Deanna Lack

Deanna Lack, like so many of us, has had a long circuitous spiritual journey.  She was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, in a family that was Catholic and Jehovah’s Witness, and she spent some years in full-time ministry as a Witness. She now finds inspiration in nearly all faiths, in the thought and writings of a broad variety of thinkers, both spiritual and secular, and in “direct experience of transcending mystery and wonder.” She likes to say of the religion she practices now that the forest is her cathedral, animals are her teachers, and art is her prayer.

In 2005 she married a Tennessean and moved here to Tennessee, and became engaged in a variety of social justice projects.  In Unitarian Universalism she has found a spiritual home — acceptance, friendship, community, others who are passionate about making a difference in the world, and encouragement to further spiritual growth. 

Deanna is a Commissioned Lay Minister currently pursuing a BA in Religious Studies and a BS in Sociology at Middle Tennessee State University, working on an Honors thesis about the religious connection between slavery abolition in the 1800s and prison abolition in the present day. She is passionate about mutual aid, restorative justice, and harm reduction for those who are incarcerated, and about helping others along their spiritual journeys, whatever paths they walk or have walked, with the same acceptance and encouragement that she found when she came to UUCC.