Susan Maginn, Minister
I remember the first Unitarian Universalist worship service I experienced. I was in my early 20s, in college in New York City. I had attended many worship services in my youth since I grew up in a Catholic family with a Jewish step-father and had friends of many faiths. However, this Unitarian Universalist worship service surprised me. I don't remember the exact theme of the service that day, but I do know that the people from the pulpit were speaking boldly about how challenging and yet how beautiful and sacred life is. The music and the shared silence made the space come alive. Or maybe it just opened by eyes to how alive everything already is. Regardless, it was a transforming experience for me. One that I could not fully understand or articulate, nor did I need to. I had experienced how the spirit can awaken.
Prior to entering professional ministry, I trained in a conservatory program for theater and worked professionally as an actress. I worked in the fields of non-profit administration and psychiatric social work, serving in homeless shelters, regional advisory boards and the Mental Health Association. I have worked as a chaplain at a level-one trauma center and a staff member at Eliot Unitarian Chapel in St. Louis, Missouri, focusing particularly on social justice projects, youth programming and membership development. I have spent many years as a student of ashtanga yoga and Zen Buddhism. I share my daily life with my husband and our two children.
Unitarian Universalist ministry is about seeing how the spirit moves through the quiet of our being, through our homes, our congregations, our local community and our world.
At Wy'east, we come together to marvel, wonder and celebrate how the great spirit is moving in all. And you are welcome here.