Rev. Dr. Megan Ruth Visser

How do we name ourselves and our deepest needs?

How do we hold each other in community?

How can we be recognized as holy?

How can we be called to action in the name of justice?

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to develop transformative worship and meaningful ritual that speaks to our hungers and our wishes for our communities and the world — so much so that we might become more deeply held by the divine we co-create among us. I believe then we can take more risks to affirm love and liberation out-loud and in public.

Academically Informed, Body-Conscious

I wish to share in your faith journey, providing you with ways of thinking, engaging, and connecting. I also wish to help you heal, find respite in the worship service, and become a sanctuary for one another.

My scholarship and teaching in ethics and sociology on topics related to spirituality and health/illness help me to offer unique opportunities to learn and grow in worship. I invite people into rich dialogue with the sources of Unitarian Universalism and their own embodied experience.

Multicultural and Multigenerational

Unitarian Universalism is a faith that promotes the interdependent web of life, in all its beautiful diversity. My parish ministry training was in an intentionally inclusive and multicultural worship community, in which we sung and spoke in two languages and actively sought to engage multiple cultures represented in our community and in our broader context. This experience affirmed my desire for worship to be a culturally-responsive space. In ritual, song, and word, we can bring our fullest selves and encounter the selves of other in mutual, accountable, and engaging ways.

Worship is a community space for the whole family. I am excited to work collaboratively with children, youth, and adults to create worship that includes our youngest and eldest members and visitors. How we include individuals of various ages in our most central gathering place and time is how we embody our values.

From August 2015 to June 2016, Megan served as the full-time Intern Minister at First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego, California, which has two campuses in Hillcrest and Chula Vista. Since then, she has continued to preach regularly in the greater Los Angeles area.