Venice – On March 11, 2015, the SunCoast Cathedral Metropolitan Community Church suffered a shocking loss when Rev. Dr. Sherry Lee Kennedy passed away unexpectedly.
“This is a gigantic loss for whole community,” said church member David Phillips. “She was well loved and respected. She spoke so well and had so much faith, and she knew the Bible inside out.”
“Rev. Sherry,” as she preferred to be called, was born May 28, 1952, in Weston, W.Va. She had a longstanding MCC history, serving as pastor in Morgantown, W.Va., and Buffalo, N.Y. Additionally, she served as interim pastor in Albany, N.Y. She and her former partner, Daryl Kennedy, later moved to Florida with their daughter, Amanda.
Rev. Sherry became assistant pastor at the Sarasota MCC and founded SunCoastMCC on Feb. 19, 1995. She and 78 others—a denomination record—held their first church meeting at the Venice Days Inn. Members recently celebrated the church’s 20th anniversary Feb. 27 through March 1.
Outside of her pastoral life, Rev. Sherry was a geriatric social worker and taught high school and college. She also performed the first same-sex marriage in Venice on Jan. 6, 2015, and recently led the “Would Jesus Discriminate?” campaign.
“We’re so blessed she got to be with us for the anniversary and preach the next week,” Susie Brenner, program developer, said. “I was just thinking on my way to work this morning that we are blessed to have heard her one last time.”
March 15 marked the congregation’s first Sunday since Rev. Sherry’s death. MCC members wanted it to be a worship service, not a memorial service. The congregation left her seat vacant with her Bible opened to her favorite verse, Jeremiah 29:11, which reads, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
“You could cut the grief with a knife,” Brenner said.
Phillips said Rev. Sherry always performed her sermons with enthusiasm and belief, and no one walked out without having learned something.
The feeling was mutual. In an interview with Watermark last month, Rev. Sherry talked about her congregation: “These people really are an amazing group of people—they are committed, resilient and grounded. Of all the churches I’ve pastored, they’re heads above all.”
In addition to being a skilled pastor, Rev. Sherry was also a jokester. Liz Bisordi, a church member, described her as one of the funniest people she had ever known.
“Her hijinks were hilarious!” Bisordi said. “She was really a 12-year-old boy at heart—always telling practical jokes and pulling pranks. Like if someone was in the restroom, she would go in and turn off the lights.”
Brenner recalled one of Rev. Sherry’s most recent comical moments from the anniversary celebration.
“There is a picture of Sherry [and others] in the photo booth with crazy hats and crazy hair. She was being crazy right along with them and had blue hair on,” Brenner recalled. “She might not have been feeling well, but no one would have ever known it.”
Rev. Sherry had a gift not only for humor, but also for inspiring others.
“She had an intuition and always saw in people they didn’t yet see in themselves,” Brenner said. “She helped me be the person God wanted me to be.”
Even when it came to disagreements, Rev. Sherry had a way of handling herself that commanded respect, Bisordi said.
“Sometimes we’d go at it because we both have strong personalities,” Bisordi said. “She always said ‘iron sharpens iron.’ She made me a better person and said I made her a better person. She challenged me and made me think.”
Bisordi also described Rev. Sherry as a “shrewd negotiator” and an exceptional businesswoman. During the rebuild, she always found resources for funding even when it seemed hopeless.
“She was so proud of her church,” Bisordi said. “Standing in the new building for the first time with her was a remarkable experience. After getting through the valley and the wilderness, we finally got to the promised land.”
The next step for the church will be finding an interim pastor, who is trained to help with the grieving process, for 12 to 18 months. After this transitional period, a search committee will seek out a new pastor.
Rev. Sherry’s memorial service will take place on March 18 at 4 p.m. at SunCoast Cathedral MCC. Church members will sing Ray Boltz’s “Thank You,” a song they sang with her at the anniversary celebration.
“There is a line that says, ‘Thank you for giving to the Lord. I am a life that was changed,’” Brenner said. “I was a life that was changed by her.”
In lieu of flowers, Rev. Sherry’s family requested donations be made to St. Francis Animal Rescue of Venice.
