Cabin Fever “You’re now free to move about the cabin!” Words we live for when we’re trapped on an airplane in our 2X2 seats! In February, confined to my house by the snowy weather, I was more than ready to hear these precious words of freedom. My snowbound life gave
Continue readingThe Hidden Treasure In Change Rev. Cynthia Westby, Director of Religious Exploration Transition shakes up most of us. Change messes with the order of things we’ve gotten used to, feel comfortable with, and prefer to see remain the same. Change is often not pleasant or agreeable. There is, however, hidden treasure
Continue readingDifficult situations are gifts. Gifts we often resist and usually don’t appreciate. They teach us about our blind spots. . . if we stop and listen to what is happening inside us. You may want to return these gifts, but resist! Sticking with the feelings and experience pays off. When
Continue readingI’ve been finding grief catching me unawares lately. Any transition triggers feelings but usually it is bewildering and surprising when I realize I’m in the midst of a grief response to transition. Especially when the transition is happy. For me, there is the strange grief coming after my ordination. This
Continue readingAs we transition into fall, with this glorious weather, watching the leaves drift down into colorful piles on the ground, I am looking forward to a deepening richness in my position as DRE. I am excited to be ordained and it gives me great joy to be a minister! I
Continue readingI was ordained as an Interfaith Minister on Saturday, September 15th by the Chaplaincy Institute Interfaith Community in Berkeley, California. The beautiful, powerful two-hour long ceremony was held in the early evening at Christ Church in Berkeley. It was an emotional, deeply moving ceremony and I am thrilled to now
Continue reading4-5th graders did a wonderful, moving podcast about protecting wildlife last week in class! You can listen to their ideas and concerns about protecting wildlife below!
Continue readingIt is with great joy and excitement that I announce that I have graduated from the Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley and have been approved for ordination as an Interfaith Minister and chaplain. The ordination ceremony will be held on September 22, 2018 in Berkeley. In the world of Religious Exploration,
Continue readingBelow is the podcast our wonderfully caring 4th-5th grade class students wrote and recorded about fighting hatred. Please check it out!
Continue readingWhat if you woke up each morning to a poem instead of an alarm? Poet Naomi Shihab Nye, famous for her poem “Kindness” (you can read it here: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/kindness), woke her son up for years with poetry from poets all over the world. Always short, sometimes just a stanza of
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