Bio
I am an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and currently serve as Pastor for Justice Ministries and Director of the Center for Sustainable Justice at Lyndale UCC as well as Adjunct Faculty at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. Previously, I served as the MountainTop Movement Building Consultant at Auburn Seminary, as Interim Executive Director for PFund Foundation, as Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, Interim National Coordinator for the United Church of Christ Coalition for LGBT Concerns, as pastor of Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ and as Program Staff for the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence.
I most recently co-authored Sacred Reckonings: White Settler-Colonizer Churches Doing the Work of Reparations an organizing and educational guide for congregational teams (www.SacredReckonings.com). I am also the author of Carnal Knowledge of God: Embodied Love and the Movement for Justice (Fortress Press, 2017) and of To Do Justice: A Study of Welcoming Congregations, A Time to Build Up: Analysis of the No on Proposition 8 Campaign and Its Implications for Future Pro-LGBTQQIA Religious Organizing, Preventing Sexual Abuse: A Course of Study for Teenagers (Pilgrim Press: 1996).
I am the co-editor of The New Queer Desire: An Anthology of Intersectional Writing by LGBTQ+ Faith Leaders (Center for Sustainable Justice: 2022) and have also contributed to several recent books including: Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization (Orbis: 2019), Unlocking Orthodoxies for Inclusive Theologies: Queer Alternatives (Routledge: 2020) and Claiming God: Essays in honor Marilyn McCord Adams (Pickwick Publications: 2022). I am a theologian, pastor, trainer, and movement-builder who specializes in coalition and collaborative partnerships across movements for justice. I am a graduate of Earlham College, Yale Divinity School and United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.
I name myself as a Christian Universalist, by which I mean that I was raised and have been shaped by the Christian tradition and it is my home. However, I believe there are many truths about God and the Divine in All Things. I hold a deep reverence for Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and pagan and Wiccan traditions. Particularly as I have worked for sexual and gender justice, I have learned much from my multi-faith colleagues-- about love, about life, and about the Sacred in our midst.
As a way to balance my spiritual life, I am also a runner, hiker, biker and avid community-builder, spending time with friends and family as often as I can. In the past few years I have begun to grow organic vegetables and delight in cooking food harvested from my garden for our friends and family. My partner, Maggie, and I are parents of Shannon MacKenzie, our sixteen year-old child.
If you'd like to know more about me, here are a few resources:
My profile is on the LGBT Religious Archives Network: http://www.lgbtran.org/Profile.aspx?ID=242
Here's a clip from a sermon at the Healing Minnesota worship service which took place during the Vote No campaign in 2012: http://faithforwardmn.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/healing-minnesota-rebecca-voelkel-plymouth-church/
And an interview from GCN (Gay Christian Network) radio. My part starts at about 4:30 or so:
http://www.gaychristian.net/gcnradio/
And a podcast on the Beth Zemsky Podcast on Graceful Engagement and Faith-Based organizing: http://bethzemskypodcast.com/episodes/
I most recently co-authored Sacred Reckonings: White Settler-Colonizer Churches Doing the Work of Reparations an organizing and educational guide for congregational teams (www.SacredReckonings.com). I am also the author of Carnal Knowledge of God: Embodied Love and the Movement for Justice (Fortress Press, 2017) and of To Do Justice: A Study of Welcoming Congregations, A Time to Build Up: Analysis of the No on Proposition 8 Campaign and Its Implications for Future Pro-LGBTQQIA Religious Organizing, Preventing Sexual Abuse: A Course of Study for Teenagers (Pilgrim Press: 1996).
I am the co-editor of The New Queer Desire: An Anthology of Intersectional Writing by LGBTQ+ Faith Leaders (Center for Sustainable Justice: 2022) and have also contributed to several recent books including: Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization (Orbis: 2019), Unlocking Orthodoxies for Inclusive Theologies: Queer Alternatives (Routledge: 2020) and Claiming God: Essays in honor Marilyn McCord Adams (Pickwick Publications: 2022). I am a theologian, pastor, trainer, and movement-builder who specializes in coalition and collaborative partnerships across movements for justice. I am a graduate of Earlham College, Yale Divinity School and United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.
I name myself as a Christian Universalist, by which I mean that I was raised and have been shaped by the Christian tradition and it is my home. However, I believe there are many truths about God and the Divine in All Things. I hold a deep reverence for Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and pagan and Wiccan traditions. Particularly as I have worked for sexual and gender justice, I have learned much from my multi-faith colleagues-- about love, about life, and about the Sacred in our midst.
As a way to balance my spiritual life, I am also a runner, hiker, biker and avid community-builder, spending time with friends and family as often as I can. In the past few years I have begun to grow organic vegetables and delight in cooking food harvested from my garden for our friends and family. My partner, Maggie, and I are parents of Shannon MacKenzie, our sixteen year-old child.
If you'd like to know more about me, here are a few resources:
My profile is on the LGBT Religious Archives Network: http://www.lgbtran.org/Profile.aspx?ID=242
Here's a clip from a sermon at the Healing Minnesota worship service which took place during the Vote No campaign in 2012: http://faithforwardmn.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/healing-minnesota-rebecca-voelkel-plymouth-church/
And an interview from GCN (Gay Christian Network) radio. My part starts at about 4:30 or so:
http://www.gaychristian.net/gcnradio/
And a podcast on the Beth Zemsky Podcast on Graceful Engagement and Faith-Based organizing: http://bethzemskypodcast.com/episodes/
