A Leap of Faith

This website marks a major life shift for me. I have been living and working in Western Mass for the last eighteen years, and just a couple of months ago I moved back to my hometown to care for my aging mom. Much has changed since the new millennium began, both in the world and in me. Coming home presents me with an interesting mix of nostalgia and novelty, and I expect it will take a while for me to feel like I have found any kind of balance or stability in this new/old setting.

Some of the things I have decided to do to help myself find that balance are:

- to focus more intentionally on my own art work,

- to be deliberate in connecting myself with communities and ministries that resonate with my sense of my own calling,

- and to construct this website as a way of creating focus within myself and allow others to see the kinds of things I have done up to this point.

This move constitutes a real leap of faith. I arrived with no job or job prospects. My partner and I moved into an apartment we had only seen once, very briefly, which was owned by a landlord we didn't know who was in the process of selling the property. Both of us were dealing with a number of chronic health issues and we were walking away from established relationships with medical professionals who knew our histories and entering an area where primary care providers were very hard to find. Thankfully, all of these issues have been mostly resolved. I have a part time job that is less than perfect, but tolerable. The apartment has been working out alright and the sale of the property has not created any major problems yet. And we have, after a rather lengthy search, been able to find primary care providers who are close enough to be manageable.

This move also comes at an interesting time in my faith journey. My time in the Berkshires offered many opportunities for experimentation and growth. I worked for many years at a rather large theater as a costume technician and designer. This was the job that took me there. But during that time I built a relationship with a local Episcopal church, St. Stephen's, and was called to be their Artist in Residence.

Chalk on the Walk at St. Stephen's

I had done creative work with churches before, but never in such a deliberate way. During that time I also connected with a gay men's spiritual retreat center, Easton Mountain, and, after attending and helping out with many retreats, I became part of a short-lived brotherhood of Gay men seeking ways of living an intentional spiritual life within the Christian tradition that was not based on the body-negative theology so prevalent in mainstream Christianity.

the Brothers of the Incarnation

That lasted for about three years, and I was on staff at the church for about five years, and shortly after that job ended my job with the theater ended. At that point a number of things came together and I realized that there was no reason for me to stay in the Berkshires. I was free to do what ever I wanted. What I wanted was to go to seminary to get a theological foundation for the religious art I had been creating. I had no money and at my age I wasn't about to go into debt with student loans, so this change in direction also constituted a leap of faith. I ended up going to Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, where I got a master's in theology. While attending seminary a local UCC church, South Church, took me on as a summer intern to offer art activities to the patrons of their food pantry and weekly meal. I was also to help with a weekly outdoor worship service and meal aimed at providing a religious community for those dealing with poverty and homelessness. The job was meant to last for three months, but, because we were such a good fit, they kept me on for two and a half years.

Cathedral of the Beloved

That is what has led me here. I have no doubt that at this moment I am in the place I need to be. less than a week after arriving my mom ended up in the hospital with a mild heart attack, and since then she has been there twice more. In the short time we have been here We have visited a number of worshiping communities and are feeling quite welcome and at home with all of them. I am beginning to see opportunities for ministry on the horizon, and I have been able to set up a studio in the apartment so I can take up painting on a more serious level than I have for quite a while. I don't know what God has in store for us up here, but I have no doubt it will be interesting.