Real People ... Their Stories

Dan Bonevac

To be a Christian is to see your life as part of a story much larger than yourself- a story that has as its central episode the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I was fortunate to be taught to think of my life that way from an early age. My grandfather was an elder of Concord Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, which became my church home until I was eight and to which I returned when I went to graduate school in Pittsburgh twelve years later. That was a church full of God's love, in which people cared deeply for one another. I learned from them what it's like to be part of a community of faith, bound together by love of God and one another.

In between, I was fortunate to learn much about what it means to be a Christian from a series of terrific Sunday school teachers and two wonderful pastors, Dr. James Clarke and James Anderson, at Second Presbyterian Church in Richmond. They taught me that being a Christian is not only compatible with thinking hard and upholding the highest intellectual standards, but actually requires it, for faith and understanding support each other. It was there that I was confirmed as a member of the church, and it was there that I began my interest in church music.

In high school and college, I belonged to Westminster Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut. There I learned how to think about putting my faith into action serving others. It was there, too, that I was married.

When I moved to Austin to begin teaching at UT, my wife and I began attending another church. After more than a year, we realized that no one but the pastor had ever spoken to us. No one else cared whether we were there or not. We grew discouraged, stopped going, and started spending more time with the Sunday paper. I tried to read the Bible, pray, and keep my faith growing on my own. But I found that difficult. There are too many distractions and too few sources of help. I found my frame of reference contracting; I found myself thinking of the role people, events, and things played in my story rather than the role that I was supposed to be playing in God's story. I could just barely sustain my faith without being part of a church community, but that was hard enough. I couldn't deepen and enrich it.

So, one Sunday in 1984, I walked into First Presbyterian. Jim Mahon preached a sermon entitled "Sin boldly!" that day, quoting Luther and Nietzsche, and I knew right away that I was in the right place. That very first day, several people introduced themselves, and they continued to talk to my wife and me each Sunday when we returned. It didn't take me long to recognize that First Presbyterian combines the best of what I found in the other churches I've attended. It's a community full of God's love, in which people care deeply for one another and welcome newcomers with joy and acceptance. It's a place that encourages thinking hard about questions of faith and meaning. And it's a place that emphasizes putting faith into action serving others.

First Presbyterian Church has done a lot for me, getting me through some difficult times- my mother's death, career struggles and setbacks, a daughter's health problems- by reminding me that, ultimately, it's not about me, but about God, who has matters well in hand. When I teach Sunday school, or sing in the choir, or volunteer at Manos de Christo, or dress up as an animal or Biblical character during Vacation Bible School, it's with a profound sense of gratitude for all that God and the church have given me.

Dan Bonevac

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Page last modified on 07/20/05