Written by: United Theological Seminary June 14, 2019

“How Deconstructing My Beliefs Has Made Me a Better Faith Leader:” An Interview with Sarah Berge

Sarah Berge ’19 is a recent graduate of United hoping to work in chaplaincy. Her background is in systems and family counseling, with a focus on incarcerated populations and restorative justice. Sarah is also a passionate theologian, and integrates her chaplaincy work into theology and arts projects. Deconstructing beliefs is key to her ministry.

What was your experience deconstructing your own beliefs, and how does it inform your work in theology and chaplaincy?
Deconstructing beliefs helps us relate to what others are going through. As religious leaders, we’re meeting people in a crisis. Whether it’s a death or a family conflict, people question their beliefs. Everything becomes unstable. If you have not gone through that experience and you’re talking about certainty, there is a major disconnect. If you haven’t wrestled with serious questions yourself, you might miss what the person’s really going through. Ministers can be “It’s me and God helping other people,” which creates a hierarchy. It’s patronizing.

So that’s not your experience at United?
I could navigate my uncertainty here in a way that was freeing, not in a way that left me nothing to hold on to. Instead of pushing an agenda onto other people, what if you provoke people to ask questions and to really see themselves and others? That was hard for me to learn. If I don’t know all the answers that doesn’t mean I’m not a leader. It’s important to challenge what I think about something, not in order to tear me down, but to expose that that’s impossible.

Can you speak more about the dangers of a leader not deconstructing their views?
It’s about control. If I don’t question my beliefs, maybe they don’t need questioning. So, we don’t question the authority of God, we don’t question the authority of the Bible, we don’t question me! And we tell parishioners,: “Don’t challenge me. Fall in line.” That kind of thinking is not only absurd but it’s authoritarian. It isn’t liberation. It’s not justice. It’s terrifying.

Most people aren’t aiming to be authoritarian. It wasn’t what I was thinking. If I am feeling insecure and have something stable to hold onto, that can give me reassurance. But as you develop in your faith, you have to navigate ambiguity more. If we can’t hold the tension that there are multiple ways to see things, and we’re attached to one linear way, what happens when it’s pointed out that we’re not 100% right? You’re leading people to disaster. The reality is that you’re a human being and there’s no possible way you’re infallible.

I’m hearing that kind of certainty is dishonest: we don’t know everything. Worse, not only is it not true, but when something shakes a faith leader who has this rigid, “stable” mind-frame, they don’t have the skills to deal with it.
Deconstructing beliefs helps us navigate our own doubts and the doubts of others. Without analyzing yourself, you mistake your way as the only natural way. You begin replicating your experience in other people. That’s a lot of hubris. But it’s also an illusion. The people you’re helping can’t bring their full selves. They have to perform what the leader expects, and the leader performs for them.

What were some of the ideas that were challenged when you came to United?
For most of my life I had loved the Bible, memorized it, and found it life giving. But I had an all or nothing approach. I believed that scripture was infallible and literal. As soon as I started to deconstruct it, I threw it all away. I said I wasn’t Christian and couldn’t relate to the Bible anymore. But deconstructing doesn’t mean throwing all the parts away. My classes here showed me that the Bible, instead of being one thing, was multiplicitous. It isn’t a picking and choosing of what I want the Bible to be. It is “wow, look at how many voices and people are in here.” I was exposed to more possibilities. Instead of thinking “I’m a women; either I fall in line and become submissive” or “the Bible is sexist and isn’t for women at all,” I started asking: where are the women? Where are the queer people? They’ve always been there, so hat are they doing in this context? Deconstruction opened up a world of possibilities, where I could still love scripture but realize it’s not one thing.

When we eat food, our bodies break it apart. It doesn’t just go through and stay the same. That doesn’t mean food isn’t nourishing, delightful or necessary. Breaking something apart, and looking into it and reintegrating it in different ways doesn’t mean it’s untrue.
I think that’s a good metaphor. Bible bashing– just throwing scripture at people– is different from digesting it. And even as each person digests it differently, it doesn’t mean the food is whatever you want it to be. Acknowledging difference doesn’t mean you’re playing fast and loose. I’m still questioning what I believe about God, but to me it’s more worshipful to say God can hold the multiplicity of all these things! It’s a more awesome vision of the divine who looks at the depth of unlimited possibilities. When it comes to different interpretations, like food, someone could say I didn’t like this or that was uncomfortable or this was the best thing I ever had, but we’re still tasting, experiencing tasting, reflecting on it. The whole process of deconstruction is a spiritual process. It’s more of a focus on meaning making than needing to have something specific at the end.

Any final thoughts?
When I was throwing out the Bible, it wasn’t deconstruction. No! It was abandonment. Deconstruction leads to a rigorous relationship. Now, when it comes to beliefs, I don’t know what to do with having only one option.

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October 9, 2026

Alums Homecoming News Releases

Rev. Dr. A. Leon (Lee) Tredwell (’06) Honored As a 2026 Distinguished Alum

United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is excited to announce that Rev. A. Leon (Lee) Tredwell, PhD—who earned his MA in Theology and Biblical Interpretation from United in 2006—has been selected as a 2026 Distinguished Alum. An accomplished preacher, teacher, and published author, Dr. Tredwell has championed biblical narratives that affirm the divinity of all people, regardless of their race, creed, color, class, gender, or sexuality. Adopted at age four, Lee was raised in the Baptist faith and felt called to ministry as a child. Even so, after earning a degree in Political Science and Sociology at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, he spent the first ten years of his professional life as a grain trader for Cargill. After connecting with Drs. Ralph and Alika Galloway, Lee found United, and his call was reignited. He remembers Rev. Dr. Carolyn Pressler (Professor Emerita of Biblical Interpretation, 1990–2020) and Dean Richard Weis* with great affection. Both teachers, he observes, “taught us to wrestle with the biblical text until it opened up and spoke.” They also introduced Lee to Black and post-colonial hermeneutics, and Rev. Dr. Weis led him to passages in Jeremiah 38 (Hebrew Bible) that sparked his interest in learning more about a Black character named Ebed-Melech. Lee also cites the influence of Rev. Dr. Christine Smith’s (Professor Emerita of Preaching 1992–2013) preaching courses on his life. In Colorado, at the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology, Lee completed a joint PhD program with a concentration in Religion and Social Change in 2017. Ronald Smith, a former United student who nominated Lee for this award, notes, “Dr. Tredwell has demonstrated that he is an innovator and compassionate leader who has served both inside the academy as a professor of African American Preaching at Iliff School of Theology, University of Colorado, Boulder, and in the larger community; he has served as [a] pastor, civil rights and human rights activist, and [a] chief executive officer in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, and Texas.” Lee’s new book—Black, Queer and Blessed: My Story and the Biblical Story Churches Don’t Teach—was published in June 2025. As the description reads, “For all who believe God-Yahweh is angry, mad, disgusted, and against LGBTQIA+ folx, regrettably, you been had, misled, took, hood-winked and bamboozled! Black, Queer and Blessed, through lived experience and the excavation of the subjugated biblical narrative of Ebed-Melech, demolishes society’s antiquated mores.” The book is part memoir and part theological reflection on the Ebed-Melech revelation. In addition to his roles as teacher, preacher, and author, Lee has specifically worked to promote adoption of Black children from foster care and create affordable housing. These days, he serves as the pastor of Theology and Community Engagement at Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. As Ronald Smith asserts, “Dr. Tredwell is the embodiment and an exemplar of United Theological Seminary’s mission, vision, and values.” * of blessed memory About United Founded by the United Church of Christ (UCC) as a welcoming, ecumenical school that embraces all denominations and faith traditions, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities has been on the creative edge of progressive theological thought and leadership since it was established in 1962. Today, United continues to educate leaders who, through the eyes of faith, engage in the dismantling of systems of oppression, explore multi-faith spirituality, and push the boundaries of knowledge.

Lena K. Gardner (’15) Honored As a 2026 Distinguished Alum

[caption id="attachment_11955" align="alignnone" width="1920"] photo by Bethany Birnie[/caption] United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is thrilled to announce that Lena K. Gardner—who graduated with an MA in Justice and Peace Studies in 2015—has been selected as one of our three 2026 Distinguished Alums. A highly respected social justice activist and community leader, Lena is the co-founder and executive director of Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU), a nonprofit founded in 2015 that creates life-giving and life-saving opportunities for spiritual community and Black-centered organizing. According to Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel (’13), Lena has “been a force in the Twin Cities’ religiously rooted justice ecosystem for the last 15 years.” Dr. Voelkel, Lena’s nominator, traces Lena’s justice-organizing acumen back to 2011, when she served on the Faith Organizing Roundtable—a body that coordinated religious communities’ opposition to the anti-marriage amendment. Lena went on to champion marriage equality in the 2012–2013 legislative session. After a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, shot and killed Michael Brown, Jr., an unarmed 18-year-old Black teen, in 2014, Lena played a key role in transforming the Faith Organizing Roundtable into the Multifaith Anti-Racism, Change & Healing or MARCH. “In that same period,” Voelkel notes, “Lena was a core team organizer of Black Lives Matter Minneapolis and served on its steering committee.” Lena was deeply involved, quoted in many national and local articles, and interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio after former police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd in 2020. In April 2021, after a Brooklyn Center police officer killed Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, Lena co-wrote an article in the Sahan Journal demanding that Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecute the case, and that the Hennepin County attorney be removed. More recently, Lena embarked on another ambitious project. In May 2024, through the BLUU Cooperative Housing Initiative, she co-hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for an affordable housing complex for single parents in North Minneapolis. In a MinnPost article about the groundbreaking, Lena explained, “It’s really about trying to give back to one of the communities that made me…. We really see providing stable housing in a cooperative framework as one of the many paths to collective liberation and Black liberation. Ultimately, it’s about self-determination.” When Operation Metro Surge arrived in the Twin Cities in late 2025, Lena took action again. As Voelkel observes, she “returned to the MARCH steering committee…. When MARCH organized a clergy call (in five days) to which 700 clergy came, the ability to create and host such an amazing event owes part of its success to Lena’s relationships with communications specialists, graphic designers, and organizers.” Lena was also a driving force behind Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN), a mutual aid group she and Anna Stamborski founded in late 2025 to connect vulnerable ICE-targeted families with congregational networks whose members could provide shopping and transportation services. Through all of Lena’s indefatigable contributions to working for justice, Voelkel asserts, she “has focused on Black excellence, Black power, Black spiritual wholeness, Black beauty, and how non-Black folks can act in solidarity and followership of Black folks, particularly Black queer women. She has done so skillfully through building relationships across differences in ways that facilitate and deepen genuine relationships.”

Cori Berg (’98) Honored As a 2026 Distinguished Alum

United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is elated to announce that Cori Berg (’98)—advocate, artist, and educator—is a 2026 Distinguished Alum. Cori earned her Master of Arts (MA) in Theology and the Arts in 1998, and for more than 27 years, she has integrated creativity, art, and spirituality into her field. Cori arrived at United in the 1990s, having majored in theater and minored in studio art during her undergraduate studies. “I knew I had an artistic voice,” she recalls, “but it didn’t make sense in any of the traditional contexts.” After seeing an advertisement for United’s Theology and the Arts program, Cori drove from Dallas to the Twin Cities to visit as a prospective student. A campus art exhibit by Merle Janis was all she needed to see—“this school had something I needed: strength, boldness, vulnerability.” For Cori, “life is liturgy.” She credits United with introducing her to “the freedom in a progressive faith.” At United, Cori learned to expand her creativity, which became a launching pad for a vibrant career. “United gave me a safe, nurturing space to explore, dream, and execute big things,” she writes. “I’ve continued that through the rest of my career as an artist, an educator, an administrator, and a speaker.” Art is central to Cori’s work and features prominently in her curriculum development for children. Her art was featured in the 2012 opening parade for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, TX, a project that involved “seniors, children, and adults in all aspects” from a local Methodist community program. Ministry with Children and Spirituality, courses taught by Rev. Dr. Barbara Anne Keely (Professor Emerita, 1991–2015), were particularly formative for Cori’s future in education. “I remember she taught us to get on the floor and view the church nursery from a baby’s point of view,” Cori reflects. “I use this today over and over as I teach early childhood educators…. She introduced the idea of seeing oneself not as a separate body, mind, or spirit, but when one part of my being is suffering, to use the other parts to help lift that part.” More recently, Cori has been an active community member at Dallas Meditation Center, where she is known for her moving dharma talks that weave Buddhist themes into contemporary storytelling. In public schools and congregational settings, Cori has applied what she learned as a United student to the field of early childhood education, for which—nominator Rev. Jim Peck (’99) points out—she has become “one of the nation’s leading advocates.” When facing challenges in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cori leveraged her ingenuity and creative vision to support educators with online training resources. As a teacher and an administrator in spaces where lack of institutional funding and support are commonplace, Jim observes, “she uses her [United] education to work for justice and equity,” to “nurture relationships in the early childhood settings where she has served, with an expertise in working in settings in crisis to encourage recovery, healing, and new paths for serving the future.” In May 2026, Cori completed her MEd in Curriculum and Instruction at American College of Education, where she immediately enrolled to begin her EdD in Early Childhood Education. She serves as an executive director at the University of Kansas (KU) and anticipates returning to Dallas to live near her family at the end of the year while awaiting her next opportunity. We are delighted to celebrate Cori and her decades of faithful, innovative leadership in the field of early childhood education and art. About United Founded by the United Church of Christ (UCC) as a welcoming, ecumenical school that embraces all denominations and faith traditions, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities has been on the creative edge of progressive theological thought and leadership since it was established in 1962. Today, United continues to educate leaders who, through the eyes of faith, engage in the dismantling of systems of oppression, explore multi-faith spirituality, and push the boundaries of knowledge.