long ago, I noticed that there was a space problem in the sanctuary, a problem created by the presence of Susan’s “flock” who had gloriously filled up the accessible space with their wheelchairs!
Susan has remained a great friend and supporter of Beeson Divinity School. She was recently chosen to receive our 2010 Master of Divinity Alum of the Year Award. We shall present this award to Susan in a special chapel service here at Beeson on Tuesday, March 2, 2010. If you are in the area, please come and share this festive occasion with us.
