The Reverend Michael Hinson

Middle School Chaplain, Religion Teacher, Friend
In Loving Memory, 1963-2021

The Reverend Michael Hinson, Middle School chaplain and religion teacher, died on November 13. Rev. Hinson, husband to Jane and father of Lauren ’14 and Sam ’17, was in his 30th year of service to St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School. 

The Reverend Michael Hinson

Lovingly referred to as “Rev” by his students and colleagues, Rev. Hinson was a compassionate mentor, teacher, and friend. Whether he was sitting on a bench beside you or addressing a room full of students, Rev had a way of making each of us feel like the only person in the world. His love for those around him was evident in every single thing he did; being in his presence, even if just for a moment, was a true gift. Yet Rev would say that it was he who was blessed—that his family, his friends, and his students had enriched his life and given him his purpose. 

“The depth of this loss is extraordinary and our hearts are broken,” Head of School Kirsten Adams wrote in her message to the community. “Rev was loved deeply by this community, and we know many will feel his absence acutely.”

On November 18 a beautiful memorial service was held at the Upper School. Students, faculty, staff, parents, and former teachers and colleagues came together to celebrate Rev. Hinson’s life, remember him, and share memories of a man who greatly impacted our community. Rev. Hinson was a colleague, a teacher, a friend, a counselor, and a priest to many, not just on the Middle School campus, but throughout the school and beyond. He touched innumerable lives with his kind and loving spirit, laughter, and genuine care, and made them better.

“This week there have been times when the light around us has felt dimmer,” said Mrs. Adams during the service. “There have been moments when without his thoughtful counsel and compassion, we have felt lost. Yet as we have come together to talk and remember him, we have been buoyed by his persistent, unconditional love and care, even though he is physically no longer with us.”

 The Rev. Sean Cavanaugh, Religion Department chair and ES-12 chaplain, spoke in honor of Rev. Hinson at his Celebration and Memorial Service. The following excerpts are from Rev. Cavanaugh’s homily.

I have been hearing so many stories about our brother Michael these last few days, stories about his compassion and empathy for those in this community. In fact, I have heard so many stories that it has become apparent to me that he shared himself with this community in the deepest and most profound way possible. This is particularly true with his vocation in the Middle school where he spent the majority of his 30 years while at SSSAS. Our brother Michael, shared his gifts as a teacher and a priest with generation after generation of Middle School students.

When I say that he shared his gifts with this community, I mean that he really shared his full humanity with his students. Not just the church parts, but the parts that made Michael who he was. He was also someone who loved and loved deeply, whether it was his love of rock ‘n’ roll, his love of the Georgia Bulldogs, or his extraordinary love for his wife and children. Our brother Michael understood the importance of bearing one another’s burdens and difficulties. 

Another thing that Michael absolutely loved was to laugh, and make others laugh within this community. I think most who knew Michael well knew that his love of laughter came from his strong belief that love could heal the wounds that pester humanity. That laughter was his way of saying to each of us, that no matter what you are facing in this life, it’s going to be okay.

Michael also had this uncanny ability to remain curious about life and the world around him. I think this curiosity and willingness to remain a child at heart is what made him one of the best middle school priests the Episcopal Church has probably ever seen…

There were so many other things that I and others appreciated and admired about our brother Michael. One of the most profound of these admirations was Rev. Hinson’s ability to connect with his full humanity. Michael was not trying to be anything else in this world other than himself, and in turn he wanted his students to become fully themselves as well…Michael so wanted his students and colleagues to be fully who God had made them to be. Michael could have cared less about any notion of perfection. He wanted his students to know that he saw in them the beautiful pieces that made them a whole person, even if they were afraid that those pieces were not good enough to share with others…

What I found so honest and even inspiring about our brother Michael was that he ran towards his humanity. He ran towards it with a full abandonment that I was in awe of. Michael really did get to that sweet place in life where he basically said this is who I am and you know what, I love who I am, I love who God has made me. It was because Michael fully embraced his own humanity that he was able to embrace the humanity of others. It was precisely because he ran towards himself fully with all of the things that made him who he was, his love of sports, of music, his family, his curiosity, and his love of laughter. 

Michael also embraced the things in his life that created challenges for him, in particular the things he didn’t like. Our brother Michael for instance, did not like sitting, lord knows he also did not like meetings, and he was not big on planning. He also loved to wing things, especially his homilies…

…One of the other things I’ve heard over the last few days as people have gathered to remember our brother Michael, is that he seemed to have this uncanny ability to know when someone was hurting or needed a friend. In fact, he often approached a hurting student or colleague in a way that allowed that person to begin to get in touch with both the pain and the hope in their lives. I think Michael was able to do this because he really did want to help heal the world, and he fundamentally believed that most things in life could be healed when one person cared about another one…

…One of Michael’s most distinctive traits, at least to me, was that he didn’t always like being governed by the clock. There were times he would call me at the end of the day, often on Friday at 5 p.m., after a long week to simply check in with me towards the end of the day and I would think Michael really? Could we not have done this on Wednesday or Thursday? But inevitably I always felt better after talking to him, because he didn’t really care so much about what time it was in an ordinary way. For him it was almost always God’s time, a time for connecting with those he loved. Unfortunately, we have had our time cut short with Michael, and I am not ready for that to happen. 

And this is what we mourn today, we wanted more time with Michael, his children wanted more time with their father, Jane wanted more time with her husband.

I will end with this. Michael’s priesthood was very much a priesthood modeled on the image of a shepherd. One of the most important jobs of a shepherd is to find people, to find the lost. Over and over again Jesus talks about shepherds as being fundamentally committed to that one part of the flock who left and needs help in returning back to the community. I think one of Michael’s greatest gifts was that he was constantly finding people. He was constantly finding people who lost the ability to love themselves and he let them know that they were found… 

…Father Hinson’s life does not end with this homily or this gathering today. It lives in each of his students, his family, and his colleagues. It lives in the faith and hope that Michael shared with those he loved, it lives on as long as we share that faith and hope with one another.