All Saints, Pasadena is the nest from which I flew. It was in the particular and savory alchemy of music, social justice, and transformational preaching that my own call to priesthood was born, nurtured by so many incredible women (and a few men!): Franny Hall Kieschnick, Maggie Cunningham, Wilma Jacobsen, Anne Peterson, Zelda Kennedy, Susan Russell, and Sarah Nichols to name a few. All Saints was a hard place to leave. There is no other Episcopal church like it.

At first that was a painful reality to accept, but then I kept hearing God’s still, small voice saying, “I didn’t call you to stay at All Saints. I called you to take All Saints out into the world, wherever you are.”  Since graduating from seminary in May of 2007, I have served for seven years at Christ Church in Alexandria, VA. I have facilitated a powerful initiative here to explore our welcome and inclusion of LGBT people and presided at the first blessing of a same-gender relationship last spring: a huge step for the parish where George Washington worshipped!

I have developed and taught in several formats my own brand of yoga, meditation and the Holy Spirit, called Finding God in Your Body. Using my multi-cultural training, I have worked for reconciliation between clergy and church musicians, writing and appearing in an award-wining DVD, called Creating Worship that Works. I have preached courageous sermons and led pilgrimages to the Holy Land, all passions that grew from seeds planted in the fertile soil of All Saints, Pasadena.

I now bloom elsewhere, am but fully aware that I am able to do so because of the women whose fearlessness and call to serve God from the other side the altar would not be stopped.