What We Have to Learn from Wicked

"What We Have to Learn from Wicked (...about love and fascism)"

Since the beloved broadway musical "Wicked" hit the big screen last November, fans have taken a deep dive back into the music, and meaning, of the story. This sermon will explore the understory of the Wicked musical and reflect on Brené Brown's research, which shows that love - not hate - is at the center of any *real* community.

Reverend Lauren Spivey Levwood is an ordained Unitarian Universalist Minister in fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association. She holds a Master of Divinity from Starr King School for the Ministry, a UU-identity seminary located in California’s Bay Area. Rev. Lauren currently serves as a part-time Minister for two UU congregations: the UU's of the Blue Ridge in Sperryville (in-person), Virginia and the UU Community Church of Washington County, Oregon (virtual).

Rev. Lauren has previously served as the Assistant Minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond, Virginia, a large, 650-member church in the heart of the city. In addition, Rev. Lauren has served as a hospital Chaplain in Fredericksburg, Virginia and Tallahassee, Florida, giving her a depth of experience in pastoral care. She is also proud to serve as the Board Chair for the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth.

In addition to her ministry experience, Rev. Lauren has a background in women’s health as a massage therapist and doula, and in the arts world as a professional modern dancer. She holds Bachelors of Arts in Dance and Philosophy from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. It was there that Rev. Lauren first fell in love with the Shenandoah Valley, and she is joyful to have returned to the Blue Ridge and to minister in a community surrounded by these mountains that she holds dear.

A religious naturalist, Rev. Lauren is drawn to earth-based spiritual practices and experiences of awe and wonder arising from art, poetry, music, movement, and the natural world. Raised Southern Baptist, she finds inspiration in the liberal Christian roots of Unitarian Universalism. She has also studied and practiced several other religions or spiritual paths, including Buddhism, Judaism, Sikish, Sufism, Kundalini Yoga, Paganism, and Native American spirituality.

In her free time, you will find Rev. Lauren hiking on a woodland trail, tending her plants, or stirring a pot of something yummy in the kitchen. She lives in Stafford, Virginia, with her partner and co-parent, the Reverend William Levwood, also a UU minister of Accotink Unitarian Universalist Church in Burke, Virginia, their eleven-year-old daughter, Haya, and black cat, Comet.