That call was always there

Membership: 150 (Attendance: 80).

Pastor: Guy Williams

Age: 64

Born: Cornell, CA

Formation: San Diego State University; Holmes Institute, Golden, CO

Years Ordained: 10

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

Pastor Guy Williams: Love. I have been influenced by the Jesuits, and specifically by Jesuit theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who says that if we humans as a species do not learn how to love we will perish. So I am deeply influenced by the words of Jesus, who taught us to love to wholeness. Teilhard feels that love is the most creative force on the planet. As we are co-creators of this cosmos, humans are cooperating in the power of love.

SDR: Why did you become a minister?

PW: Growing up Roman Catholic, I had aspirations to become a Dominican priest. I believe the call to ministry is truly a call. I teach in the school of ministry for our organization, and one of the first things I tell the students is that if there’s anything else you can do, go do it. I have a great gig and I have gratitude every day about that. But it is a calling. When I left Catholicism, that calling became repressed. But I have to say that when I became active within this organization, that call to ministry awoke in me. My career was varied, and at the time I owned a catering company when the call awoke in me. I came late to ministry but that call was always there. There was a moment when I was having a glass of wine with a friend of mine, and we were at a conference and I was going back and forth [about] whether I should join the ministry. She looked at me and said, “Make a choice.” So I did.

SDR: Why Centers for Spiritual Living?

PW: The Centers for Spiritual Living grows out of the work of Ernest Holmes, and our spiritual DNA is connected to the Unity ministry, and to Christian Science and Divine Science, but I am ordained as a minister of the Science of Mind. That is our denomination. We are part of the New Thought, which is different from the New Age movement. This ministry gives me an incredibly long leash. We don’t have a lot of dogma but we’re open to the ongoing expression of spirit. Anyone can be a revealer of this sense, which to me is the most refreshing thing about this organization. In New Thought, Dr. Holmes desired that we remain open at the top, which means we can continue to evolve and respond.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PW: Even Dr. Holmes was purposely vague on that topic. He even contradicted himself several times. Our philosophy teaches us about the eternality, immortality, and continuity of the individual soul. So that’s a pretty broad view of things. But personally, the migration of the soul, maybe even the idea of reincarnation, answers a lot of questions for me. It makes sense to me. We as an organization don’t have a dogma, and we’re open about that. The soul continues to evolve and intelligence must find expression, and that which is in me continues to evolve and cycles closer to this divine idea. We live in a mystery, though. Do I lean toward reincarnation? Probably. Would I be willing to hang on a cross for it? Not really.