October 10, 2023 By Roy Harris
Old Ship Church has a new minister in its pulpit: Rev. Edmund Robinson. And he brings a lawyer’s sense of justice and balance with him.
Originally from Columbia, S.C., and a 1970 Yale University graduate, Rev. Robinson holds degrees that include a Master of Divinity from Harvard University. He was a trial lawyer in Charleston for 20 years before he “heeded the call to the Unitarian Universalist ministry” in the early 1990s, he says. He ceased being an Episcopalian when he was in high school, and found that denomination’s creeds “inconsistent with the science, philosophy and secular system of thought” he was learning. Only much later, in his ‘40s, did he feel a calling to the ministry.
Previous “UU” congregations he has served—before coming to Old Ship, also known as First Parish in Hingham—include Massachusetts parishes in Wakefield, Belmont, Chatham and Boston, and another in Staten Island, N.Y.
In the Unitarian Universalist system, of which Old Ship is a part, there can be a lengthy process for replacing a so-called “settled minister”—the last of whom at Old Ship was Rev. Ken Read-Brown, who retired in 2021, after 35 years at the church. In Old Ship’s case, a short-term “interim minister” was assigned as the next step, on the way to the calling of a permanent minister. (Old Ship’s interim pastor was Rev. Erin Splaine.)
https://www.hinghamanchor.com/hinghams-old-ship-church-welcomes-rev-erin-splaine-as-interim-minister/
As Old Ship’s contract minister, Rev. Edmund, as he prefers to be known, plans to stay on for one or two years, after which a settled minister would be chosen. He notes that among the special needs the church faces are arranging for a new parish house to be used as a meeting space. After selling its long-time facility across Main Street from the church, Old Ship has been considering permanent options. It currently is renting office and meeting space nearby, at 14 Main, a short walk from Old Ship.
https://www.hinghamanchor.com/hinghams-old-ship-church-opens-office-meeting-spaces-at-14-main-st/
Rev. Edmund is commuting to Hingham from Lexington, where he lives with his wife, pianist Jacqueline Schwab, whose playing includes performances on Ken Burns’ long-running public-television history programs. https://www.jacquelineschwab.com/about
As the contract minister at Old Ship Church—which occupies a building that dates to 1681—he notes that the Unitarian Universalist movement has changed dramatically since he “made the right choice” to change careers. “In my view, we do not know for certain what is awaiting us after we die, but there is a pretty good chance there will be no conscious existence beyond the grave.” Adds Rev. Edmund, “It is much more satisfying to try to do what we can to improve the real world, the world we live in, and the one we have come to know and love, for future generations, than to worry about where our own souls will spend eternity.”