Pastoral Care
"Allison's internship started just as Superstorm Sandy decimated this congregation. Her pastoral skills were needed immediately and she proved equal to the task. In December, her solstice service, which invited the return of the light, was exactly what our exhausted congregation needed. Our board president commented on how perfectly it met the pastoral need for him and for so many others." - Rev. Catherine Torpey, Former Minister at South Nassau UU Congregation
As a pastor, I offer healing presence and stand with people through the joys and sorrows of life, reminding them that their religious community will always be there as a place of nurturing and a beacon of hope. In a world of brokenness, what we often need most is a glimpse of hope. By hope I do not mean a blind optimism that tells us that everything will be all right. Instead, I speak of the hope that comes from knowing that no matter how bad things get, you are not alone on this journey.
I have a deep and abiding faith in human love as a source of power and strength. I have great faith in the power of love in communities, and particularly the unconditional love and acceptance that we strive for, and that I have sometimes seen realized in our UU congregations and communities. By building communities of love and acceptance, we create spaces for people to be held in their brokenness. As Kate Braestrup writes, “your life too will swing suddenly and cruelly in a new direction with breathtaking speed, and if you are really wise…you will know enough to look around for love. It will be there standing right on the hinge, holding out its arms to you. If you are wise, whoever you are, you will let go, fall against that love, and be held.” Our world is full of wounded people in need of healing and in need of ministry. My call is to a ministry that holds people in their brokenness, offering presence, validation, comfort and prayer.
I have a deep and abiding faith in human love as a source of power and strength. I have great faith in the power of love in communities, and particularly the unconditional love and acceptance that we strive for, and that I have sometimes seen realized in our UU congregations and communities. By building communities of love and acceptance, we create spaces for people to be held in their brokenness. As Kate Braestrup writes, “your life too will swing suddenly and cruelly in a new direction with breathtaking speed, and if you are really wise…you will know enough to look around for love. It will be there standing right on the hinge, holding out its arms to you. If you are wise, whoever you are, you will let go, fall against that love, and be held.” Our world is full of wounded people in need of healing and in need of ministry. My call is to a ministry that holds people in their brokenness, offering presence, validation, comfort and prayer.