Everywhere we look, people are clamoring for a way to walk through life together. Inside our hearts burns the question: how can we live together amidst so many differences of lifestyle and opinion? How do we know to stand firm with who we are while letting others truly be themselves? How do we weave this together into a single tapestry called "community"?

These have been guiding questions in my life. If you know me, you likely know me as a teacher, a gardener of soil and soul, both inner and outer. If you are considering this appeal for support, then we have walked some part of life together: be it friendship, or camaraderie in what is most important to us. We likely share the view that what moves between us, and what grows quietly inside us, lasts longer than anything we can touch or measure in the physical world. We have come to this knowing by recognizing ourselves in each other, and through shared tears, laughter, sickness, and compassion we have faced death together-- both inwardly as unhelpful parts of ourselves die away-- and outwardly as souls we have known cross the great threshold.

What mystery is it that continues to give us the promise of community even in a world that seems to promise only hopeless individuality and division? Seeking the answer to this riddle has led me to study at the Seminary of The Christian Community in North America, where we strive towards knowing the mystery of "the One and the Many". Here, I receive an education on how to guide and nurture others towards self-knowing and towards making real the things that guide us: the gifts we have all received as promises such as hope, peace, courage, love, reverence, compassion, and enthusiasm. In our schooling, these are not ideals, but attainable virtues that make up the substance of true community.

If you have read this far, you know how much struggling and growth is required to come together these days. I hope you sense in my words how much this path means to me, and that there is great promise in it. I hope that it means as much to you. I’m asking for your help because of our shared sense of the importance of being ourselves while being together. Your support would mean something real.

Any donations received will be used to help pay for my living expenses of $750 month that I am not able to earn while studying in Toronto over the next four years.

The seminary itself is a donation-based initiative, receiving gift money for all of its functions. As such, I am asked to donate $9000 a year. It is truly a donation, not tuition, but giving in this way enables the priests to continue their work and support their families, as well.

Thank you in advance for reading this, and for whatever support you can give--financial or otherwise!