“He drew a circle that excluded me: heretic, rebellious, something to be ignored.
But love and I had the intelligence to win: We drew a circle and let him in!”

-Edwin Markham

A long time ago, in what now seems like a galaxy far, far away, I was blacklisted from a clergy association. My friend Becky, an Episcopal Priest, had invited me to a meeting of this hostile clergy association. She said she was tired of being the only woman there and that, as the pastor of the town’s Unitarian Universalist church, I should become a member too.

At the meeting, all the ministers except Becky asked me questions about my theology. They even asked me to sign a statement of faith declaring that I believed what they believed. Both Becky and I said that such a document was inappropriate for an interfaith organization, which we felt should be inclusive rather than exclusive. As we walked Becky to the Episcopal church after the meeting, we both said, “Can you believe it?” We were shouting.

We were stunned by what we had just experienced. When we arrived at Becky’s church, we decided to form our own group and invite everyone, including those who had slandered me. We met once a month at a restaurant like Maurice’s; It is both beautiful and affordable. At first we competed with a private group. There were two community Thanksgiving services held in the town that year. However, within a few months, our group prevailed and the old group finally joined us.

Ten years later, when I began serving the First Universalist Church of Norway, I had no plans to contact the clergy association in the area. I was new at work and didn’t have the courage to take on another drama. It turned out that the person who called to invite me to a meeting of the Oxford Hills Area Clergy Association (OHACA) was also an Episcopal priest. OHACA is open to all Oxford Hills clergy and is truly welcoming. The group does good work and has charitable projects, but I must admit that the most important thing for me is the scholarship I found at OHACA.

Like teaching or counseling, ministry is a profession where a person works alone and can become lonely. It has been a life-enriching gift to meet a group of people who do what I do and understand the challenges and rewards of church work. My colleagues at OHACA, who represent many faith groups, live what they preach. They welcome the stranger and treat their neighbors as they would want to be treated.

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