Our Staff
Pastor Sara Lilja
pastor@hclchurch.org
Pastor Sara Lilja is HCLC’s interim pastor. She serves Holy Communion in a part time capacity. When she is not helping to shepherd this congregation, she serves as an Assistant to the Bishop for Justice and Advocacy for the NJ Synod, ELCA.
Her areas of interest include, public theology, and the psychoanalytic study of organizations. She is a Fellow in the American Assoc. of Pastoral Counselors and has extensive experience working with women and families in crisis. She is a co-founder of The Dialogue Center for Counseling and Consulting where she has served as a managing partner for over 10 years.
During her years coordinating advocacy in the state of New Jersey along with colleagues of all faith traditions, she has helped alleviate poverty and violence. She counts as some of her many accomplishments; increasing TANF and EITC, gun violence prevention, the minimum wage increase, and creation of paid sick leave for all workers in NJ.
As an interim pastor Sara has helped congregations through pastoral transitions, growing lay leadership, and rebuilding congregations that are vital in their communities.
Sara is a mom of two young adult women and the wife of an academic librarian. She loves to hike, kayak, garden and bake.
Vicar Scott Rush
vicar@hclchurch.org
Vicar Scott Rush is completing the pastoral internship requirement of his MDiv degree at Holy Communion. He is also the Executive Director of Family Promise of Burlington County, a nonprofit organization that serves families experiencing housing insecurity. Scott plans to be a bivocational pastor, answering the call to serve both a congregation and poor/low-income families. A “cradle” Lutheran, his chosen path allows him to live out his core values of faith, service, life-long learning, and ecumenism.
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