Malcolm McLaurin

12/03/19

Malcolm McLaurin, School of Theology, University of the South, ’21, Postulant

Diocese of Olympia

**UPDATE FROM MALCOLM**

Malcolm McLaurin has served on the staff at St Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle as Canon for Youth and Young Adult Education, as well as an Associate Director of a Camp and Conference Center in Northern California (St. Dorothy’s) and as a campus chaplain at the University of Arkansas.  His deepest identification with the Episcopal Church is through the Baptismal Covenant: “It was those five ‘will-you’s’ that gave me something that I could resoundingly say ‘yes’ to. And it is also the element of the Episcopal Church that I believe we must boldly reclaim as who we are.”  Through this, Malcolm asserts, the church becomes proximate to the diversity and suffering of the world.  As an African-American, Malcolm speaks to that spiritual journey of the church: “The Episcopal Church isn’t usually thought of as a church of people who look like me. A good portion of my ministry has been about sharing a narrative – whether it be a black experience, a southern experience, or a socioeconomic experience. My hope is that these stories will help shape a beloved community where we in the Episcopal Church hear the narratives of all.”

As his first year of seminary comes to an end, Malcolm spoke about the summer ahead, “As I wrap up my first year at Sewanee, a time full of affirmations, challenges, and discovery, I am preparing for a summer of Clinical Pastoral Education. I have accepted a position at Spiritual Health at Emory Healthcare in downtown Atlanta. My draw to this program was its diversity in terms of the population I would work with. With a broad range of settings, I will get to interact with patients of all ages and levels of sickness. There is no doubt that this summer will be extremely formative on my journey towards ordained ministry in the church and I am looking forward to the experience.

As an afterword to that experience, Malcolm comments, "The summer of CPE at Emory, Midtown Atlanta, will go down as one of the most formative experiences of my life. Being around pain, death, and dying in the hospital setting while trying to rebuild a relationship with my own body made for some powerful self-reflection. Showing up for patients while needing to be a patient myself gave me greater insight into my pastoral role and presence. I am definitely a different person than I was at the beginning of the summer.

Again, ‘thank you’ SIM for this opportunity and supporting me on this journey.