Welcome to Pilgrimage Ministry
Ministry Services
Spiritual Direction
1-hour of one-on-one spiritual direction and companioning. Free ½ hour Introductory session included.
My version of spiritual direction is to offer an hour of deep listening to whatever is bringing energy to your life; deep listening for the movement of Spirit in your life. I also listen for the movement of the Spirit within me in order to be guided to ask questions or offer comments or perhaps just to let the silence be.
Ultimately, you are the guide of the hour for what we talk about and Spirit is the guide for where we go from there. I am there to hold the space and allow your life and your Inner Guide/Inner Teacher to emerge as you speak it into being.
Preaching
I’m available as a wedding officiant, too! I would love to discuss your wedding plans and reserve a date for the happy occasion.
I celebrate wedding ceremonies as a public celebration of love and focus the service and vows as such. I start with a collection of readings, poems, common wedding elements and from there we craft a service together that you and your family will enjoy and be proud of.
If desired, I also offer a few sessions of pre-marital counseling. The number of sessions will vary from couple to couple and will be cover topics like communication, family, finances, sex, religion, and any other topics important to you.
I also am available for funerals, celebrations of life, child namings and dedications, or any other rites of passage we can create together.
Wedding Officiant/ Rites of Passage
I’m available for Preaching/Pulpit Supply within a 2 hour drive of Richmond, VA.
My sermons and services lean toward the contemplative path. I see my niche in my faith of Unitarian Universalism to remind individuals and congregations of the spiritual side of life and of religious life. Too often we busy ourselves with the work of the community and of a broken world that we forget to savor the beauty of the world and to ground ourselves into the Center of our Being.
From that Center then we reach out into the community and world with whatever action we are called or invited into. Free from the internally or externally imposed standard of action only looking like some perfect activist warrior, we can more sustainably enter into action that fits us, as Frederick Buechner calls it, “the place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
Interfaith:
A couple of the sources of Unitarian Universalism are the following: "Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual lives" and "Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves." Through these sources, I am familiar with various world religious traditions. While I cannot claim expertise in these other traditions, I do have a comfort level talking about and within different traditions. From my faith tradition growing up and through study and experience, I am most familiar with Christianity, Buddhism and to a lesser degree Judaism. All are welcome here!
Humanist/Agnostic:
Another couple of sources are these: "Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit" and "Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love." Just as I am comfortable with the language of faith, I am also comfortable with the language of Humanism and reason. Belief in the God of Christianity or any other tradition is not a requirement by any means. Only a willingness to engage your journey with reverence, meaning, and wholeness. All are welcome here!
LBGT+:
As a hopeful LBGTQIA+ ally, I am committed to affirming and welcoming, with open and loving arms, all LBGTQIA+ folx seeking spiritual direction, weddings, unions, or any other rites of passage. Unitarian Universalist congregations are filled with LBGTQIA+ folx who have been harmed in ways large and small by previous religious communities. Add to that the current climate of uncertainty and a return to the bigotry and prejudice of the all too recent past, and LBGTQIA+ persons often have trouble finding spiritual care and community. All are welcome here!
About Pilgrimage Ministry
Why Pilgrimage?
During a gathering prayer early in my contemplative training, I heard the following prayer by George Appleton:
Give me a candle of the Spirit, O God
As I go down into the deep of my own being.
Show me the hidden things,
Take me down to the spring of my life,
And tell me my nature and my name
Give me freedom to grow so that
I may become my true self -
The fulfillment of the seed which
You planted in me at my making.
Out of the deep I cry unto Thee, O God.
Amen
As I reflected on and prayed about this reading, I imagined entering a dark and damp cave. As I went further in and down, I noticed a small pool of water illuminated by a single shaft of light from the cave ceiling. I imagined it as a magical kind of scene of discovery. As I neared the pool, I knelt beside it and placed my hands in the water. I asked, “What is my true nature and true name?” Out of the water emerged a wispy, smoky writing. It read clear as day, "Pilgrim."
I have held onto that image and that name for the years since that day. As I have looked into what pilgrim and pilgrimage mean, I found this meaningful description from Parker Palmer: "Most of us arrive at a sense of self and vocation only after a long journey through alien lands. But this journey bears no resemblance to the trouble-free 'travel package' sold by the tourism industry. It is more akin to the ancient tradition of pilgrimage – 'a transformative journey to a sacred center,' full of hardship, darkness, and peril.
"In the tradition of pilgrimage, those hardships are seen not as accidental but as integral to the journey itself. Treacherous terrain, bad weather, taking a fall, getting lost – challenges of that sort, largely beyond our control, can strip the ego of the illusion that it is in charge and make space for the true self to emerge.
"If that happens, the pilgrim has a better chance to find the sacred center [they] seek. Disabused of our illusions by much travel and travail, we awaken one day to find that the sacred center is here and now – in every moment of the journey, everywhere in the world around us, and deep within our own hearts."
I hope for nothing less than this in our time and relationship together. We may encounter hardship, darkness, and peril, but we will also find the joys of the journey as well. Through it all, we hope to make our way toward your sacred center. All that is required is a willingness to make the first step and join the other pilgrims on the journey.
(Many of the pictures on this site are of my pilgrimage trip to Iona, Scotland in August of 2025)
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