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My Journey Thus Far:

I am an ordained Episcopal deacon , currently serving in-person at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Longview, Washington and online for Saint Columba’s Church & Retreat House in Inverness, California. I hold a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) degree from Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP), part of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and was ordained in November, 2019 at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. I have served in the Diocese of California on the Commission on Ministry, the Board of Trustees for the School for Deacons (a great source if you want to learn more about who deacons are and what we do) and as president of the Marin County Deanery. My master’s thesis in seminary was in the area of Queer Theology and how congregations can better extend welcome and support to people who are Queer-/LGBT-identified.

I am a Queer, Progressive Christian who believes in the validity of all religious paths and have been a student of world religions for as long as I can remember. I came to the Episcopal Church by way of a rather eclectic combination of discovery, study, practice and worship, and I incorporate much of what I learned through different spiritual teachings into who I am as an Episcopalian. My preferred address is “Deacon Ari” and my pronouns are she/her.

Church Nerd Stuff:

I moved to a homestead in rural SW Washington in April of 2023 and began serving at St. Stephen’s on Ash Wednesday 2024 (one of my favorite liturgical days of the year). I look forward to increasing my participation there and serving in the local community as well as liturgically.

In addition to serving liturgically and preaching, I help to lead a Noonday Prayer and discussion on Wednesdays via Zoom through the Virtual Chapel  at St. Columba’s and incorporate elements from the Celtic Christian tradition. In addition to in-person Eucharistic services, I often preside at an 11am Morning Prayer service, offered online via participatory Zoom conferencing – Please join us!

My “sending” parish was All Souls Episcopal in Berkeley – this is the church community that baptized and formed me, and helped me to discern a call to ordained ministry. My Field Education parish was The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, also in Berkeley. I served there as a deacon-in-training, assisting during the Eucharist, at a local senior living center, and in the neighborhood. I was trained through Sojourn Chaplaincy at San Francisco General Hospital and worked with inmates in the San Francisco County jail system through Grace Cathedral’s jail ministry program.

Music Nerd Stuff:

I was raised in and around the music industry and musical theater. As a member of All Souls’ Music Ministry, I sang (and played bodhran, darbouka and washboard) with the old-timey Angel Band and before that I was a member of the Glide Ensemble (many years ago) at Glide Church in San Francisco. As a teen and in my early 20s I developed a love for Irish and English folk music through many years of working Renaissance Faire in Northern and Southern California. I still sing and play music when I get the chance.

Some Great Books:

There are SO MANY wonderful books on Christian spirituality and practice that I would like to recommend; if you feel like requesting one for a specific concern, please let me know. I will share with you here (in no particular order) a few that I consider to be at the core of my own study and practice; books that have brought me to where I am, fed my spirit, accompanied or uplifted me and helped me through challenges:

  • The Heart of Christianity, Marcus Borg.
  • Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, Marcus Borg
  • Take This Bread, Sara Miles
  • Accidental Saints, Nadia Bolz-Weber
  • Living on the Border of the Holy, L. William Countryman
  • Troublemaker, Vicki Gray
  • Contemplating Christ, Vincent Pizzuto
  • A Book of Psalms, Stephen Mitchell