When I tell someone that I am an Interfaith minister, people often ask me if I got ordained online. It always makes me giggle – the concept of an Interfaith minister is understandably foreign to many. I actually earned the title “minister” through two years of seminary and continuous ongoing study.
As an Interfaith minister, I have an understanding of the world’s major wisdom traditions, practices, and rituals, as well as basic psychological principles as they apply to everyday life. I have been taught to serve others in informal encounters, as well as in formal ways, including my passion, as an officiant of life-cycle celebrations.
Oftentimes people are further confused by the fact that I am not affiliated with a formal religious body, such as a church or synagogue. I am not attached to any religious body, but I do very much enjoy going to formal services and participating in worship and rituals of many faiths, in Eastern, Western and earth-based traditions.
I believe that all authentic spiritual traditions, at their core, are committed to the common values of peace, tolerance, wisdom, compassionate service, and love for all creation. I honor and celebrate all paths that recognize these values, including those that are humanist and have no basis whatsoever in religion. I believe that whatever our diversity, we all share a common experience that is universal.
