about leah

Welcome to desert spirit's fire! blogging (web-logging) for close to two decades, since 16 July 2002, since back in the days starting a blog was *the* thing to do—as also seems to be the current case.

Church at first for me was Corita Kent's art and Dietrich Buxtehude's music; I've spent forever constructing from there rather than deconstructing anything. If not for the sensory worlds of those influences, I doubt I'd be interested in church or Christianity, but I'll never know.

My theology is … quite well-examined with a hint of Calvin, a slice of Luther, and a relentless testimony of the boundless mercy, limitless grace, infinite love, and everlasting faithfulness of God, particularly as revealed in Jesus of Nazareth. I trust the good news of the reconciliation of heaven and earth is for all creation everywhere.

My life's in beta—living baptized, imagining the New Creation, shattering stereotypes, scattering ideas. I'm a theologian, an artist-illustrator-designer, and a performing musician. I love the desert, the beach, the city, the world, the liturgy, the sacraments, and the church.

In random order and among other things I've been a library page, au pair, line chef, house cleaner, property manager, church musician, graphic designer, youth director, summer program director, tennis teacher, curriculum developer, substitute public school teacher, community organizer, production artist, voice studio accompanist, guest organist, vacation bible school director, recreation therapist, bible study leader, quality control clerk, blue ribbon winner, associate pastor, art teacher, hospitality chairperson, recital accompanist, workshop leader, stockbroker's assistant, neighborhood watch chairperson, solo recitalist, small group leader, video camera operator, pet-sitter, additional organist, phone solicitor, youth worker, mission developer, and forever student.

I've been to a slew of universities, professional, and "other" schools:

• Organ and piano performance at Boston University
• More piano performance at Tanglewood Summer Music Festival and School
• More organ performance at the International Summer Academy for Organists in Haarlem
• Practical Social Work at Simmons School of Social Work – Settlement House, Baby!
• Economics, social sciences, and urban studies at University of Massachusetts at Boston
• Justice, righteousness, and Jesus at Harvard Divinity School
• Trying to keep balanced at Teller Training Institute
• Community Economic Development – "Inner City Economic Self-Reliance" – at San Diego State University
• Graphic Design and Interactive Media at San Diego Community College New Media Center

As an artist-designer-illustrator I'm on Facebook along with quite a few guest artists and photographers as suntreeriver design and on twitter as suntreeriver.

If you ask for my life verses of scripture I might cite:

Jeremiah 22:15-16

"…Did not your father Josiah eat and drink
And do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
He plead the cause of the afflicted and needy;
Then it was well
Is not that what it means to know me?"
Declares the LORD.

or possibly:

Revelation 22:1-2

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

BTW, Doctor Fauci is my Homeboy and

Katie Luther is my Homegirl.

My pre-COVID19 currents included living in Los Angeles, working as a freelance graphic designer (you can enjoy my design website here), a theologian gig facilitating Sunday morning adult forum where I encouraged everyone to a more nuanced, less fundamentally literal interpretation of scripture. I served on the judicatory's Green Faith Team, and generally did whatever I could to socialize and connect with people with similar passions and related experiences.

Post-COVID currents? Reweaving life again.



most recently updated on Wednesday of Pentecost 17 – 22 September 2021