Caitlin Trussell.photog Becca Strang.The Kitchen Denver

Bio

Born in Boston, raised in Pasadena, married a Nebraskan, and now in Denver for the past 20 years, a lot of ground has been covered literally as well as professionally, personally, and theologically.

I worked as a Registered Nurse for 16 years – in hospitals with families caring for children with cancer and then managing home hospice teams of RNs, Chaplains, Social Workers, and CNAs who support families caring for dying loved ones at home. During that time, I received a Master’s in Nursing from UCLA as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Pediatric Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplant, and Pain Management.

Baptized through the Roman Catholic Church while living with my first father, then baptized again through the fundamentalist Christian tradition of my step-father, I spent about ten years as an adult religious refugee wondering if there was a place to hang my theological hat. I moved to Colorado and married Rob in 1995. When our two children were born, Rob’s unscathed Lutheran memories, and my fond memories of older church ladies, drew us into a Lutheran church (ELCA).

I was captured by God’s love that is constant as we struggle with our flaws, doubt, and despair; and as we delight in life earnestly, ironically, and irreverently. The pastor invited me to preach which instigated Rob’s, and our congregation’s, encouragement of me to become a pastor. By 2011, I  completed my Master of Divinity degree at Iliff School of Theology including concurrent coursework at Luther Seminary.

The two-year wait for a congregational call found me speaking and teaching at church retreats; leading funerals and weddings by referral; and preaching for various Metro Denver congregations including New Beginnings Church within the walls of the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility which I still do intermittently.

A pastor of Augustana since February 2013, I preach, teach, and lead worship in addition to providing pastoral care and congregational leadership. I am grateful that God bestows grace in and through flawed people called the church and am grateful to be both a recipient and preacher of this grace with Augustana Lutheran Church – a group of people who live out of God’s grace together by tethering into a rich worship tradition and by figuring out what it means to be people of faith in this place and time.

 

 

 

Pastor, Preacher, Speaker