I thought recently that maybe I should tell the story of my ministry.
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I've always been intrigued by religion, but that wasn't what motivated me to become a minister.
In fact, I kindof became a minister by accident.
A few years after grad school, I was working at an architecture firm renown for their religious design, when I lived in Virginia. Our boss recommended that we study whatever religion we were... with a real commitment to coming to understand their design sensibilities, even encouraging us to look at seminary. Being a Unitarian, I got super involved with my church's lay ministry and ended up doing about 200 hours of training, including leading my own classes in Finding your Spiritual Voice.
At around the same time, it was legal, and still may be, for any person who wasn't a licensed minister to marry one couple each year in Virginia. A couple of friends wanted to get married and they asked me if I would perform the wedding, since I was "their most spiritual friend". I thought that was kindof awesome, and I was intrigued by pulling off a at-home wedding as they were, so I said yes and helped them pull off what I thought to be an incredibly rad day.
Guests at the wedding asked if I would do their wedding too, but it wasn't legal for me to do weddings without a license, so I got one.
And from there, it grew and grew. By word of mouth, mostly. I never advertised, though I did have a website when I was doing weddings in Vail.
Some of my couples and their families are still my dear friends and I relish the fact that I got to be there to stand witness for them. Some have divorced, and some have had babies, and some have lost loved ones, had surgeries... all the things a minister witnesses for any family. And I am still there cheering them on, through whatever comes.
It's a fabulous blessing, this life. I'm glad I got to do that.
And I'm glad knowing I'll do it again. ; )
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I've always been intrigued by religion, but that wasn't what motivated me to become a minister.
In fact, I kindof became a minister by accident.
A few years after grad school, I was working at an architecture firm renown for their religious design, when I lived in Virginia. Our boss recommended that we study whatever religion we were... with a real commitment to coming to understand their design sensibilities, even encouraging us to look at seminary. Being a Unitarian, I got super involved with my church's lay ministry and ended up doing about 200 hours of training, including leading my own classes in Finding your Spiritual Voice.
At around the same time, it was legal, and still may be, for any person who wasn't a licensed minister to marry one couple each year in Virginia. A couple of friends wanted to get married and they asked me if I would perform the wedding, since I was "their most spiritual friend". I thought that was kindof awesome, and I was intrigued by pulling off a at-home wedding as they were, so I said yes and helped them pull off what I thought to be an incredibly rad day.
Guests at the wedding asked if I would do their wedding too, but it wasn't legal for me to do weddings without a license, so I got one.
And from there, it grew and grew. By word of mouth, mostly. I never advertised, though I did have a website when I was doing weddings in Vail.
Some of my couples and their families are still my dear friends and I relish the fact that I got to be there to stand witness for them. Some have divorced, and some have had babies, and some have lost loved ones, had surgeries... all the things a minister witnesses for any family. And I am still there cheering them on, through whatever comes.
It's a fabulous blessing, this life. I'm glad I got to do that.
And I'm glad knowing I'll do it again. ; )
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