WARREN, MI – Sept. 27, 2021 – Amazing Grace Lutheran Church hosted a pandemic-delayed celebration of the ordination and installation of Susanna (née Burger) Muzzin as the congregation’s pastor with a worship service of installation followed by a catered luncheon in her honor on Sunday, Sept. 26, at the church in Warren, MI. Raised in Maine, she is the daughter of the late Jeanne and Jim Byers and sister of David Burger, all of South Paris, and a former
member of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Paris and Christ Episcopal Church in Norway, ME.
Among the approximately 100 well-wishers attending the installation were fellow pastors from neighboring churches as well as Amazing Grace members and other family and friends. Participating in the installation service were the Rev. Dr. Donald P. Kreiss, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – Southeast Michigan Synod; Pastor Jamey Authier of Faith Lutheran Church in Shelby Township, MI; two former pastors of Amazing Grace, Pastor Dave Parker of King of Kings Lutheran Church in Shelby Township and retired Rev. Dr. Scott R. McKinney; and Amazing Grace Congregational President Tom Gilbert.
“I’m passionate about sharing God’s love for all of creation through preaching, leading worship, working with Amazing Grace in the community, leading Bible studies, teaching confirmation, and more,” Pastor Susanna said. Pastor Susanna started her ministry at Amazing Grace in July 2019, as an intern pastor. After graduating from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, she was ordained in January 2021. Before coming to Amazing Grace, she led the Children, Youth, and Family Ministry at three Michigan churches: Antioch Lutheran Church and Hope Lutheran Church, both in Farmington Hills, and Christ Church Grosse Pointe Episcopal in Grosse Pointe Farms.
A native of Indiana who grew up in Maine, she graduated from Oxford Hills High School in South Paris in 1980, then earned degrees in History from Bates College in Lewiston, ME, and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She taught history in middle schools in Baltimore and the Detroit area for several years before answering the call to seminary. Pastor Susanna and her husband, Michael, who works in the electric vehicle battery industry, live in Farmington Hills. Their daughter, Elspeth, a 2021 graduate of Wayne State University with a Master’s degree in Social Work, works for an environmental nonprofit in Detroit.