Our Minister
 Rev. SUSAN KARLSON


March 2010

    Snow covers the yards in our church neighborhood as I write this column.  More snow is predicted tonight and tomorrow.  It’s hard to believe that it will officially be spring in another month. Don’t you ever wonder about the seedlings under all that frozen ground and how the ducks and geese find some place to sit on icy ponds?  Yet spring is surely on its way and there’s some primordial part of us that resonates with the seasons.  Some part of us is stirring to life again as well.

    Just yesterday, we held our Re-Imagining Valentine’s Day service.  Re-imagining Valentine’s Day services and events happened in more than a hundred Unitarian Universalist congregations all across the country.  These events and services are part of the initiative and vision of the Standing on the Side of Love public advocacy campaign initiated this past June.

(www.standingonthesideoflove.org)

    Standing on the Side of Love reaches out to Unitarian Universalists, other faiths and myriad organizations to come together and stand up for social justice issues like marriage equality, health care and immigration reform, and other forms of non violence. It was born out of the incredible outpouring of love, support and solidarity in response to the Knoxville, Tennessee shootings in July 2008.
    Our “Re-Imagining Valentine’s Day—Love is in the Air” service included a homily by Marjorie Ramos who spoke about the sheer joy of planning her wedding to Margaret Cantrell (we hope to have an audio recording of the homilies for that service on our website very soon).  She spoke about grieving after the New York state senate did not pass a marriage equality bill.  Then they decided they didn’t want to wait for New York to get it right and began to plan their wedding which will take place in early March in Connecticut.  Love was certainly in the air as Marjorie spoke and lesbian and gay members did a beautiful reading by Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh on the four aspects of love. 
       I spoke about three issues on my mind in opening our hearts —an Inclusion Statement of radical hospitality that each Unitarian Universalist congregations is asked to consider before April.  I also mentioned that the Unitarian Universalist Association of Uganda sponsored a conference to oppose the Anti- Homosexuality Bill of 2009 that will criminalize homosexuality for all bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender people there as well as their allies.  Finally, I spoke about the Empire Pride Agenda and its sponsorship of campaigns to support GENDA (the Gender Expression and Non-Discrimination Act), a New York state bill which will give civil rights and protections to transgender people (which will likely come before the state senate in March). One of our members is organizing the campaign in our church.  Look for a table and ways you can participate during Sundays in March.

    After our service, my sweetheart and I went to hear Unitarian Universalist minister Meg Barnhouse and her partner Kiya Heartwood’s concert entitled “Hearts on Fire”. Both of us commented how joyful we felt watching them croon songs to one another and seeing how much they enjoyed singing and performing together.  Hearing Marjorie and watching Meg and Kiya reinforced our love for one another. Here we are—a straight married couple and we both felt our bonds of love grow as we watched the joy and the love on their faces and heard it in their words of love.  I experienced something directly that Martin Luther King said and something I believe with all my heart—that “hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear, only love can do that.”  Love heals and buoys us up. It conjures up endorphins, brightens the mind and enlivens the heart.  Marriage equality will pass—it’s a matter of time.  Many of my colleagues, members of this church like Marjorie and my own family and friends have gone to other states or Canada to marry because they could not marry here. I rejoice with them in their marriages and I see the happiness on their faces and the sparkle in their eyes.  I feel so happy for them.  But they shouldn’t have to go to another state or another country to get married.   May we all work towards our re-imaginings of love and equality!  We can make it happen sooner, rather than later.

Be well,

Susan

  
Sermon Audio:

2/14 Reimagining Valentine's Day (part 1)

2/14 Reimagining Valentine's Day (part 2)

2/7 Putting Youth First



Contact
 Rev. Susan Karlson,
Unitarian Universalist Minister

Home:
718-442-1012

Church Office:
718-447-2204

Cell:
347-466-0864.

Email:
pskarl3@gmail.com

"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
-- Quote from the fox
in The Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery




About Rev. Karlson

The Rev. Susan Karlson is the minister of the Unitarian Church of Staten Island. Susan moved to Staten Island after receiving and accepting the call to be the settled minister here on May 4, 2008. She officially began her ministry on September 1st. Please see her welcome message on the home page of this website. She lives with her husband, Alan Kindler; a cavorting dog, Lillith; and a beguiling cat, Blue. Susan's daughter lives in New York and Alan's three daughters and his mother live in Virginia. Susan and Alan are delighted to live in Staten Island and look forward to many fulfilling years with the Unitarian Church of Staten Island.


Prior Ministries:
Consulting minister to the Gulf Coast Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Gulfport, Mississippi from 2007-2008. Settled Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Wilmington in Wilmington, North Carolina (UUFW) from 2003-2007.


Ordination and Unitarian 

Universalist Fellowship:

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Wilmington ordained her to the Unitarian Universalist ministry on November 2, 2003. She received Preliminary Fellowship in May of 2003, recognized at the Service of the Living Tradition during the 2003 General Assembly in Boston, Massachusetts. Susan received Final Fellowship in the fall of 2006, recognized at the Service of the Living Tradition in Portland, Oregon. She was ordained as a Minister of Integral Yoga in 1982 in Santa Barbara, California.


Education and Former

Professional Experience:

Masters in Divinity at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. in May of 2003. Susan had a prior career as a clinical social worker and still holds a License in Clinical Social Work in Virginia. She received her Masters in Social Work from Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia and obtained her B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in Social Welfare from Old Dominion University, also in Norfolk. Susan had an Integral Yoga Teaching Center in Los Angeles, California, teaching hatha yoga, prenatal yoga, and meditation classes.


Social Justice and Community Involvement:
Susan has a passion for social justice work, born out of a lifelong desire to be of service and her social work background. She served as the co-chair of the Ministerial Roundtable in Wilmington, North Carolina, an interfaith clergy group dedicated to healing the wounds of racism in the area, particularly in congregations which have often been complicit in spreading racial injustice but have institutional and cultural power to transform and dismantle racism. She also served on the Board of Directors for the African American Heritage Foundation.

She was a member of the Thomas Jefferson District's Antiracism Transformation Team since its inception. She participated in three interfaith panels in Wilmington, NC on clergy responses to marriage equality and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender concerns, the difference between religion and spirituality, and the significance of the first amendment concerning religious freedom. She was an active participant in the Steps Coalition, a grassroots community organization working on recovery and transformation in the Gulf Coast area after Hurricane Katrina.


Hobbies and Interests:
Susan regularly practices yoga, qigong and meditation. Her interests include writing, walking, travel, scrapbooking and on an irregular basis, learning to play the guitar.

I regularly practice gigong and other forms of meditation and yoga. I have an active prayer practice and spend time each day with devotional readings. I love to write, walk, travel, and am learning to play the guitar.