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Minister’s
Mississippi MusingsBy Rev. Susan Karlson By Rev. Susan Karlson
"For the
beauty of the earth, this spinning blue green ball, yes! Gaia, mother of everything We walk gently across
your back To come together again In this place To remember how we can live To remember who we are To
create how we will be Gaia, our home, The lap in which we live—welcome us."
The month
of May is a busy month—schools wind down, flowers bloom, trees blossom, birds hatch. At the Gulf Coast Unitarian Universalist
Fellowship, life is also busy and full! You can tell by the canoe trip we’ve planned and the list of guest ministers
who will be visiting us for a Sunday service or an Adult Religious Exploration class.
I try to remember in this season
how important it is to center one’s self—to take up residence among the abundance of life, to feel the interdependent
web, our seventh principle. I was reminded of this today as we’re trying to ready our house for sale. I found a bird’s
nest in our camellia bush right outside my office window. It sounds like baby birds crying out as all the painting, roofing
and power washing take place. Upon seeing the nest, I asked the worker to please take it easy around the nest. I thought carefully
about moving the nest, wondering if the nest would be abandoned if I moved it. Ultimately, I decided to leave it where it
was and just pray that the tiny creatures and the power washing man worker would be in synch—that life and safety would
continue for these new hatchlings. You never know how or if life will prevail. Life is fragile and uncertain. Like newly
hatched baby birds, vulnerable to the bombardment of modern life, we can only do our best to make it through the fray. The
birds are still chirping and the parents are still standing watch from the adjacent roof. We can’t always be safe and
healthy but we can look out for one another and try to maintain some stability even when life seems unbalanced and chaotic. May
this season bring you closer to Mother Gaia and to an awareness of how intertwined all life is.
Soulfully yours,
Susan |
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Meet
Susan Karlson...
Welcome to the Gulf Coast Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, a congregation
that has provided a home for people with a progressive religious outlook for over fifty years. Here at GCUUF, you will find
people who have weathered the storms of life—resilient, hard working, loving people who want their congregation to be
an oasis on the spiritual path. Their Mission Statement says volumes about who they are now—"We strive to be a
spiritual home for individuals and families, for people of faith and seekers of meaning. We aspire to be a welcoming, open
community, active in social and environmental justice and affirming the worth of all people." We hope you will join us
on Sundays, for our Wednesday Adult Religious Education program or any of the other special events we hold during the month. I
am delighted to serve as the consulting minister for GCUUF. I am currently dividing my time between Gulfport, Mississippi
and Wilmington, North Carolina where my husband, Alan Kindler, our cavorting dog Lillith and beguiling cat, Obi-Wan, live.
I have a 28-year old daughter, Heather, living in South Carolina, who is a Unitarian Universalist as well, and three stepdaughters
from Alan's previous marriage. Alan visits his daughters as often as he can so you can see we are a traveling family. I
previously served as minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Wilmington in North Carolina. Unitarian Universalist
ministers are ordained by the congregations they serve and the Fellowship in Wilmington ordained me to the Unitarian Universalist
ministry on November 2, 2003. I completed my Masters in Divinity at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. in May
of 2003. I had a prior career as a clinical social worker and received my Masters in Social Work from Norfolk State University
in Norfolk, Virginia and my B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in social welfare from Old Dominion University, also in
Norfolk. I was previously ordained as a Minister of Integral Yoga in 1982 and had a teaching center in Los Angeles, California
where I taught hatha yoga, prenatal yoga, and meditation classes. I have a passion for social justice work, probably
born out of my lifelong desire to be of service and my social work background. I am on the Board of Directors for the African
American Heritage Foundation and co-chair of the Ministerial Roundtable (an interfaith, interracial clergy group dedicated
to healing the wounds of racism) in Wilmington, N.C. I have been a member of my District's Antiracism Transformation Team
since its inception and have participated in an interfaith panel about our response to marriage equality and gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender concerns. I have also been part of interfaith panel discussions on the difference between religion
and spirituality, and the significance of the first amendment concerning religious freedom. I regularly practice gigong
and other forms of meditation and yoga. I have an active prayer practice and spend time each day with devotional readings.
I love to write, walk, travel, and am learning to play the guitar. |
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| Rev. Susan Karlson |
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