One From the Heart...

    "The very backbone of my life has been learning and teaching," said Carol Guilbert. "What mother is not a teacher? From teaching your children to walk and talk, to teaching manners, ethics, and even how to untangle a fishing line or hit a baseball. And what mother, especially in this electronic age, is not a learner from her children?"
The Reverend Carol Guilbert of First Presbyterian Church, defines the dual role, not just of mothers, but of us all. We are both teachers and learners.
    As a learner, Carol has an education that is extensive and varied to say the least. She has a bachelor's degree in nursing from Johns Hopkins Hospital and University and a master's degree in counseling from University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. She also holds a master's degree in divinity from Yale University. She holds many other advanced certificates and has attended the Chautauqua Institute in Jamestown, New York for summer sessions. She is also always in Bible study.
Her teaching career has included Johns Hopkins Hospital, health and wellness to senior citizens, public health nursing, and Bible studies. As a Pastor, she has taught theology, Biblical scripture, and Biblical history. Her favorites are teaching the Bible in class and preaching the scripture in a worship service.
    Carol has not only an impressive formal education, but has learned a great deal from her students, as every good teacher does. Informal learning can be funny, too. There was the time when she was a pastor in a rural farm community and was asked if she liked asparagus. When she replied that she loved asparagus and was invited to help herself, she was at a loss to know where this asparagus could be found since she was outside at the time. As she looked around the farmer's wife said politely, "You're standing in it, Dear!" point taken.
    She has also learned to say pee-cans rather than puh-cahns, that geese are better guards than dogs, and that a dead pigeon on your doorstep means you have angered the local drug dealer. She has learned humility, never to assume based on appearance, and that the Southern view of history is different from the Northern perspective. She learned to keep important words near and dear to her heart: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul and your neighbor as yourself." Maybe it would be a better world if we all learned that lesson.
    Perhaps the most difficult of all the lessons Carol has learned was that when you feel a "call" from God, you should listen. When she was 46 years old and the last of her four children was about to leave the nest, she felt an "inexorable pull in a particular direction." She fought it for two years and finally made a bargain with God. She applied to the Yale School of Divinity. She says: "Anyone in their right mind would know that a 48-year-old female has no chance of being accepted to Yale. I received my acceptance on Maundy Thursday [Holy Thursday], bowed to God's will and entered the program in the fall of 1980."
    Carol has held many positions since and has served at First Presbyterian Church as interim associate pastor and co-pastor, parish associate, and again as interim pastor. She is currently on a brief leave but hopes to return in the fall as parish associate. She is very well-loved there and has given the gifts of compassion and faith to many.
    To sum up in Carol's own words: "As a teacher, you always learn, not only from your research, but even more from your students. Each student brings a wealth of sociological and cultural differences to color what they learn and, in turn, what they share and teach to you. Learning and teaching meet in the relationships formed between student and teacher. What a life of rich, rewarding relationships I have had!"
    I think those who have been taught by Carol Guilbert have also learned more than just the lesson. They have learned about caring, compassion, and the power of faith.

Up Close:

Q: How long have you been married, Children? Grandchildren?
A: My wonderful husband Dick and I have been married 51 years and we have four children and six grandchildren. They range in age from 4 to 24!

Q: Do you have a special love?
A: Yes, I love to companion others on their spiritual journeys. I love the ministry.

Q: Do you have words to live by?
A: Yes, One of the main lessons I have gained both as a teacher and as a learner is prepare, prepare, prepare!

Q: Do you have a tip for new teachers?
A: Laugh at your mistakes. If you don't, someone else probably will do it for you.

Q: How do you spend a free Sunday afternoon?
A: I love to read, to swim, or to have dinner with friends.

Q: What is the most important lesson you have learned?
A: In response to prayer, God always acts in surprising ways to bring an outcome more expansive than ANYTHING you might ever have dreamed.