“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
As a preacher and teacher I am passionate about Christian mysticism, or our direct experience with this mystery we call God. When my children David and Ben were born I had a mystical experience, common as dirt, and known by many parents. Life is sacred, and I experienced this truth when I gave birth and became a mother. It changed me forever. B.C. and A.D. or “Before Children” and “After Diapers”, signify the time in my life when I had a conversion experience, just as our Christian calendar marks a time of conversion for the early church. My real religious maturity began A.D. or with my “Awakening to Divinity.” I experienced both my holy communion as well as my responsibility to all of creation. I believe our holy human species must also awaken to this universal mystical truth– all life is sacred and God is calling us to be in awe and wonder of creation—to be AWAKE and ready to protect and love creation the way a parent instinctually protects and loves their new born.
Christianity is not a religion about a punishing God, but rather the unconditional love of a merciful and compassionate God. My theology simply stated is, “God loves you and there is nothing you can do about it.” Love heals miraculously and Jesus miraculously healed the “down and out” and those who felt unlovable. He taught through his words and life, death and resurrection, that love is more powerful than torture, injustice and even death. God is present in all acts of truth telling, and as Christians we are called to tell the truth about everything – ourselves, our churches, and our world. Redemption is the pilgrimage from feeling that we are unworthy and unloved, to experiencing ourselves as worthy and loved children of God, capable of change, of forgiveness of others and ourselves. Jesus taught us that God is with us as we step boldly into the truth of our goodness. God is with us when our old self dies and our new highest self is reborn. My call to ministry is about welcoming everyone to the table, or as our own UCC minister Ron Farr calls it, “Empowering Laity” to become ministers of the Good News.
All of us are experiencing the social, economic and ecological crisis and chaos of our time. Sadly, churches that are serving the desire for conventionality alone are indeed out of step. My call to ministry is intimately intertwined in my identity as an artist and change agent. Some argue that churches don’t want to change; they want the same old show. However I argue–if we don’t want to heal and grow now– then when? Patterns of avoidance and denial are what Jesus challenged 2,000 years ago. Today we must support and challenge each other to become better Christians. I am committed to my own inner growth and change, however ministers should not be the only one doing bible study in a church. I want a whole community to be with us as we study and practice together. The early Christians were known for their unusual joyfulness. This comes from the intimacy of sharing the truth about the spiritual challenges and difficulties we all face. This is often done in small group work in churches, whether it is in bible study, dream work, or [an infinite variety of subjects]. As we ask, seek and knock……. the Good News is that the door will be opened.
Loneliness and alienation are like spiritual cancer here in the richest country in the history of the world. The cure is creating inclusive welcoming communities like Jesus modeled. Our worship life is where we give thanks and learn to live in gratitude as we celebrate the gift and blessings of being alive. Dedicated to getting everyone, especially the most unlikely, involved in worship and in all aspects of church work, and I know how to get intergenerational groups visioning and learning how to work collaboratively and creatively. We are all artists and co creators with God. The arts give us tools to create beauty and meaning in worship and all church work, including administration. My greatest strength is encouraging those who have traditionally been left out or silenced and creating a safe place for everyone to have a voice and to explore their own infinite potential as sacred children of God. Sharing musical, theatrical, artistic, writing, dancing and other gifts in worship as well as in our social justice work is fun, life giving and sacred. Visual and performing art projects create meaning and a sense of community faster, more effectively and cheaper than any other means available to us. Jesus was an exemplary creative artist as a story teller. The arts enable us to experience scriptures metaphorically and symbolically. Our Protestant churches are hungry for beauty, story, symbols, metaphors, dream work all pathways to enliven and engage our religious imagination. God’s dream for us is much grander than most of us imagine. Church needs to be the place where we activate our religious imagination in order to live God’s dream. (DVD’s of worship services I have led are available upon request. Other info about an “Arts Ministry” can be found on my web site www.RevBonnieTarwater.com) I dream that someday I will be able to have a theater in the church I serve, where I can regularly direct projects that both involve and reach out to the community.
I love kids, and my sense of ministry is increasingly dedicated to children and building intergenerational communities that celebrate and honor children. Children are tragically underserved in our culture and are shamelessly the most marginalized and poorest people in our world. If we want to change the world we will have to change the way we raise and treat our children. Today, 85% of mainline churches are in decline and many are closing their doors. Yet often the people most likely to come back to church if welcomed are parents with young children. We must minister to families, and realize that it is not only because it is the right thing to do, but it is the very thing that will revitalize and grow our churches and allow us to continue on into future generations. Like Jesus, we must always expand our definition of family to include anyone sick or alone, singe parents, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender, seniors living without families, immigrants, those in poverty and those who suffer from poverty of spirit.
It is time for a new reformation of the Christian church, and as a teacher and preacher I use the recently discovered gospels – many that have been uncovered in the last one hundred years, like the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Thomas. The emphasis of the early church was on the God within us, not the divinity of Jesus exclusively, and we need to reclaim this ancient theology, challenging fundamentalism and Biblical literalism. Jesus said that, “The kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21) We need to get back to the early teachings of Jesus. As Christians, we are called to model and teach that we are to love our neighbor and ourselves (Matthew 22:30) as well as, our enemies. (Matthew 5:43)
Our survival as a species depends on enlarging our sense of community in our interfaith work for peace and justice. We must love other nations, religions and cultures as we would want them to love us. We must speak out against war and work for peace. We must learn and live Jesus’ Third Way, (Walter Wink’s brilliant idea) not the way of fighting or flight but creatively responding to aggression and injustice. Growing up in Asia, traveling extensively, and working in multicultural and interreligious communities, has increased my vision to minister to and with the entire holy human family. There is no getting around the fact that the Gospel is a counter cultural message that clearly teaches that militarism, nationalism and materialism are idolatrous. Worshiping God demands acts of courage and imagination as we think globally and act locally. Like the civil rights movement of 50 years ago, the church must join with secular society and provide moral leadership. Americans are searching for churches to provide an alternative to the greed, violence, war and alienation of our time. Many of us are seeking, asking, and knocking for a church for individual and social change, healing and transformation.
This is a time of unusual crisis in our world and for our religion. It is also a time of unprecedented creative potential. Walt and I pray that we will find a community that genuinely celebrates the Holy Spirit for the Holy Spirit by definition is always about freedom and holy change. We are looking for character and inner beauty, not just another pretty church face. We are knocking….
2. Personal qualities and characteristics which commend me for ministry
Enthusiastic and creative, I have been blessed with abundant good health and an excellent education. My warmth and affection for all people is my greatest gift. [I really like people]; all kinds, varieties, ages, background, eccentrics and odd balls alike, and I am dedicated to making EVERYONE feel welcome at God’s table. I know how to throw a great party and how to make church joyful.
As a second career minister who previously worked in the professional theater, I am blessed with excellent communication skills and prefer to preach without notes. As a teacher I encourage people to leave their perfectionist super critical selves at the door in order to create safe and loving community for meaningful bible study and religious exploration. Many people have shared that they think I am a great teacher. Graduate education at Claremont School of Theology and the American Conservatory Theater and continuing as a ferocious reader and student of music, art, theology and the bible keep me lively.
Disciplined, hard working, and dedicated to self honestly and self reflection, I have had enough therapy and maturity to never compromise my need for family life, solitude and self-care. I have started several clergy support groups in every community I have served. As a woman in leadership I feel particularly dedicated to model the ideals of mutuality and collaboration. It is easy for me to admit when I am wrong and to remain dedicated to compromise in conflict. Quick at naming issues and problems in churches, I know how to build group consensus while naming complex group dynamics. My experience as a member of the board of directors of non profit organizations and many different kind of churches contribute to my abilities to be an effective administrator and community organizer anywhere I find myself. As an intuitive and heart centered minister I believe that how we do our work with one another is as much or more important than the end result. I am not interested in living in my head alone and am bored by overly intellectualizing anything. Dedicated to integrating and celebrating the body, mind and spirit in our religion defines me as a worship leader and minister. As an artist and musician I cannot help myself as I offer beauty, color, story, ritual and song everywhere I go.
My dedication and love of family life, children and young people is fierce. [Being inculcated in the social graces of past generations older parishioners regardless of theological backgrounds, instinctually know that I honor their life experience and wisdom]. I have successfully involved the very old and the very young in all aspects of church life and worship, from going to Mexico to build a school, to marching for peace and world hunger.
Strong leadership skills coupled with intense creativity – means that I am predictably an innovative change agent. These qualities along with my deep empathy and feelings of solidarity with those who suffer from injustice and poverty best define me. My new training as an OWL faith based human sexuality trainer has contributed to my sensitivity and passion to embrace all issues related to human sexuality as we challenge the sexual repression and denigration of our time. Traveling extensively around the world and growing up in Asia have contributed to my sense of oneness and community with all people everywhere and my understanding of issues about poverty and the many social inequities of our world.
After my vivid religious imagination my most important quality as a minister is that I am kind. I know how to be kind to everyone, especially “the least of these” and have always developed close relationships with the sick, the dying, shut ins and the mentally ill in every community I have served. My deep faith in the egalitarian radical teachings of Jesus Christ that can help save the world, and wanting to live a life devoted to service and kindness to others is what most influences me. My grandmother Edith Bowen Mac Lachlan directed theater in churches just like I do. She was one of the first women to go to college in the United States at Oberlin College. An opera singer, church organist and music director I feel her spirit with me as a church musician, worship leader and woman in leadership. Many of my Scottish ancestors were Presbyterian ministers and recently I discovered a photo of a Chief Flying Cloud Tarwater on the internet—a Native American who was called the, “Walking Preacher.” His photo on the internet wearing Sitting Bull’s feather head dress and holding his bible delights my religious imagination. I experience the mystery of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene and all my ancestors guiding me on my journey in ministry.