 Called to serve
From Atheist to Ordained Minister…
…a letter from the Founder
Dear Friends and fellow Travelers,
Life was not easy growing up as an atheist. It was lonely and secretive and didn't make sense to me. In my heart, I knew that atheism wasn't the Truth and that it wasn't my path, so I adopted the label of agnostic, and—from that void of any belief system—I began my spiritual quest.
As a teenager and young adult, I read everything I could find about religions and philosophy. In my self-study attempts toward learning and discovery –and, after 20 years of life experiences of raising a family and honing my professional skills—I began an active search for a spiritual center. In 1992, I walked into a Religious Science Church. I felt as if I had "come home."
Finally finding a belief system that made sense felt serendipitous at the time, but I now know that my life path was always leading me here—even the part about spending my youth as a “tabula rasa” -untainted by any doctrine or dogma. Plus, Spirit had given me all those human opportunities to grow and be ready for this Divine Appointment, nudging me to the edge and then giving me the final push. Finding this New Thought spirituality I knew my search was over because it resonated so deeply and completely with everything in my heart. After nine years, basic classes and practitioner licensing, I felt another nudge from Spirit—this time…the call to ministry.
Hearing this call, but not feeling at all qualified, I resisted. Finally, my intuition told me that “God does not call the qualified, God qualifies the called.” With skill & experience in teaching, leadership and management, communications and human relations, I entered ministerial school with great enthusiasm and determination absolutely certain that this was my path and trusting that Spirit would not ask me to do anything without also preparing me for the task.
During those years in training, the actual form this ministry would take was unclear. However, I never considered for a moment that I would become a pulpit minister…even proclaiming that I did NOT want a “four-walls” church. Spirit, though, has a great sense of humor and now, as a graduate of United Church of Religious Science's Holmes Institute, Emerson Theological Institute, and having earned a Doctorate of Divinity, this ministry--originally named Shiloh Spiritual Center--is now Shiloh Center for Spiritual Living and is in its 6th year of service to the needs of seekers on their path of spiritual remembering.spiritual remembering.
May you always feel the Love of God as the light within you,
Rev. Roxie
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