I am not entirely sure why I came to ChI. I’m not a religious person and before coming, had not heard a call to the ministry. It was after coming to Chi that I heard the call – a call to prison chaplaincy – a call to be in communion with society’s outcasts.

In my “other life,” I work as a nurse making home visits. Not too long ago, I visited a gentleman with dementia. The caregivers told me that they were concerned, because they frequently found him sitting up in bed, talking to the air.

In the beginning—even before God was God—there was only Ayn Sof: Infinite energy. In order to take form—to begin to Be—Ayn Sof emanated vessels, and into those vessels poured the Divine Light. But alas, some of the vessels couldn’t contain such pure and powerful stuff, and so they shattered.

Over the past five years I have been so focused on the work of preparing for ministry that I sometimes was unable to experience the beauty of the ministerial path, or the grace of my own life unfolding. For thirty years, other people have been pouring out their time, money, experience, and compassion so that I could grow, so that I could be trained to love.

I work as a cantor in a Synagogue. I have taken some of my favorite and lines from the Hebrew Prayers and put them together as a blessing that I will now share with you.

Vihina diglenu alecha ahava, Ufshaenu Techase BeAhava.

I first heard these words from a beloved mentor of mine, Angeles Arrien, a cross-cultural anthropologist committed to preserving indigenous wisdoms and offering their use to modern life.

"Breathe in the pain, breathe on out the love,
Let my heart be a place where this world is changed forever."
(from the chorus of Michael Stillwater's song "Breathe")