Pastor, Simi Valley United Church of Christ, an Inclusive Community in Simi Valley CA  www.uccsimi.org

and InterPlay Teacher: A philosophy and practice devoted to revitalizing body and spirit through imagination relying on movement, dance, storytelling, and song. Interplay encourages an ethic of play to create thriving individuals and communities. www.interplay.org

DEGREES

Th.D, Theology and Liturgy, Boston University School of Theology, Boston, Massachusetts, May 1993. Dissertation: "Atonement Imagery and Eucharistic Praxis in the Reformed Tradition: A Feminist Critique."

M.Div., Andover Newton Theological School, May 1979, cum laude.

B.S., Sargent College of Allied Health Professions, Boston University, May 1968; Certificate in Physical Therapy, August 1968.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Assistant Professor of Practical Theology; and Director of Mentored Practice, Bangor Theological Seminary, Bangor, Maine, July 1994-October, 2001

MINISTERIAL STANDING

Ordained December 9, 1979 through the Metropolitan Boston Association; my standing is presently held in the Northern Association of the Southern California and Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ. 

PASTORAL EXPERIENCE

Pastor, United Church of Christ, Simi Valley, CA, May 2005 to present.

Interim Minister, Woodland Hills Community Church, UCC, January 2003 to September 2004.

Interim Minister, East Milton Congregational Church, UCC, Milton MA, September 93-June 1994

Interim Minister, Old South Church in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, 6/92 to 9/93; 4/91 to 8/91; 3/90to12/90.

Minister of Christian Education, Grace Congregational United Church of Christ, Framingham, Massachusetts, July 1983 to June 1987.

Co-Minister, First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Tempe, Arizona, November 1979 to June 1983.

COURSES TAUGHT

• Art of Ministry Seminars: with emphasis on Theological Reflection and Spiritual Formation
• Doctor of Ministry Seminars' The Vocation of the Congregation; Congregational Studies
• Basic Elements of Worship
• Introduction to Ministry
• Introduction to Leading Worship and Supply Preaching (One week Intensive)
• Independent Studies offered in the Arts of Ministry; Systematic Theology; Advanced Theological Reflection; Pastoral Care for Women in Worship; Spirituality with the Elderly; Confirmation in the Methodist and UCC Tradition: A Comparison; Cancer Care and Pastoral Care; The Christian Calendar and Liturgical Seasons; Introduction to Feminist Theology; and Spirituality and the Terminally Ill.
• The Sacraments: Baptism and Holy Communion
• Imagination, Ritual, and the Arts

PUBLICATIONS

Books The Feast Of Our Lives: Re-Imaging Communion, June 2002, The Pilgrim Press

Articles in Journals

Book Review: Jack Miles, God: A Biography, In Horizons (Bangor Theological Seminary) Vol. 2:1 (Spring 1996), 90-95.

"Worship and Gender: Toward Liturgies of Care," Proceedings of the North American Academy of Liturgy, November 1993. (a less precise manuscript was also published in Prism, Winter, 1993)

"Theologians Re-Imaging Redemption," The Christian Century, July 11-18, 1990.

Short Articles

"The Sacraments" in An A to Z of Feminist Theology, edited by Lisa Isherwood and Dorothea McEwan, Sheffield: Sheffield Press, 1996.

"Behold I Make All Things New: Isaiah 42:9," Prayers from the Faculty of the Seminaries of the United Church of Christ " Distributed at General Synod, 1997.

PAPERS PRESENTED

"Tracing the Connections between Emotional Intelligence and Imagination," January, 2001, Feminist Studies in Liturgy Seminar, North American Academy of Liturgy, St. Louis, MO.

"Imagination, Ritual, and Gender: A Trinity of Possibility" May 8, 2000 at Women, Traditions and Change: A Multi-faith Conference on Contemporary American Religious Practice. The conference involved Muslim, Jewish and Christian scholars and was sponsored by Hebrew College in Brookline, Massachusetts and the Susan and David Wilstein Institute of Jewish Policy Studies

"Redeeming the Suffering of Jesus? Apocalyptic Impulse, Imagination, and the Eucharist." April 17, 1998 Regional Meeting, American Academy of Religion, Newton, MA.

"Atonement and Punishment: Exposing a Theology of Fear," Teaching Feminist Liturgy Seminar, North American Academy of Liturgy, January 1993.

"Principles of Feminist Psychological Theory: Implications for Feminist Liturgy," Teaching Feminist Liturgy Seminar, North American Academy of Liturgy, January 1990.

CONFERENCES

Keynote Speaker, Third National Meeting, United Church of Christ Women, Boston, Massachusetts, June 1996; A Dialogue with The Rev. Imani Sheila Newsome-McLaughlin on "Women Doing Theology: What' s Love Got to Do With It?" Also forum moderator on "Living Love' s Confusion and Loving Ourselves Regardless." (The forum involved women sharing their differing experience from the perspective of suffering: participants included: a Native American; Asian, Hispanic, African American; and a woman living with blindness.)

Presenter and Worship Leader (along with Roman Catholic Liturgical Scholar, Dr. Miriam Therese Winter and Methodist Bishop Leontine Kelly), Women and the Word Annual Preaching Event, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, March, 1994.

Lectures

Imagining Hope: The Art of Imagination and the Images of Pastoral Care "March 7, 2000, St. Mary's Interfaith Chaplaincy Program, Lewiston, Maine

"The Role of Imagination in the Doing of Theology"; First Baptist Church, Brattleboro, VT, September, 98; United Church of Canada, Campbellton, NB, October 98, United Church of Canada, Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, May, 99

"Imagination and The Chaplain" MaineGeneral Clinical Pastoral Education Program, October 2000; "Doing What Comes Naturally: A Theology of Pastoral Care," MaineGeneral Clinical Pastoral Education, October 1998.

"On Matters Theological and Liturgical: Why They Matter to Women." Pre-Synod Gathering of UCC Clergywomen, Oakland, CA. June 1995.

Lenten Study Leader, "What Scholars are Thinking: The Historical Jesus Debate," First Congregational, UCC Waterville, ME, 1996

Workshop Leader, "When Words Betray Us: The Language of Worship and the Theology of Abuse" Metropolitan Boston Association of the Massachusetts Conference, UCC, November 5, 1995.

RELATED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Convenor, Teaching Feminist Liturgy Seminar, North American Academy of Liturgy, 1997, 1996, 1995, 2004-6.

Consultant for Worship Resources, The New Century Hymnal: United Church of Christ, Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 1995.

Program Coordinator, Women and the Word Annual Preaching Event, Boston University, 1988, 1989. Worship Coordinator, 1990, 1991, 1992.

Program Coordinator, "Re-Imaging Redemption: A Symposium on Feminist and Womanist Theologies," Boston University, November 3-4, 1989.

First Convenor, Network for United Church of Christ Clergywomen, 1984-1988.

Co-Chair, Worship Committee and Coordinator, National Meeting, Network for United Church of Christ Clergywomen, 1986 and 1988.

MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

• North American Academy of Liturgy.
• Associate Member, Iona Community, Scotland.

HONORS

Wabash Scholar, Recipient of Wabash Teaching and Learning Grant 1999-2000, and Project Title: "Educating Imagination;" Awarded a Seven-Week Wabash Grant for Educational Advancement, Summer, 2000.

Anna Howard Shaw Scholar, Anna Howard Shaw Center, Boston University School of Theology, 1988-1992.