Meet Jill
“Jill has an ability to create an inclusive space to allow one to contemplate and heal.”
“This was the first time I participated in a sacred circle and I didn't know what to expect. Jill did a wonderful job at laying out the format and sharing the community agreements. That helped me to know what to expect and to enter our time with an open heart and awareness.”
~ Sacred Circle Participants
Hey! I’m Jill.
I’m a queer, bi-vocational minister who serves both as a math consultant (yes, math!) and as a faith leader. My personal experiences as a queer person alongside my professional experiences working predominantly in low-income, inner-city schools have driven my passion for equity, inclusion, transformation, and healing in uncertain times - both for individuals and communities. My ministry work includes spiritual accompaniment & coaching, anti-racism work with faith communities, and serving as co-pastor at missiongathering, Bellevue (WA) - a faith community that serves people recovering from religious trauma. I love music, paddle boarding, being in nature, good food, and spending time with her wife, family, and friends.
“¿Y dónde está tu ombligo?”
~ Naomi Ortiz
Sustaining Spirit: Self Care for Social Justice
I am from apple trees and mountains, blue herons and sunrises over the water. I am from Sunday dinners with family, hot peppers and sauerbraten, and a Love that never quits. I am surrounded by generations of wounds and healing that suggests time is not linear and that such healing brings the world closer to wholeness. I am queer, sometimes Christian, and always a student of Jesus and the Divine in all Her forms. I believe with the deepest reverence and most humble responsibility that we are wholly a part of the Divine, and that the Divine is wholly incomplete without each of us.
Why I do this work
In my work both as an educator and as a minister, what has become most clear to me are three things:
We are all seeking connection.
We have the power to transform ourselves and the world.
We become our best selves through accountability in healthy, loving, and caring community.
Unfortunately, these things are often stifled in our world as it is.
I do this work because I believe we need intentionally created spaces and opportunities to flourish. We need practices that help us integrate the parts of ourselves and the people in our communities who are otherwise kept separate. We need to bravely nurture our imaginations in order to create a better world for us and for generations to come. The Web is my way of supporting the work many of you are already doing and bridging the gap between what is and what could be.
That’s “theology” - the study of God - written with an asterisk to acknowledge that God is not gendered.
A little about my The*logy
I think Jesus was rad - a total revolutionary who worked tirelessly towards justice and was ultimately crucified by a state that was supported by corrupted religious leadership (sound familiar?) - but I don’t believe he’s the only way to God.
I believe that “God” is a powerful source of Love that is constantly luring us towards the next, most possible stage of our wholeness and healing - but it is up to us to respond to this call and to co-create a more healed and whole world together. I see God as an energy source which is fluid and adaptive, constantly moving and pivoting to respond to our lives and needs in an ever-changing world.
I like the Christian story as both a metaphor and as a testament to a group of people who were making sense of the world around them - but I value what I have learned of other religious traditions and their stories, as well.
I take the Bible (and other spiritual texts) seriously, but not literally.
I think spiritual community is incredibly important, and I’m sad to say that I have rarely found that community within the walls of a church.
About my professional and spiritual journey …
I’ve been an educator for most of my adult life teaching and working in administrative roles in schools. I got my Bachelor of Science in Math and my Master of Arts in Teaching shortly after finishing high school and was working in high-poverty, inner-city schools full-time by the time I was 21. As a queer person, I thought I understood the plight of marginalization faced by my students and their families who were primarily black, brown, immigrant, and living in poverty. It didn’t take long before I better understood my own privilege: queer, yes - but also white, middle class, native english-speaking, highly educated. I dedicated my life to eradicating the harm perpetuated by people and systems who (intentionally or unintentionally) uphold values of white supremacy, label people as “other,” and view identity traits as deficits rather than assets.
When I moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2017, I began working in a suburban, predominantly white school district alongside predominantly white staff and families. Here, I developed a more critical eye for what it looked like and felt like to be an ally, to support belonging across differences, and to change practices that unconsciously supported white supremacy culture. I served as a Building Equity Coordinator, facilitated professional development opportunities for staff, and supported the work of families - all in collaborative community alongside staff, families, and students of color.
I’ve spent most of my time in middle school as a math teacher (yes, math!) - and doing that work always felt like a sort of ministry as I journeyed alongside students and their families during an often difficult transitional time. It eventually became clear to me that I was being lured in a different direction in my call towards ministerial work. I attended seminary at Claremont School of Theology where I earned my Master of Divinity degree - which sounds mostly like something you get at Hogwarts. I served with the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon in an internship during my Masters program doing interfaith and ecumenical work alongside faith communities who wanted to engage in anti-racism work. I continue that work to this day in Oregon and Washington.
I was raised Catholic but eventually moved away from that tradition. I was 19 when I came out as queer - to myself and to others. I’m grateful that, despite the common religious beliefs that surrounded me, I somehow never questioned whether or not I was loved by God nor the quality of my relationship with a Divine presence. I did, however, question whether or not I would find a faith community that affirmed this same belief. Since then, I’ve found my way to several different churches and denominations that affirm queer identities - but I’ve also found that I have a hard time aligning myself with what Christianity has become, often deeply entwined with systems of white supremacy, patriarchy, and unhealthy forms of power. Today, I dedicate time and passion to supporting queer and questioning people grappling with their faith.