# 'Ministry Was the Missing Piece' May 01, 2010 *Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, who will soon graduate from the Divinity School with a master of divinity degree, has many passions and pursuits. A recipient of a 2010 National Endowment for the Arts literature fellowship, she will spend the coming year expanding her senior paper into a book manuscript that focuses on the strategy, tactics, and ethical basis of the LGBT civil rights movement. She will also continue her work as the director of [The Progressive Project](http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23328896672&ref=ts), a grassroots group that develops innovations in community organizing, focusing on LGBT rights and electoral politics. She is seeking ordination in the United Church of Christ and will spend the summer completing a chaplaincy internship in Providence, Rhode Island.* *Below, Jasmine describes her experience at HDS, how she balances all of her projects and work, and what's next after graduation (hint: a lot).* **You indicate that you focused your studies at HDS on "the expression of values in public life and how communities respond to crisis." Have you been able to, either through field education or another means, "get out" and explore these areas in communities?** These two themes—expressing values in public life and responding to crisis—have run through a lot of my coursework and field education. Regarding the former, what I mean is how people talk about and act upon their deeply held commitments and faith in public life. One hopes, of course, that transformative things will happen because people are acting from a place of love. But in the realpolitik of contemporary life, you also have to figure out what it means when we disagree, especially vehemently, with each other. Does that mean discourses and relationships rupture, or do we find vocabularies and strategies that open up other possibilities? This is an issue that comes up constantly in my work around LGBT rights, where the tendency is for each side to approach the other with a mixture of condemnation and mockery. I have spent the last few years studying and writing about this question, focusing specifically on how advocates of LGBT rights can express not just policy positions but also moral claims in public life and about how we can approach those who oppose LGBT rights with empathy. The issue of how communities respond to crisis is related but also distinct. I am interested in the methodology side of the question (literally, what protocols kick in when a crisis occurs), and in the spiritual side of the question (how people make meaning of crises and suffering and how can they be supported best through these times). I have been able to look at this question through my coursework, including counseling classes at HDS and a class in disaster response at the Harvard School of Public Health. It has also come up in my field education, including a chaplaincy internship at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. From a pastoral perspective, this is the work I am really drawn to. **From a literature fellowship with the National Endowment for the Arts to seeking ordination and all your activities in between, how have you been able to find a practical balance? What are the biggest challenges you face because of your many passions and pursuits?** Every time I have felt stretched thin, I thought about friends who were balancing work and school with parenting—or a friend who is currently serving in Iraq—and it put things in perspective. Or I have thought about my mom, who put herself through graduate school and raised me as a single parent. Suddenly I don't feel so busy anymore. I also feel lucky because all the work I do feels quite connected, even if it doesn't always appear that way. It took me a while to figure out that ministry was a vocation that pulled together all the work I hope to do. So moving between projects feels really energizing and exciting, because it is all part of the same broader work. **Why did you choose to attend HDS? What were your expectations before you started?** I considered applying to HDS for a whopping eight years before I actually did. There was a lot that drew me to the program, but I kept talking myself out of it because I did not have a traditionally religious background. I studied English as an undergraduate and spent my 20s teaching creative writing, working in nonprofits, and launching [The Progressive Project](http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23328896672&ref=ts), a grassroots group that engages people in political action and public life. I loved all of that work, but I always felt something was missing, and it took some time for me to understand that ministry was the missing piece. I was attracted to the interfaith community at HDS, the prominent role that field education plays in the MDiv program, and the opportunity to cross-register at other graduate schools. Generally, I had the sense and expectation that at HDS I could get the education and training I needed to work as a chaplain and to be a better community organizer. **As a student at HDS, how has it benefited you that you have had the flexibility to take courses at other Harvard Schools, namely, Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard School of Public Health?** This has been one of the high points of my academic experience at HDS. The ministry I am drawn to involves collaboration across sectors, and it has been enormously helpful to spend time studying alongside people in these sectors. For example, taking a class in civil rights innovations at HKS gave me a different vocabulary and framework for talking about the role that innovation plays in community organizing. Taking a class on disaster response at HSPH meant being in class with physicians and public health students. Their orientation toward data, outcomes, and protocols really pushed my thinking, making me look at the same set of circumstances through a different lens. It was stimulating to make the connections between how a medical team would assess and respond to the needs of people in crisis and how to do so pastorally. I was also really struck by the experience of moving from the environment at HDS, where we obviously talk about faith and religion as core parts of the human experience, to environments where the room grows almost silent when these topics come up. In this regard, it was great practice to be pushed to talk about spiritual life and faith in ways that felt accessible to others. **What have been the biggest surprises you have discovered about HDS since you've been here?** I have been continually and wonderfully surprised by the extent to which the School supports students in crafting a course of study that focuses on the questions at the heart of our ministry—whether this comes in the form of cross-registering, independent study class, student-initiated field education, or the topic for the Senior Paper. I was also surprised that, despite the fact that students span so many different faith traditions, there was often a certain reticence in the classroom about addressing the very real differences of belief that exist between us. Looking at the world and the time we are living through, I think it is fair to say that differences of belief and faith practices are one of the greatest sources of human conflict, domestically and globally. As faith leaders it seems particularly important that we develop not just the vocabulary to have these conversations about difference, but also that we are acclimated to them. On a personal level, I have been moved and challenged by conversations with friends and classmates about points of real difference in our theology and beliefs; I would love to see that happen more often in the classroom setting. **Last, can you describe a bit more about what's next for you?** This summer, I'll be doing a Clinical Pastoral Education unit at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence. Through The Progressive Project, I'll also be helping to organize a summer series I'm really excited about called [Backyard Band/With](http://www.backyardbandwith.com/) that combines silent film, live music, and homemade pie. Starting in August, I'll be able to focus on writing full-time, thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. I'll also be working part-time as a chaplain with Echoing Green, a foundation that provides fellowships to people launching social change initiatives. My wife and I will be moving back down to North Carolina, my home state, this fall and launching a LGBT rights campaign down there. In the coming year, I'll also be continuing to move forward with the ordination process in the United Church of Christ. There will be a few moving pieces, but it all feels like part of my ministry. —by Jasmine Beach-Ferrara See also:- [ Student Interviews and Activities ](/news-category/student-interviews-and-activities) - [ Features ](/news-type/features)