Strengthening Inter- and Intra- Personal Assets

Photo cutline: Sonja works to craft the right messaging for her church's website, Facebook, and Instagram.

Developing and maintaining a healthy sense of self as shaped by God, community, and life experiences. · Participate in spiritual direction. This ongoing relationship teaches me to be aware of where the spirit is moving in my life and the times and places I am most aware of God’s presence.

·    Attend personal and family counseling as needed.

Living in relationships of covenantal accountability with God and the Church.

·     Jesus' invocation of the teaching to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength (our whole being) and our neighbor as ourselves, speaks to this accountability. It suggests that there's a relationship between our loving relationships with God, our neighbors and ourselves. It seems to be this is one of the great mysteries, where one leaves off and another begins. But what's clear is that all three (love of God, love of neighbor, and love of self) are essential to the covenant that binds us together. Pushing deeper into the mystery, we recognize that we are each created in the image of God and are therefore endowed with God's light. To love ourselves is to claim our fundamental integrity in God's sight, along with our deep belonging to the created universe. Love of self-empowers us to be gracious, loving and forgiving of others (in short, to love them).  Love is in the ink in which the covenant is written.

·     As a practicing hospice chaplain, I would be a part of a four-way covenant. My covenantal partners are:

o  Hospice: My primary responsibility is to patients, of course; next is the organization, its guidelines, goals, practices and other staff.

o  Desert Palm UCC: responsibilities include any formal job/ministerial duties (if I continue youth group and religious ed), any volunteer positions I might take on beyond my formal roles; coverage for senior minister and attention to the goals and mission of the local church.

o  SW Conference: active participation in annual events; ongoing trainings (boundary, anti-racism, etc.); volunteering as I am able.

o  National UCC: requiring participation, ethical conduct, attention to the larger work of the Church in the world, etc.

Exhibiting strong moral character and personal integrity.

·     Using the ordained minister’s code  and the example set by the life of Jesus as guidelines, I strive to promote justice and human flourishing.

Respecting the dignity of all God’s people.

·     Clinical Pastoral Education has taught me to build relationships of care and support through active listening and facilitating communication.

·     Mentored trans youth and youth on the spectrum during Sunday school and planned events. Among the conversations we’ve had are on dead names, pronouns, bullying and what it is to strive to be “normal.”

Understanding and ministering to stages of human development across the life span.

·     Protected the dignity, safety and sovereignty of suicidal, homicidal or brain-damaged patients, while performing 1-on-1 observation at Honor hospitals over four months.

·     Engage in sacred stories with people of varying faiths, ages, races and gender identities at "Sacred Earth, Common Ground." The storytelling event was presented by Arizona Interfaith Power and Light.

 Demonstrating excellent communication skills. 

·     Schedule, plan and post Desert Palm UCC social media presence on Instagram and Facebook. The social media brand cultivated is one of openness, wonder and humor.

·     Founding member of the Desert Palm UCC Communications Task Force. We strive to improve in-house communication and are successfully expanding the profile of the church through multiple media streams.