Each Sunday morning I try to preach in a
way that makes connections between the scripture and life lived;
connections between the hopes of the congregation listening in the pews
and the gospel message of the Old and New Testaments; connections between
local and global issues, between God and the world, between Christ and
stumbling follower. I hope to preach in a way that links what is pastoral
with what is prophetic, what is comforting with what is challenging, what
we live and what we believe. I hope to preach each Sunday morning in a way
that draws together knowledge and experience, faith and the journey.
I prepare services of worship that weave
together prayer and praise; that intertwine God's grace filled message
with our attempts at response. My goal is a service that is thematic,
cohesive and balanced; that contains elements of the contemporary and the
traditional, the contemplative and the expressive, the conventional and
the creative.
Visiting people is a part of my
ministry; to see those who remain unseen at home or in hospital, to see
those unhappy and discontent with the world or the church, to see those
often in the pews and those infrequent in attendance. As I serve through
my presence among the congregation I look forward to hearing the needs and
hopes and hurts of each person, to provide counsel and referral and
resources.
My ministry is about relationship with
Jesus, the risen Christ, God's revelation in Holy Scripture and the action
of the Holy Spirit among the gathered community. It is my prayer that as
we gather in Christ's name, accepting God's love and living God's love
with one another, we will be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Ms Kavanagh is a former teacher
with a B. Ed. degree from the University of Alberta. She taught
elementary and special needs students for nearly twenty years with
Edmonton Public Schools. Laura graduated from Vancouver School of
Theology with a Master of Divinity degree and was ordained in the
Presbytery of Edmonton-Lakeland at her home congregation, Dayspring
Presbyterian Church, on Tuesday, November 11, 2003.
Before beginning her theological
studies, Ms Kavanagh was a ruling elder at Dayspring Church, serving on
several committees and participating actively in the leadership of that
congregation. She has experience as Representative Elder to Presbytery,
Church School Superintendent, and Worship Convener at Dayspring, as well
as Board Member at Braeside Presbyterian in St. Albert where she
worshipped before moving to Dayspring in 1994.
Laura is married to Steve Sturgess.
They have two wonderful sons, Tristan, 17 and Ian, 16.
I seek to passionately participate in
God's radical love for the world through meaningful relationship with
others. I see my ministry through a lens of connection and
interrelationality. I bring all that I am to ministry - my Canadian
identity, my socio-political history, my family of origin, my life
experience, my family, my faith, my hope, my desire.