Welcome Rev. Carol Reynolds to the Southwest Conference UCC
Carol is a Massachusetts native, so a warm welcome is offered from us here in the Southwest desert. Prior to her call at Scottsdale Congregational, she was pastor of First Congregational Church in Millbury, Massachusetts, . Carol received her Master of Divinity degree from the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. While in seminary, she interned at both a local church and the memory care unit of a local retirement community. She also studied spiritual direction with the Benedictine sisters of Benet Hill Monastery. Carol is an Ordained Minister with full standing in the United Church of Christ, was ordained on January 10, 2010. In her life before ministry, Carol worked in book publishing for 20 years, holding positions in editorial, inventory management, and warehouse operations at companies in New York City and Boulder, Colorado. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Bethany College in Bethany, WV.
Rev. Carol Reynolds
In her free time, Carol likes to read, garden, cook, explore, spend time with friends, and dote on her rescue cats Toby and Waldo. She enjoys film and all kinds of music. Carol also loves to travel and is especially fond of Santa Fe. Recently she has dabbled in decorative painting and colored pencils. In the past, she sang in a 75-voice women’s chorus--a joyful, inspirational experience she hopes to resume one day soon.
Carol’s extended family and friends are scattered throughout the country (including some within very close proximity to SCUCC). Her mother, sister, and niece live in southern Maine.
As a pastor, Carol has a passion for small congregations like SCUCC, where “everyone knows your name,” and all are warmly welcomed. She firmly believes that God is still speaking to us in the 21st Century and feels particularly called to reach out to those who have felt hurt by or left behind by church in order to facilitate healing, transformation, and the discovery of new ways of understanding and following Christ.
A former Unitarian Universalist, Carol receives inspiration from many sources, from the bible to poetry, literature, and lyrics to the wisdom of world and indigenous religions.
The biblical passages that have most inspired her in life...
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God’s purpose…
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God… (Romans 8:28, 38-39)