Justine Sullivan

First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego

Contact: Hillcrest Campus—4190 Front St., San Diego; South Bay Campus—970 Broadway, Ste. 104, Chula Vista www.firstuusandiego.org

Membership: 500

Lead Minister: Justine Sullivan

Age: 61

Born: Boston, MA 

Formation: Boston University; Simmons College-School for Social Work, Louisville, KY; Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago

Years Ordained: 7

San Diego Reader: What is your favorite subject on which to preach?

First Minister Justine Sullivan: Love one another. How are we getting along together? As far as we know this life is all we have. So how we are working together is everything—and that includes how we engage with the world. We’ve been given this opportunity to live in this place, so we should make the most of trying to live in it together in a loving way. Like most Universal Unitarian ministers, I don’t have a single sacred text I work from for my sermons. I’m not averse to speak from the Bible but it’s usually paired with something else, such as a Mary Oliver poem. There’s a beautiful poem by a Palestinian poet, Naomi Shihab Nye, called “Gate A-4.” It tells the story of a Palestinian woman who thinks her flight has been canceled but doesn’t understand enough English to know that it’s only been delayed. Nye comes along to help translate for her, and the poem is about how they interact with each other and other travelers at the gate. The poem shows the changes in feeling that occur through this interaction, the feelings others might have for this woman. The poem speaks to a larger issue: how we are going to get along together, love one another? That’s what we can do in this world—make a difference in how we behave with one another, learn to be kind and respectful. These same values are lifted up in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, of course, but I use a different way into the question.

SDR: What’s the mission of your church?

PS: To create community to help heal the world. That’s the mission of all worshipping communities, of course, to help heal the world…from humanity’s ability to be very cruel to one another. Our congregation’s strength lies in its ability to welcome everyone as they are. The Unitarian Universalists were among the first to welcome members of the LGBTQ community and also those with HIV.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

FMS: I don’t believe in a traditional heaven. In the Harry Potter series, there’s this “Room of Requirement.” Whatever you need, whatever you’re looking for, you’ll find in this room. I imagine life after death to be something like that. Perhaps after death, the moment we leave our bodies we have a sense of completion. But I don’t dwell on that question. We’re given this life to live and we need to make heaven on earth. At the same time, I think there is peace after we die, but I don’t picture it to be people gathering on clouds. As for any sense of judgment after death, the universalism of Unitarian Universalism is very important. It came out of the Christian tradition. We believe a loving God would not condemn us to damnation, so I don’t believe in eternal punishment... I know it’s a comfort for some people to think they’ll go to something better if they’re good and something worse if they’re bad. But I don’t take comfort with that idea…. I struggle with what happens to evildoers, but I’m going to focus on what we can do with the time we have now.