My Life Journey and Call to Ministry
I was born and raised Unitarian Universalist, and I also grew up in the Unitarian Universalist Ministry. My mother served as a UU minister to 6 congregations (1 settled and 5 interim) and also as a District Executive. Through her ministry, I witnessed and learned about the rich experiences and challenges of congregational life, the complexities of systems and organizational dynamics, and the very real, critical impact of ministry on lives and communities. Ministry is in my blood and breath. I have only ever understood the world from a UU perspective, in service to the values and principles of our faith. However, it did take some time for me to come around to my own calling.
I was almost 13 when my family moved away from Winnipeg, as my mother was called to serve the Unitarian Church in Flint, Michigan. Flint is about as different from Winnipeg as a place could be, and my new inner-city school was nothing like the small French Immersion junior high I had come from. It wasn’t until years later that I had the words and insight to begin to understand my experience as a white, middle-class immigrant child, suddenly becoming a cultural, and racial minority, yet having incredible privilege in the deep system of injustice that is still prevalent in Flint. I approached this cultural shift with open curiosity and total naivety about race and economic justice issues. I was a shy, sensitive child, and tended to enjoy solitary activities. In Canada, I had spent summers at the lake, catching frogs with my brother, climbing trees, picking berries, swimming and sailing. I still return to the lakes in Canada in summers with my husband to go sailing, sometimes our dog comes with us too. I’ve always found nature to be a source of spiritual strength, and have sought out water or woods wherever I live. Life was very different in Flint.
My father returned to Winnipeg after just one year, during which my mother came out as a lesbian. I dove into the regional and national YRUU activities. The congregation was in a very challenging time, adding to the stress in our home. Following the divorce and some difficult teenage years, I returned to live in Canada. In my early 20’s, I became quite ill with intestinal disease, requiring many surgeries. After the first few hospitalizations, I came to admire the kindness and holistic impact of the nurses who cared for me and decided to become a nurse myself. My illness had me in and out of hospital several times during my nurses training, but I found these experiences helped me to process my own feelings and, ultimately, inform my empathy for others.
Through challenges in my youth and with my health, I’ve developed resilience, determination, and a deep willingness to accept whatever comes my way. These attributes served my nursing well, and continue to be a source of strength in my ministry.
I loved being a nurse. I discovered that being able to help people, to make a positive difference in their lives or deaths, is an amazing privilege. Teaching patients to cope with new situations, seeing people at their best and at their worst, offering dignity and respect, and helping to dispel fear are spiritual gifts that I received from nursing. Nursing helped to shape my understanding of my ability and need to serve.
I worked as a nurse in Los Angeles for a while, but didn't really feel at home in the city. I took up travel nursing, taking term assignments at different hospitals and moving around Canada and the United States. Hoboken, New Jersey, is where I met my husband, Michael, a Swiss Citizen on temporary work contract in the U.S. We married and relocated to Europe in 2005, moving for Michael’s work between Switzerland, Germany and Spain before settling in Switzerland in 2009. I've picked up German and a bit of Spanish, loads of rich multi-cultural experience, and now have dual Canadian and Swiss citizenship.
We tried to have children, but my medical issues had made pregnancy impossible for me, so we decided to enjoy our lives as a couple without children. This was a difficult loss to work through. We grieved together the possibilities that would never be, and then renewed our relationship with love for one another and dreams of a different future together.
I’d learned from moving around so much that I needed to be in community, and I was craving more spiritual connection than I could get through the English-speaking community center or my job with a medical journal publisher. I was surprised to realize that what I was missing in my Swiss home was a UU Church. It hadn’t occurred to me before, but then, I hadn’t been, “settled” anywhere for decades, and had been “churched” during my regular visits to wherever my mom was doing her ministry.
The Swiss, like other Western societies, increasingly identify as, “Nones”. I had heard stories from ex-pats (English-speaking immigrants) about how anti-gay and conservative their only religious options were. There was no place for progressive liberals who wanted to be with like-minded-people, to have their children learn values of compassion and love, to be able to act together towards justice in our world. With Basel’s history of Reformation thinkers like Erasmus von Rotterdam, Michael Servetus and others, there simply ought to be a Unitarian Universalist presence in Basel. Through a series of fortuitous connections and events, some may argue a case for divine intervention, one quick email contact led to another and within a month, in September, 2010, we had Basel’s first UU worship service with 5 people. Then we were 8, then 12, then 30. This "build it and they will come" approach was remarkably fruitful.
Things continued to move quickly. After starting UU Basel, I became involved with the European Unitarian Universalists (EUU) and then the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU). Attending conferences of diverse, multi-cultural Unitarians and Unitarian-Universalists as well as speaking with inter-faith clergy groups was not only a welcome challenge to my German language skills, but opened doors to become more engaged in Unitarianism in Europe. I felt an increased sense of calling and purpose as I became more involved in creating religious community and spiritual experiences in different contexts.
The 2013 UUA General Assembly was a transformational experience. It was, for me, a homecoming after a long absence, and my call to ministry became loud and clear. And I finally listened. I was already doing so much ministry work, I committed to do it well, with vision and competence, and the support of colleagues. With my husband, Michael’s loving encouragement, I applied right after that GA to Meadville Lombard to pursue an Mdiv.
With Meadville’s flexible learning model I was able to create internship experiences with 3 European congregations for one year, and then a second year at the Unitarian Church in Westport, CT, with over 400 members. I chose this second internship placement in order to gain as much experience as I could during formation to prepare me for whatever ministry I may be called to. My time in Westport affirmed my strength in ministerial leadership, preaching and pastoral care in a large, complex congregational system.
Since my ordination in 2017, I have been developing an entrepreneurial consulting ministry, serving multiple congregations in many ways around Europe. It has been busy and interesting, but I have found myself longing to be in a community where my strengths and calling can be fully engaged, where I can connect and care for people and watch things change over time. I am at my best when immersed in an active, complex congregational system where there are many ways to serve and minister. In 2019, my husband and I decided to part ways, and I returned to Canada to pursue my ministry calling in North America. I worked for 6 months as a chaplain at Winnipeg's St. Boniface Hospital, and found this deeply rewarding during challenging early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. I have also been fortunate to be able to serve some of our Canadian congregations since returning to Canada, providing consulting, worship and sabbatical support in several settings. In the summer of 2020, I drove from Winnipeg across prairies and mountains, to begin a two-year interim ministry with the Unitarian Church of Vancouver, B.C.
My journey has been laced with tremendous challenges and personal loss which have made me sensitive to the harder realities of life and about resiliency. I have always been able to find a source of hope, a spark of light. Sometimes in nature, in spiritual practice, in other people, in music or words, but most often deep within myself, that place that only knows how to go on being. It is Life itself. Once, in a dark place of despair early in my illness, a nurse wisely advised me to accept that I was not in control of my medical condition, but I was in control of how I responded to it, and could choose how to live with it. I held onto those words like a mantra when needed. I choose life. We are resilient and adaptive creatures, inherently good, worthy and loving. My healed wounds are my strength, and also my soft place of empathy.
My calling is about building community, about belonging, making the world a better place through religious association and dialogue, about bringing hope in place of despair, providing a place for people in search of a faith tradition that can hold and sustain them on their life’s journey.
My aim is to create bridges between cultures and faiths, to strengthen and heal our world through justice, compassion and diversity.
My ministry is one of presence, of caring, of healing and resilience.
It is in my blood and in my breath.
I was almost 13 when my family moved away from Winnipeg, as my mother was called to serve the Unitarian Church in Flint, Michigan. Flint is about as different from Winnipeg as a place could be, and my new inner-city school was nothing like the small French Immersion junior high I had come from. It wasn’t until years later that I had the words and insight to begin to understand my experience as a white, middle-class immigrant child, suddenly becoming a cultural, and racial minority, yet having incredible privilege in the deep system of injustice that is still prevalent in Flint. I approached this cultural shift with open curiosity and total naivety about race and economic justice issues. I was a shy, sensitive child, and tended to enjoy solitary activities. In Canada, I had spent summers at the lake, catching frogs with my brother, climbing trees, picking berries, swimming and sailing. I still return to the lakes in Canada in summers with my husband to go sailing, sometimes our dog comes with us too. I’ve always found nature to be a source of spiritual strength, and have sought out water or woods wherever I live. Life was very different in Flint.
My father returned to Winnipeg after just one year, during which my mother came out as a lesbian. I dove into the regional and national YRUU activities. The congregation was in a very challenging time, adding to the stress in our home. Following the divorce and some difficult teenage years, I returned to live in Canada. In my early 20’s, I became quite ill with intestinal disease, requiring many surgeries. After the first few hospitalizations, I came to admire the kindness and holistic impact of the nurses who cared for me and decided to become a nurse myself. My illness had me in and out of hospital several times during my nurses training, but I found these experiences helped me to process my own feelings and, ultimately, inform my empathy for others.
Through challenges in my youth and with my health, I’ve developed resilience, determination, and a deep willingness to accept whatever comes my way. These attributes served my nursing well, and continue to be a source of strength in my ministry.
I loved being a nurse. I discovered that being able to help people, to make a positive difference in their lives or deaths, is an amazing privilege. Teaching patients to cope with new situations, seeing people at their best and at their worst, offering dignity and respect, and helping to dispel fear are spiritual gifts that I received from nursing. Nursing helped to shape my understanding of my ability and need to serve.
I worked as a nurse in Los Angeles for a while, but didn't really feel at home in the city. I took up travel nursing, taking term assignments at different hospitals and moving around Canada and the United States. Hoboken, New Jersey, is where I met my husband, Michael, a Swiss Citizen on temporary work contract in the U.S. We married and relocated to Europe in 2005, moving for Michael’s work between Switzerland, Germany and Spain before settling in Switzerland in 2009. I've picked up German and a bit of Spanish, loads of rich multi-cultural experience, and now have dual Canadian and Swiss citizenship.
We tried to have children, but my medical issues had made pregnancy impossible for me, so we decided to enjoy our lives as a couple without children. This was a difficult loss to work through. We grieved together the possibilities that would never be, and then renewed our relationship with love for one another and dreams of a different future together.
I’d learned from moving around so much that I needed to be in community, and I was craving more spiritual connection than I could get through the English-speaking community center or my job with a medical journal publisher. I was surprised to realize that what I was missing in my Swiss home was a UU Church. It hadn’t occurred to me before, but then, I hadn’t been, “settled” anywhere for decades, and had been “churched” during my regular visits to wherever my mom was doing her ministry.
The Swiss, like other Western societies, increasingly identify as, “Nones”. I had heard stories from ex-pats (English-speaking immigrants) about how anti-gay and conservative their only religious options were. There was no place for progressive liberals who wanted to be with like-minded-people, to have their children learn values of compassion and love, to be able to act together towards justice in our world. With Basel’s history of Reformation thinkers like Erasmus von Rotterdam, Michael Servetus and others, there simply ought to be a Unitarian Universalist presence in Basel. Through a series of fortuitous connections and events, some may argue a case for divine intervention, one quick email contact led to another and within a month, in September, 2010, we had Basel’s first UU worship service with 5 people. Then we were 8, then 12, then 30. This "build it and they will come" approach was remarkably fruitful.
Things continued to move quickly. After starting UU Basel, I became involved with the European Unitarian Universalists (EUU) and then the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU). Attending conferences of diverse, multi-cultural Unitarians and Unitarian-Universalists as well as speaking with inter-faith clergy groups was not only a welcome challenge to my German language skills, but opened doors to become more engaged in Unitarianism in Europe. I felt an increased sense of calling and purpose as I became more involved in creating religious community and spiritual experiences in different contexts.
The 2013 UUA General Assembly was a transformational experience. It was, for me, a homecoming after a long absence, and my call to ministry became loud and clear. And I finally listened. I was already doing so much ministry work, I committed to do it well, with vision and competence, and the support of colleagues. With my husband, Michael’s loving encouragement, I applied right after that GA to Meadville Lombard to pursue an Mdiv.
With Meadville’s flexible learning model I was able to create internship experiences with 3 European congregations for one year, and then a second year at the Unitarian Church in Westport, CT, with over 400 members. I chose this second internship placement in order to gain as much experience as I could during formation to prepare me for whatever ministry I may be called to. My time in Westport affirmed my strength in ministerial leadership, preaching and pastoral care in a large, complex congregational system.
Since my ordination in 2017, I have been developing an entrepreneurial consulting ministry, serving multiple congregations in many ways around Europe. It has been busy and interesting, but I have found myself longing to be in a community where my strengths and calling can be fully engaged, where I can connect and care for people and watch things change over time. I am at my best when immersed in an active, complex congregational system where there are many ways to serve and minister. In 2019, my husband and I decided to part ways, and I returned to Canada to pursue my ministry calling in North America. I worked for 6 months as a chaplain at Winnipeg's St. Boniface Hospital, and found this deeply rewarding during challenging early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. I have also been fortunate to be able to serve some of our Canadian congregations since returning to Canada, providing consulting, worship and sabbatical support in several settings. In the summer of 2020, I drove from Winnipeg across prairies and mountains, to begin a two-year interim ministry with the Unitarian Church of Vancouver, B.C.
My journey has been laced with tremendous challenges and personal loss which have made me sensitive to the harder realities of life and about resiliency. I have always been able to find a source of hope, a spark of light. Sometimes in nature, in spiritual practice, in other people, in music or words, but most often deep within myself, that place that only knows how to go on being. It is Life itself. Once, in a dark place of despair early in my illness, a nurse wisely advised me to accept that I was not in control of my medical condition, but I was in control of how I responded to it, and could choose how to live with it. I held onto those words like a mantra when needed. I choose life. We are resilient and adaptive creatures, inherently good, worthy and loving. My healed wounds are my strength, and also my soft place of empathy.
My calling is about building community, about belonging, making the world a better place through religious association and dialogue, about bringing hope in place of despair, providing a place for people in search of a faith tradition that can hold and sustain them on their life’s journey.
My aim is to create bridges between cultures and faiths, to strengthen and heal our world through justice, compassion and diversity.
My ministry is one of presence, of caring, of healing and resilience.
It is in my blood and in my breath.
