My religious journey has been… a journey. My grandfather was a Christian (Disciples of Christ) minister. And while my parents were both raised in the Christian tradition, they studied and then became teachers in the Sufi Order before I was born. They taught (and still do teach) that there is one God—one Truth—and that every religion is a different expression of that Truth. When I was little, we attended church in Fort Worth, but when I was nine, we moved; after that, we did not attend church. I was interested in religion, and read different things about different religions as I grew up, but didn’t seek out a religious community for myself.
When I had kids of my own, though, I wanted to raise them in a religious community. After some searching, I found Unitarian Universalism (UU). About a year after I joined my first UU church, First Jefferson Unitarian Universalist in Fort Worth, I was hired on as the Director of Religious Education (DRE). I served as DRE there for three years and then at Live Oak UU in Cedar Park for two years, after my family and I relocated to the Austin area.
After five years of being a DRE, I left to enter seminary. Somewhere along the way, I’d realized that my work could and should be a service to the world. I felt called to some kind of interfaith ministry, and knew that I needed more education in order to make my work more effective in the world and more sustainable for me. Little did I know that while studying at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary (APTS), I would have a conversion experience within the Jewish tradition. Now a part-time student at APTS pursuing my Masters in Theological Studies, I have joyfully and gratefully found a religious home in Judaism.
While I’ve sometimes wished that my religious story wasn’t quite so interesting, my journey has given me a deep sense that what my parents taught me was true: that the light of the Divine—of God, Allah, Vishnu, or whatever name by which you call that Spirit of Mystery in the Universe—shines in all our religious traditions, in different ways. The way I understand it, we are all connected in and by God, so I believe it is crucial that we find ways to work together on the challenges that we increasingly share—climate change and environmental degradation being two very big and pressing ones.
The more we work together, affirming our common humanity and our common Source—while honoring and celebrating our differences and the things that make us unique—the more mending of brokenness we will do in our lives, our communities and in the world. I am happy to be partnering with you in that important work.
As Eboo Patel says, “I fear the road is long. I rejoice that we travel together.”
Blessings, Amanda