Student Spiritual Biography Series

I am beginning this biography with my first memory of the Spirit in my life. Upon reflection this experience held me warmly and securely until perhaps nine to ten years old in a world that I had often found a challenge to comprehend. As a young child I had a recurring dream of a pinto coloured pony who would canter down the sky from the heavens to my bedroom window which was above ground level. He did not have wings but moved on levity. I would climb out of my bed, through the window and on to the pony who would then canter toward the heavens.

I was baptised Catholic as my father is Italian and wished for this.  When I was around three years of age my mother became a Jehovah’s Witness and at age nine my parents divorced.  My childhood was quiet and insular, particularly once my father had left the family home and my brother and I became estranged from our Italian heritage. I grew up with the beliefs of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, though mum did not take my brother and me to the church very often. A beautiful memory is that of my mother reading the Children’s Bible many evenings as my bed time story. I learned of the Bible stories being truth and I had no urge to question or consider their validity. My Jehovah’s Witness experience and the teachings and life of Jesus were ones that were in the background rather than the foreground, though their depth was experienced in my final year of high school. We had moved home to a very different area and I had to change school for my final year of schooling. . . and surprisingly I chose a Catholic college for its teaching reputation.  I was learning biology from a Catholic nun and she taught Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.  This was a key moment in my life as I was so distressed by this teaching - how did Adam and Eve and dinosaurs relate to each other? Not to mention human beings and apes? I had always struggled with these theories and never quite believed them. I was shortly in Sister Mary’s office in tears relating that I could not comprehend Darwin’s teaching alongside the Bible. This was the beginning of my choosing to move away from a belief of Jesus, which then became a decision around 19 to 20 years of age. This time coincides, interestingly, with the beginnings of deep depression, anxiety and feelings of worthlessness that I would live with for around the next 20 years. In this time I considered ending my life many times and at the same time I had a very small voice in my inner being saying that if I could hold on and keep trying, my life could change for the better. Thank God for that small voice! I did keep ‘trying’ throughout my life to improve my mental and physical well-being and to learn about who I was as a human being.

In my twenties I experienced great challenges of understanding my gender. I considered a range of possible ‘changes’ and ‘directions’ and at a time which I can’t remember I came to a realisation that was paramount to my wellbeing - I was a ‘human being’ first. My gender was secondary to my being human and I decided that I would try to become the best version of a human being that I could become. Through my relationship with The Christian Community I now believe this was an unconscious step towards the Christ as this realising I was human was a deep experience that calmed a great anxiety within me.

At age 20 I was in the Army Reserves. One evening, whilst away on a training camp, I was quietly walking when I experienced a crossroads in my inner life. I know now that it was a soul experience, though it took many years for me to recognise this. It felt strongly to be a life choice - the full time Army or a spiritual path. . . and a call to become a priest. I knew the choice was ‘the spiritual path’ but I did not know how to follow it, and what did it mean to become a priest? The idea of becoming a priest was ‘fantastical’ and in my mind unrealistic. The idea seemed both removed from myself and inside of me at the same time - the separation of the mind and the heart! I know now of course that it was the first time I could hear my soul or perhaps my angel. I had no guidance in my life then from any significant family members or friends and I remained in the Army Reserves for seven more years and the depression continued. Then. . . finally. . . after leaving the Reserves and a few weeks after my 28th birthday, I awoke in the night with my first direct experience of the Spirit.  A spiritual being, golden and tall, was in my room radiating golden light that was permeating my body.  It was an experience of love, healing and presence of Spirit that became an important anchor for me in more times of depression to come. I also began a return path to Jesus which traversed some laneways of Spiritualism, Theosophy, Tibetan Buddhism and Taoism with many years of Qigong practice.

Periods of time began to enter my life when I felt called to extend myself into territory uncomfortable for me and I could move towards these calls. I felt the impulse that the work I was doing or wanted to do, teaching qigong, working in a healing capacity with individuals, and hosting music concerts, was greater than my still often feelings of ‘worthlessness.’ I was able to move beyond my negative feelings of self in support of a concept that was more than I was—a concept of service to something greater than me. I was able to take up greater responsibility in and contribute to the world. My concept of service was to the Being of the World and Nature. Soon after, I was to realise this being of the world was Christ Jesus.

At age 31 I gave birth to my daughter Elanor. Elanor came to be a teacher in my life to connect me to love and to help me work with and activate my will. Through my wish for Elanor to have a spiritual life and to know the Christ in her life, we attended The Christian Community.  There she chose to receive Baptism (she was 6 years old and was asking to be baptised) and Confirmation. For myself, I loved the Family Festivals, Children’s Services and talks. I loved all of these activities and received great inner treasures from them, and I am sorry to say, but I could not engage with the Act of Consecration of the Human Being. I thought it was ‘boring’ and could not understand how anyone could sit through it! One day (after many years) and significant experiences from what I did attend at The Christian Community. . . a realisation!! I could see that the people attending the Act of Consecration had a glow about them that I did not have. I realised that I was not understanding something about this activity and decided to attend and engage with the service as much as I could. The next time I attended I walked out with a different relationship to the service as I had chosen to ‘participate’ and was able to ‘experience’ the grace of the service. Soon after I began serving. Since that time I have been blessed to have had a number of grace-filled and healing experiences, as my relationship with Christ Jesus has continued to develop and deepen through my relationship with and learning through The Christian Community. This learning has been through attending talks, retreats, the Act of Consecration of the Human Being, participating in community and service. Then in 2023 I was blessed to be able to attend a ten day retreat in Australia with Reverends Patrick Kennedy and Jonah Evans. At this retreat I could finally voice the call, a call which had first spoken to me about 30 years earlier. It had lived with me quietly and patiently for all of these years and now raised its sounding within my soul to step toward the priesthood in service of Christ Jesus, Humanity and the Earth.  I then attended the 2023 Distance Learning Program year with the North American Seminary and now in 2025, I have the great blessing to have entered the Seminary training in the Hybrid First Year course.

The Christ, through The Christian Community, also brought me another wonderful gift, my husband Ronan. We married in 2022 with The Christian Community Marriage Sacrament. 

My capacity in the world both physically and emotionally has also continued to grow as I consistently find myself able to do more, offer more. It seems the older I become the more I can do and the healthier I become, which seems completely paradoxical, but true. I know this to be the Christ within me. At times I experience renewal in becoming so much so that I am not quite sure who I am. I have been able to learn many lessons from my times of depression, anxiety and poor physical health and can see the gifts that these experiences brought to me. The challenge is, “Can I remember that what comes towards me now in life is a gift and opportunity for transformation or will I forget?” Well, in many of the moments I forget, but occasionally I remember which is a great stride forward. 

From my life and soul experience I can truly say “Christ Jesus is the true healer. He is the true friend and the true teacher of us all and is waiting patiently for us all to open our hearts to Him as He encompasses us within his.” My hope is that I may share the truth and love of Christ Jesus with others  and in doing so that they may find their own way to Him. I cherish this journey with the Seminary and Directors, my fellow seekers and with Him. 

Lisa Ni Conchuir, is a Knowing Christ student in the hybrid-online program. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.

- This is a blog entry by The Seminary of the Christian Community in North America.  These are posted weekly by the student blog team of Athena Masilungan, Nicole Reinhart, and Lincoln Earle-Centers.  For more information about our seminary, see the website: www.christiancommunityseminary.ca and for more video/audio content check out the Seminary’s Patreon page: www.patreon.com/ccseminary/posts.  

The views expressed in this blog entry are the views of its author, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Seminary, its directors, or the Christian Community.