/4/m_cover.gif?Expires=1729030391&Signature=OR8QPaIAj8O9YEuEOy4dsRorvNWb~GbRshsW~aOikQkJUk078V2XYi41-S4~D9BntC~iR~oVvojNqgqAr-cEDTntXdUD8Lh-1yTeni08TYukrtuqtqiF0uvGNm0z8NkCP7NTsQ~V-bkJtPCjTlUKtr3rM842P7z740KtTREH4EpdfZjSCPo6ijYTp2bMgQo4362l9jQGz41xKHuPyavuebhZf8B3qaRvTbB8FlAnBiqRf9E4A1J6crcUAzjcNm4l04J~dn5bXslMks4hqe11UStXRrC3I5ncxfvB1dbo5JOqCP2WtbheiX4pvlTNpFUMJIhHG1XoO61cGUUdL-9v8g__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIE5G5CRDK6RD3PGA)
In the summer of 2022, just after I attended the forty-second Oberammergau Passionsspiele, I heard from my parents that my childhood pastor, Reverend Donald Hinchey, would also be traveling there, with a group of congregants and friends. When I was asked if I might write about the Passion Play for this section of PAJ on spiritual matters, I proposed interviewing Pastor Hinchey. At Our Father Lutheran Church, in the southern suburbs of Denver in Colorado, Pastor Hinchey guided me through Confirmation (in the late nineties), ministered to me and my family when I was sick and hospitalized, and presided over the funerals of my grandparents. Hinchey retired as founding pastor of Our Father in 2010.
What follows are excerpts from a conversation with Pastor Hinchey on November 13, 2022, interspersed with my own reflections (in italics) on the experience of the Passion Play.
■
CORNISH: Why did you...