About Lisa

A more personal/narrative summary follows:

I am a clergywoman who enjoys wearing my clergy collar and noticing the reactions of those around me:

“A woman with a priest’s collar on?”

“I thought women couldn’t be priests?”

“What, … is it Halloween?”

“Look at that religious fanatic wearing her clerical garb! I’m sure glad she outed herself by wearing that collar so I know not to talk with her … I’m not interested in knowing a ‘church lady!'”

“Oh, wow … a woman wearing a priest’s collar … when did the Catholic Church open up to ordaining women?!”

“But, … I’ve never met a female, Presbyterian, Minister of the Word and Sacrament. How did you become that?! And, why?!!”

I’ve heard (or seen the facial expression of) all of these responses and many more. Which is why I generally don’t wear a clergy collar, or minister’s robe, in public. Not only do I appear more accessible (I hope!) to people I meet without wearing these accoutrements; but I also don’t risk becoming reactive when someone decides that I am an idiot for ‘being religious’ or, alternatively, puts me on a pedestal of perfection that I clearly don’t deserve. I find being incognito often works best all the way around.

Since you are viewing my website, where I have outed myself as a minister, I’d like to guide any pre-conceived conceptions you might have about ministers. Not only do I not ‘dress like a minister,’ but you might find that I don’t ‘talk or act like one either.’ I’m what my former professor and mentor the Rev. Warren Lee calls a good-ole “Garden Variety Presbyterian,” which I interpret to mean, uncategorizable (my apologies to Rev. Lee if this is not his definition and I am misappropreating his word).

I should also confess that I have been accused of wearing a hockey jersey with Robechek printed across my shoulders. If you choose to work with me as your Spiritual Counselor, I will not be purely saccharine sweet and gentle, but will always speak the truth, which at times can be hard to hear. I can be quite tough. Since life hits us on the head with a two-by-four if we haven’t paid attention to the soft breeze from some butterfly wings, I think I do a great service by letting you know what I am seeing, especially if it appears that you may not be seeing ‘the call,’ or are choosing not to heed it. And, a very important disclaimer, … I don’t know what God’s call is for you; my role is not to bully you into a particular direction but rather help you listen to what your heart-of-heart already knows.

I lean strongly in a theologically progressive direction, but I am respectful of those with a more conservative viewpoint, and, in fact very much enjoy working with people who are much more traditional than I am in their understanding of Scripture and Religion. Your particular understandings or beliefs do not need to match mine. I work well with the Religiously Conservative, the Spiritual But Not Religious, the Agnostic, the Atheist, and most everyone in between. And for the record, I won’t label you into some box. Furthermore, I will invite you to consider opening whatever box you might be putting yourself in at any given moment;

I am also an artist whose photo was displayed on the cover of the San Francisco Arts Council Open Studios magazine in 2015. Yes, the image (see here) was small and looked like merely a black smudge, but still;

A writer of much, mostly unpublished (think a couple of decades worth of sermons [more than 1000] for a starting point). The Marin Independent Journal did pick up a piece of mine (see here), and I am hard at work on my first ‘soon-to-be’ published book;

Most importantly of all, however, I am Mama to John Benjamin Morris, the greatest 20-year-old on planet Earth (in my not so humble opinion) and the true joy of my life.