Click below for a PDF version of Rev. Joy’s sermon:
Photo by Rev. Dr. Joy T. Barnitz of her wooden, medieval, Chartres-style labyrinth. The labyrinth pattern shown in this picture was laid in the floor of Chartres Cathedral in the early 1200s. The single pathway in and out of the center rosette was called “The path to Jerusalem,” as walking this labyrinth was deemed to replace a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in a time when it was dangerous to travel.
Rev. Dr. Joy Barnitz, M.Div., Ph.D. describes her life path as taking her from the laboratory bench to the corporate board room and to the bedside. Joy earned a doctorate in molecular biology then worked in biotechnology as a research scientist and program manager before enrolling in seminary in her fifties. In addition to her degrees, she has been a professional project manager (PMP) for over 25 years and holds certificates in Swedenborgian Theology and in Women’s Studies in Religion. Raised in the Swedenborgian tradition, she is an ordained United Church of Christ (UCC) minister serving as a chaplain and as the coordinator of the No One Dies Alone program at a community hospital in the vibrantly diverse San Francisco Bay Area. She is active in a local UCC congregation ( https://uniteducc.org/ ) that focuses on care for creation and on the Pacific Islander heritage of many of its members. A Veriditas-certified (\ https://www.veriditas.org/ ) labyrinth facilitator, Joy is active in the local interfaith council and serves as Secretary of Deborah’s Tree, a ministry that lifts up the voices of Swedenborgian women.