Summer Staff Interviews: Russell Vick

Editor's note: Summer is a season of transition. Our staff and vestry are keenly aware that many within our church are navigating transition, especially those who are new to our community. So our staff want to try something new. Throughout the summer, our staff will make blog appearances, participating in a summer-y, get-to-know-you interview. Enjoy learning more about the folks who make Incarnation possible!

I love being a Tio! My nieces are Nikola (on the left) and Celina (on the right). For some reason, they think I am the coolest person ever. Hopefully they'll still think that when they get older.

What's something that you enjoy doing in the summer, either growing up or these days? 

Growing up, my family did a lot of camping and road trips. We spent time in places like Yosemite, Big Sur, and Burney Falls where my grandparents had “the mountain house.” There is so much Vick family lore from those trips, and I treasure those memories to this day. The hardest part of living on the East Coast is not being close to my family who are all back in California, especially now that I am a Tio. Nowadays, I spend a lot of my free time reading and playing guitar in my nice air conditioned house (see below for my book recommendations!).

I recently had the opportunity to take a bluegrass guitar class at the School of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park, MD. I first started playing guitar around the time Mumford and Sons dropped their first album which led me to getting hooked into folky, acoustic type music. After I watched the movie O Brother Where art Thou, I immediately fell in love with bluegrass music. However, I never had the opportunity to learn or play bluegrass music with other musicians, so I only stayed a distant admirer of the genre.

Ever since I took this class, I’ve been starting to find and attend local bluegrass jams. It has been so much fun playing this music with other people, and it has really forced me to sharpen my guitar skills (especially on the fiddle tunes.) Bluegrass is a genre easy to play, but difficult to master. It also heavily values participation and communal playing. Bill Monroe, who is considered the “Father of Bluegrass,” once famously said: “Bluegrass has brought more people together and made more friends than any music in the world.” 

Perhaps Bill is exaggerating, but I’m starting to see where he is coming from…

What summer camp merit badge would you earn? (archery, woodworking, cross-stitching, basketball, make your own??)

Given that I’m not really an outdoorsy person anymore, my merit badge would probably be in powerlifting, which is a form of weight lifting that emphasizes the barbell squat, bench, and deadlift. 

I used to be a runner, but was looking to try something different. I stumbled into lifting after some cursory online research, and got hooked into getting stronger. I got my first coach during my time in New England and really started to make significant progress. It’s fun to add more weight to the barbell and to know that you can lift it. I still have a coach, and I try to go to the gym three or four times a week.

In a very real way, powerlifting has become one of my primary forms of personal discipline and virtue formation. Maybe one day I’ll write an article about it. In the meantime, I highly recommend the essay “Iron and the Soul” by philosopher musician Henry Rollins. Full disclosure, Rollins is not a Christian, but he understands the deep relationship between the body and the spirit. He would totally agree with what Paul says about this connection in the first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 9:24-27).

If someone forced you to lead Wild Wonder, what delight of creation would you share? 

A while back when our church was meeting at Drew Elementary school, I led a Wild Wonder on the harmonica. Maybe I should run that back soon…

What's your go-to or best potluck contribution? 

When I was in college, one of my housemates and I taught ourselves how to make carnitas. I have slowly been perfecting that recipe ever since then. I also can make a pretty good batch of eggnog. Carnitas and eggnog…what more can you want?

Favorite Bible verse? 

Psalm 63, particularly verses 1 - 3

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;

    my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you,

    as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

    beholding your power and glory.

Because your steadfast love is better than life,

    my lips will praise you.”

What's your ideal Sunday or sabbath rest day? Is there anything the congregation should know about your work rhythms or availability? 

As the Worship Pastor, a lot of my work throughout the week is prepping for Sunday Worship. If I am leading music that week, I try to create and finalize the music setlist by Tuesday or Wednesday. I then reach out to the musicians scheduled for that week by Wednesday or Thursday. I also create the liturgies and communicate with the week's Liturgical volunteers to make sure that the service runs smoothly. I try to do a hard stop on email checking around 5:00pm or 6:00pm. I then do Evening Prayer as a way to end my day.

I also try to meet with people throughout the week when I can. I am a Worship Pastor, not a Worship Leader or Director of Music. I do my best to create an environment where people can meet with God in a way that minimizes distractions. The goal is not to put on a religious show, but to encourage participation and divine encounters. But I cannot do this work without meaningfully interacting with the people in our community. Being a good pastor requires being a good listener to both God and to the local church.

I try my very best to not work at all on Saturdays and Mondays. I try to set aside Saturdays for errands and Mondays for rest, but sometimes those bleed into each other. On those days, I don’t set my alarm and I allow myself to sleep in. I’ll go to the gym, do errands, read books, or play guitar. I live about 7 minutes away from the Central Library in Arlington which is super nice. I try to go there as much as I can. Sometimes I even work there.

Summer reading or movie recommendation? 

A couple of weeks ago, I finished reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It had been on my list for a while, and I decided to give it a try. She writes like Charles Dickens except she adds faeries and magic. It was a fun read. Bit of a slog, but definitely fun.

I then stumbled across this book titled Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson from a little lending library in my neighborhood. The basic thesis of the book is that our country needs to invent systems that promote invention and innovation in order to address our growing social needs like health, housing, and food scarcity. The conversation around housing and food scarcity was particularly fascinating and made me think about urban planning and farming.

Of course, the topic of farming naturally led me to think about Wendell Berry who is America’s perennial "farmer-writer." So I stopped reading Abundance and re-read Jayber Crow. Berry has a deep understanding of humanity’s connection to land and place, and it shines in this novel. 

So now I am currently on a Wendell Berry kick. I picked up The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays which is a collection of essays from the library. I read his essay “Health is Membership” and it just floored me, especially in light of the nursing home ministry we just took on. I have to read it like three more times. I also picked up his debut novel Nathan Coulter and that’s been my nighttime reading. I want to try to see if I can read his entire Port William series. 

As for movies, I highly recommend The Sheep Detectives. I saw this movie a few weeks ago with my housemate and was shocked at how good it was. This movie had no business being this good. It even got theological for a minute...

Also, The Odyssey directed by Christopher Nolan was well done. He did a pretty good job keeping to the themes of the text while putting his own spin on it. It makes me want to reread the Odyssey.

And of course, I highly recommend Galahad and the Grail by Malcolm Guite. Hope to see you tonight at Celtic House for our book discussion at 7:00pm! (2500 Columbia Pike, Arlington, VA 2220.)