Although I always remember being in church since preschool days, it wasn’t until high school
that I, with my parents, formally joined a church – Pilgrim Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn,
Illinois. I was ordained at Pilgrim to ministry in 1982 after completing my degree in Divinity
(1980) at Saint Andrews, Scotland. Eventually (1999) I earned a Ph.D. in Religion, also from
Saint Andrews.
It was at Saint Andrews that I met my wife, the Rev. Susan E. Wyman. Susan recently (2023)
retired from the pastorate at First Congregational in Barkhamsted Center. We have two children:
the Rev. Averill Elizabeth Blackburn – currently pastor at Center Congregational, Torrington –
and Steven James Blackburn. Son “Jamey” is married to the former Jennifer Bradshaw whose
grandfather, the Rev. Duncan Brockway, was minister at Colebrook Congregational in the 1970’s.
Jamey and Jenn are parents to our three grandchildren: Jack, Oliver, and Piper Elizabeth.
Colebrook Congregational Church is my third pastorate. In addition to local ministry, I have also
served (1988-1997) as the head of the Fellowship of Connecticut Congregational Christian
Churches as well as teaching for a quarter century at Hartford Seminary, where I was also the
Library Director. I retired from the Seminary in 2018.
My “path not taken” was in music, both vocal (bass-baritone) and instrumental (harpsichord,
bagpiping, recorder). Among my favorite hymns are the National Hymn (“God of Our Fathers”),
“Jerusalem” (the unofficial national hymn of the U.K.), “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind” (the
setting by Charles Ives is simply arresting), and “I Vow to Thee, My Country” – particularly the
second verse – set to Gustav Holst’s tune Thaxted.