When God Got Real

Captured by the River: Andrew Ancona

Andrew Ancona is a Connecticut native raised in the Episcopal Church. He attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he discerned his call to the priesthood through campus ministry, and received a B.A. in Architecture in 2016. Father Andrew completed his studies for ministry at Berkeley Divinity School, Yale University and Cambridge University, UK. His areas of interest include Liturgical Studies, Gregorian Chant and Sacred Music, the work of Christian formation and hospitality, as well as Architecture, Sacred Space, and the Divine in the built environment. In his free time, Fr Andrew enjoys walking and eating his way around New York City with his Siberian husky Nord, drawing and painting, winemaking, cooking, and vacationing with family. Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC, where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God. www.whengodgotreal.com [https://www.whengodgotreal.com/]

The Sugar Plum Fairy: Sarah Hollar

Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director lives in Charlotte, NC where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, a Futurist by trade, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God. Her current favorites include the movie Hamnet, the Avett Brothers, and a countertop ice cream maker she got as a Christmas gift. Her current favorite joke is: What do you call a book club that only reads one book? ……Church! www.whengodgotreal.com [https://www.whengodgotreal.com/]

Understanding the Thin Places: Aimée Bostwick

Aimée Bostwick is a spiritual director, retreat leader, and guide. She holds a Master of Arts in Spiritual Formation from Seminary of the Southwest and is ordained through the Order of Hildegard, grounding her work in an interspiritual, earth-honoring theology. With nearly thirty years of experience in spiritual formation, her work weaves together contemplative practice, embodied spirituality, and a deep relationship with the natural world. Specializing in forest bathing, slow contemplative walking, poetry, silence, and embodied practices, Aimée invites individuals and communities into experiences of being deeply seen—by themselves, by one another, and by the sacred. Aimée currently serves as Senior Advisor for Program Innovation at Kanuga Conference, Retreat & Camp Center in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, a place that has shaped her spiritually since childhood and continues to inform her understanding of “thin places”—where the veil between the human and the holy feels especially close. Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC, where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God. www.whengodgotreal.com [https://www.whengodgotreal.com/]

Understanding God's Active Presence: Deborah Warner

Deborah Warner, this week’s guest facilitator, grew up in New York City. She studied at Union Theological Seminary receiving a Master of Divinity degree with Psychiatry and Religion as her area of concentration. After completing a chaplaincy residency at in the neonatal unit at New York Hospital and working on a medical floor at Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center, she became one of the first generation of women ordained as priest in the Episcopal Church. Most of her 40-year tenure was lived out in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts primarily as the rector of two separate parishes. Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC, where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God. www.whengodgotreal.com [https://www.whengodgotreal.com/]

Is It MOM or the Tie-Dyed T-Shirt? Tamara Franks

Tamara Franks is a wanderer, sojourner and courageous soul who loves to experience each day fully. She isn’t prone to chit chat; instead, on a moment’s notice, will invite anyone into deep, thoughtful conversation. Wilderness Guide, College Lecturer, and Pastor, she loves to explore diverse lands, listen to the trees, the wind and people’s hearts, cook both simple and elegant meals, and laugh with her whole being. Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC, where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God. www.whengodgotreal.com [https://www.whengodgotreal.com/]