Meet Rev. Michelle Vecchio-Lyzenga
I’m an accidental pastor, a sometimes-successful gardener, a book-lover, and a native Californian who, like Bilbo Baggins, journeyed “there and back again” to the Midwest and East Coast - and am delighted to be home.
I was raised in the Central Valley in a boisterous Italian-American family where stories were sacred, conversations were loud, and love showed up with food. Somewhere between dinner tables and soup kitchens, saints disguised as church moms, questions I didn’t know how to answer, and God who kept widening the circle of who belongs, I found my way into ministry.
I studied English literature because I love story, accidentally fell in love with Scripture, and somehow followed both all the way to Princeton Seminary. Along the way, I learned that faith grows not by being tidied up, but by being practiced—through shared life, shared questions, and shared work for the good of the world. I love the church not as a polished institution, but as a brave, imperfect community of radical welcome, shared belonging, and deep participation—a place where we tell the truth, keep the table open, love our neighbors for real, laugh often, and keep showing up for one another.
For the past ten years, I’ve made my ministry home at First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, most recently as Associate Pastor for Christian Formation, helping those across the ages and stages live their faith right in the middle of the lives they actually live.
I’m married to John, also a Presbyterian pastor who keeps me laughing and reminds me daily what grace looks like. Together we’re raising three spirited sons - Sam (6), Jonah (3), and James (10 months) - the most profound theologians we’ve met who keep our theology practical and our churches honest.
Our giant black lab, Hildie (named for the Christian mystic Hildegard of Bingen because…two pastors), embodies for us that there is nowhere we can go where the Holy Spirit - and she - will not follow.
We live in Castro Valley, where we enjoy walks to school, rotating Sunday dinners with friends, and regular bounces in our shared neighborhood bounce house. Because why rent when you can co-own?
I love novels, crowded dinner tables, wedding dance floors, the Gospel of Luke, unruly gardens that remind me how little I control, and conversations that start somewhere ordinary and wander into holy ground. I believe the church doesn’t need to be perfect—it just needs to be honest, brave, and willing to love each other all the way through. I’m grateful to be learning that work alongside God’s people.
STATEMENT OF FAITH
Rev. Michelle Vecchio-Lyzenga
I place my life and trust in a triune God who has existed eternally as Parent, Son, and Holy Spirit. I trust that this tri-personal, inter-related God lovingly created the world and all that is in it to be in intimate relationship with Godself, looking upon it with delight and calling it “very good.” I trust that this good creation was distorted when humanity sinned, turning from God and God’s good intention for us by seeking self-sovereignty. I trust that as a result of this willful turning, humanity’s relationships—with God, one another, and the rest of creation—have been fragmented. Where God longed for intimacy, faithfulness, and stewardship for the sake of flourishing, there is instead estrangement, infidelity, and exploitation.
Nevertheless, I trust that in God's extravagant love, God did not forsake humanity but instead set about a divine mission to bring us and all creation back into right relationship with God and one another. I trust that God set about this mission by forming a covenantal relationship with a particular people, not because of their own merit but because of God’s great grace. I trust that this divine mission and covenantal relationship culminated in a particular event—God’s incarnation in the person Jesus, the Christ. I trust that through his life, Jesus—fully God and fully human—fulfilled God’s intention for us and, through his death and resurrection, bridged the divide between Godself and us caused by sin, reconciling the two. I trust that following Jesus’ ascension, the Holy Spirit was given to draw, equip, encourage, and exhort God’s people to witness to the good news that, through Christ, we are reconciled with God.
I trust that God’s reconciling mission in the world is not yet complete; that God is in the process of bringing all creation back into right relationship with Godself. I trust that Christ will return, fully establishing God’s reign and kin-dom on earth. In the meantime, I am convinced that the Christian life is not simply about “Jesus and me” and a future heavenly zip code but has radical implications for our social and ecological relationships here and now. I trust that through the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, God graciously invites, unites, and equips us to participate in God’s mission as beloved agents of reconciliation.
I trust that the beauty of the Christian calling is that God invites us to participate in the coming kingdom just as we are—fractured and flawed—and just as God has created us to be—uniquely gifted and poised for witness. I trust that the joy of the Christian calling is that we are not called alone. We are part of a global community of faith through whom God has worked and is working and with whom we are united at the font and table to be taken, blessed, broken, and given to the world, praying in word and deed, “Your kingdom come, Lord, your will be done.”
