A Steeple Chase

The shifting parade of birth, death and every event in between is the experience of most clergy persons as it winds through the life of any congregation. Whether it is a wedding no one attends, a funeral where the deceased wished to be buried naked or a baptism where more liquid came from the undiapered baby than what was contained in the font, the incidents reveal one surprise after another. A Steeple Chase is the fictional story of one such clergyman. Richard Hanson, a midwestern Lutheran pastor, encountered one revelation after another.

Following a short banking career, Richard Hanson attended a Lutheran seminary. Once ordained, he served his first parish in Bradley, Nebraska, a farming community of 600 souls. His family includes a wife, Diane, and two children, Eric and Rachel. His second call is to a congregation in a town of 20,000 where he learned what it meant to be a staff member in a large congregation. It was here he experienced the tragedy and pain of staff members deaths and its effect on the congregation.

He returns to his home town of Minneapolis, Minnesota where he learns the challenges of serving as a senior pastor.

Over the years his understanding of the Christian faith grows and his view of ministry expands.