My Story
UU Roots
One of my childhood ministers at the First Unitarian Church of Oakland, Rev. Janne Eller-Isaacs, told me when I was seven years old that I would be a minister. I don't remember it, but I do remember loving church even when I was that young. I loved ritual and storytelling, community and song and how I felt when I looked up at the redwood rafters and stained-glass windows of the sanctuary I grew up in.
My lesbian parents were surprised and grateful to find a church that would fully welcome and celebrate us as a queer family. The church became a central part of my childhood; the community my extended family, the sanctuary a second home. In the era when queer families were still few and far between and legalizing gay marriage seemed like a distant pipe dream, the schools I grew up with were rife with homophobia, even in Berkeley, CA. From as young as eight years old I remember having an awareness of the distance between the world as it is and the world as it could and should be. I pursued my first prophetic witness in fourth grade. Believing in the power of education, I thought that if I could just explain what the words meant to all my classmates, I could shake the constant refrain of "that's so gay." I recently unearthed the two page dictionary offering definitions of gay and lesbian that I made to bring around and make a presentation to each class in the school.
By the time I was twelve, I was leading worship as a youth Worship Associate and co-chairing our Youth Adult Committee. I became very involved in the district Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU), and soon stepped into leadership there as well. Through trainings and experience leading in YRUU I began to hone the skills of facilitation, crafting worship and offering pastoral presence which I continue in my ministry today.
The Liefert family at San Francisco pride circa 1997
A Call to Ministry
I remember writing about a call to ministry in my application to Maybeck High School when I was in 9th grade. I was keenly aware of the pain of the world, the gnarled web of injustice running through society, and ministry seemed like the best way I could imagine to bring love and healing to the wounded places.
Pursuing this need to love the world and heal its pain has brought me intimately in touch with my own wounds again and again. When I was fourteen, a peer confronting me about the way racism and sexism lived in me as I facilitated a team of youth leaders shook my sense of self and my understanding of my own integrity to the core. When I was seventeen, a psychotic break and subsequent severe depression ripped away the foundation of who I thought I was and brought me into adulthood looking for new materials beyond the straight-A student and dutiful eldest child with which to rebuild my sense of self.
In my early young adulthood, I explored a variety of my passions and interests. From age 18 through most of my time in seminary, I worked as an educator in several different settings. I guided field trips at the hands-on arts and science museum The Exploratorium, taught diversity and peace building skills with the Mosaic Project, directed programs for Monkey Business Summer Camp, started a teen program at a Nonviolent Communication family camp, and developed my own business creating curriculum and teaching afterschool programs.
After graduating from Starr King School for the Ministry, I served an internship with the UU Congregation of Berkeley and studied chaplaincy, primarily in adolescent and adult mental health, at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. I served congregations in Rochester, NY, and West Vancouver, BC, before returning to the Bay Area to work with the UU Congregation of Marin in a five year Developmental Ministry.
My Family
I live in Oakland with my beloved wife, Caitlyn, seven year old son, Henry, and rambunctious canine companion, Merlin.
From top to bottom: Henry, Marcus, Caitlyn & Merlin