When considering the topic of Awakening I think of being roused out of sleep, to be jolted out of inactivity. Parker Palmer speaks of the idea of witnessing the wild animal of your soul, only by sitting still, quietly, together in the woods, in hopes of sneaking a peak at our shy souls. Let us explore what shifting our Awakening to stillness could lead to.
Rev. Danielle Webber (she/they) is a white, queer minister living in the traditional and unceded territory of the Okanagan/Sylix people (Kelowna, BC) with her partner Adam, and their 95lb lap dog Brin. They decided to become a minister in 2012 while completing a Bachelor’s of Art in Psychology and Religious Studies and completed the Masters of Divinity in 2016, and a Masters of Arts in Leadership Studies in 2018, both from Meadville Lombard Theological School, in Chicago Il. Danielle’s Divinity Thesis focused on building relationships between the Indigenous Peoples of South-Eastern Alberta and the Calgary Unitarian Church, where she was a Student Minister. Her Leadership Studies thesis focused on creating relationships between churches and other non-profit organizations to develop community engagement and leadership development.
Throughout their education, Rev. Danielle focused on multigenerational, multicultural faith formation, recognizing that we can create moments of meaning making no matter what we are doing, and how we are gathered. Essential to Rev. Danielle’s work is bringing to light the expansiveness of Unitarian Universalism. Through leaning into interdependence, and recognizing that faith formation can happen everywhere, UUs can become radically inclusive in creating space within our communities for those already here and those joining.