Saturday, August 16, 1997

Ranger pastor moves from microscope to pulpit

By LORETTA FULTON / Abilene Reporter-News

RANGER - From the microscope to the pulpit, with a 23-year Army stint in the middle, Elizabeth Kugel has seen the world from its myriad perspectives.

She likes what she's seeing now through the eyes of a 56-year-old woman who has made the ordained ministry her third, and most likely final, career.

"I don't intend to pursue another career," Kugel said, but laughed as she added a qualifier: "God is my assignment officer."

Kugel learned that in her second career, that of an Army officer who saw much of the world in various capacities.

Kugel, who became Rev. Kugel when she graduated from Perkins School of Theology at SMU, started her work life as a microbiologist for Dow Chemical. She spent 6-1/2 years working for the company while pursuing a master of science in microbiology from Butler University in Indiana.

In 1969, Kugel suddenly changed course and joined the Army.

"I'm not sure I understood the reason at the time," she said. "I thought I was looking for an equal opportunity employer."

Upon further reflection, however, Kugel said she realized "I was at a place where I wasn't growing."

Stagnation is something Kugel doesn't endure long. After a satisfying career in the Army, Kugel retired in February 1993 and spent the next six months "traveling about a third of the United States" before entering Perkins to study theology.

Although she had been raised in a devout home with a father who was an ordained minister, Kugel took her own spiritual route. She remembered that at age 12 she refused to say the Apostle's Creed in the church where her father was the music minister.

"I knew at age 12 I was not a Christian," Kugel said, struggling with the meaning of the Trinity.

"It seemed to me to be tritheism," she said, early on showing an impressive intellect.

Her mother was embarrassed but her dad took it in stride, Kugel said.

It wasn't until 1969 when Kugel was 28 years old that she learned the true meaning of faith and acceptance. She and two white friends attended an all-black church in Indianapolis at the invitation of a friend.

"They showed me God's love," Kugel said of the black congregation. "They didn't have any reason to accept me."

In retrospect Kugel believes God was leading her to that experience of unconditional acceptance and love. At that moment she accepted by faith what she could not accept intellectually. The intellectual arguments were no longer needed.

"I still have an intellectual curiosity," Kugel said. "Because I believe, I want to know more."

Kugel knew she wanted to go to seminary, but she had no plans for the ordained ministry. Already possessing two master's degrees, Kugel wanted to study theology for a couple of years and move directly into the doctoral program at Perkins.

A pastor suggested she become a seminary professor herself and she believed that was her destiny.

"That idea was just so exciting I didn't know what to do," she said.

Her first realization that God was moving her toward the pulpit came during her first month of seminary when she participated in the chapel service. She served communion for the first time.

"It was as if I was the vehicle for the Holy Spirit to go through me and to touch those that I touched with the sacraments," Kugel said.

A few days later, Kugel formed a spiritual formation group and two members asked, "What happened"?

Kugel knew what had happened. God wanted her to be an ordained minister, but she replied, "I'm too old."

Kugel was 52 then. She is 56 now and doing what her "assignment officer" intended all along.

"If I can accept that with the Army, I certainly can accept it with the church."