Meet Nanette

I am an author, artist, pastor, and preparing to become a spiritual director

i found god in myself
and i loved her
i loved her fiercely
~ntozake shange

My spiritual journey has been a long and circuitous one! Raised nominally Christian, I rejected that faith as a pre-teen when, from my perspective, I was rejected by my family’s pastor. I studied comparative world religions, was a wide-ranging seeker for many years, learned about God, love and prayer from an Indian meditation master, and stumbled my way back to Christianity with the help of friends and a great church and pastor in Boston. Now based in Chicago, I’m an author, artist, pastor, and preparing to become a certified spiritual director.

Reflections on my spiritual journey.

And if you read my blog you’ll be following along on my spiritual journey as I continue to go through it!

Rejecting Christianity:
The Journey Begins

I kept pushing for a bottom line, “but what do I have to believe?” Finally, he said something along the lines of believing that Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sins so that I would be saved. Well, I told him, then I guess I’m not Christian. What he said made no sense to me…Read more.

Reclaiming Christianity:
Finding Love & Healing

A subtle but intense struggle was happening within me. This offering of bread was challenging a deeply ingrained sense that I was not loved, and that I was not welcome in the church. But it felt as though Jesus himself was saying my name in the form of the bread…Read more.

Representing Christianity:
Calculated Verbal Idolatry

God is bigger than our thoughts, theories, and concepts. Every thing we say about God risks idolatry if we think our words and ideas can actually express, let alone contain, God. As a pastor, I feel the need to re-present Christianity, sometimes in new ways, and sometimes in very old ways that have been forgotten…Read more.