Faith

I didn’t grow up in a churchy family. In fact, there was a lot of disconnect regarding religion. My great grandfather was Lutheran, but more of a Deist than anything, my great grandmother was Catholic, but not practicing. As a result, neither my grandmother or her siblings were particularly religious. When she married my grandfather, they were married by a Lutheran minister. My grandfather went through 12 years of Catholic school, and was opposed to organized religion. That trickled down to my mother and aunt, neither of whom were particularly jazzed about church. I did get baptized and received my early sacraments and went to CCD, but we never went to church regularly.


When I was about 6 or 7, some older kids were bullying me and I ran into the rectory yard for St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church. Rev. Anderson was outside and he shooed away the bullies. After that, I began to visit him regularly with a host of religious questions for him. I even got to help polish church pews and other things, which for a little girl was a big thrill. It was the openness of talking about God, I didn’t know if that was a Rev. Anderson thing or if that was how it was overall, but it captured my attention and made me thirst for more.

I am grateful for Rev. Anderson, spending time teaching a little girl who wasn’t even a parishioner, about God, Jesus, and why we do what we do in churchLater as a teenager, I was active at Christ Church, where my faith was encouraged and strengthened As I went off to college, I drifted in and out of different denominations, trying to see where I fit, and I wound up back at the Episcopal Church time and again. It was like I was being called home, but I wasn’t in any big hurry to get there. In my mid 20’s I had a relationship end that just knocked the wind out of my sails and my dad got diagnosed with terminal cancer, and then died. I was lost, and I remember sitting on the floor in my bedroom in the dark, crying out for the Lord.

He answered me, and the next day I went to evening prayer at Trinity Church.

I never looked back.

I knew from a young age I was called to teach and work with youth, and at one point even considered ordained ministry. It was because of the time Rev. Anderson spent with me as a child a strong foundation was laid. Today, I living out the ministry God called me to when I was a child myself. I found my calling in implementing a worship service for sensory challenged individuals, including my own son. It was because I had to go through the trials and tribulations I did to come out on this side of things and see why I needed that journey of faith.