I interviewed Louise Green on Tuesday, April 7th during Holy Week. I initially met Louise in 1997 in NYC while Louise was the Associate Pastor of Judson Memorial Church in the West Village and I was in my last year at Union. By fall of 1997, I had started my second year of field education at Broadway UCC and entered the ordination process in the UCC. When I began Union, I was already in the M.Div program but didn't envision ordination being part of my life. As work unfolded at Broadway, I began to be taken by the sacramental life, especially as I made the connections between the sacraments and my work with incarcerated women at Riker's Island, the NYC jail, and Bedford Hills, the maximum security prison for women (and home to death row for women) in New York State. In order to discern my call to ordination (real....or not?) I felt the need to hear myself into speech. One of my Union peers, Joan Sakalas, knew Louise and thought she would be a great sounding board. I did a cold call and had my first monthly meeting with Louise in late 1997.

Louise was, as she still is, fantastic. She listened. She questioned. She challenged. She encouraged. I still remember her office and Louise was close to 40 when she first met with me--I'm not to far away from that age mark right now.

Life continued on. I graduated from Union and moved to Arlington. Louise left Judson and went back to community organizing with the Industrial Areas Foundation, becoming the lead organizer for the East Brooklyn Congregation affiliate of the IAF. We kept in mild touch and I re-discovered Louise when I attended the 10-day training for the IAF in Baltimore in 2001. Louise was one of my teachers during the training. In 2004, I got a call from Mark Fraley, another IAF organizer, church member and friend, telling me, "did you know Louise Green is moving down to D.C.?" I was thrilled. Louise has been a source of friendship and encouragement since her arrival. I also share the same birth date has Louise's partner, Regina Tosca. Bob and I have shared numerous dinners to celebrate February 7th.

This past fall, Louise called me and said, "I have news. I have breast cancer." My emotional reaction created a lump in my heart and throat. Louise had stage 1 breast cancer and the outlook was positive. But my friend was sick. I felt sick. I was honored when her sister called me right after her lumpectomy and told me Louise did great and was doing well.

In one of Louise's first weeks of radiation, I went up to Sibley Hospital to sit and be Louise during and after her treatment. In one of her finest teaching moments with me, Louise let me come back to the radiation room to see the radiation machine and meet her radiation tech.

I followed Louise, turned the corner into the room and came face-to-face with the radiation machine just like this one in the picture. I gasped. It was massive. Louise slowly climbed onto the table and was raised up, closer to the radiation "arm." In the raising, I saw my dear friend being consumed by this machine, so massive yet operating with such precision. I almost burst into tears, watching the vulnerability of my friend, dependent upon this "mountain" of a machine. "Is this what it comes down to?" I thought to myself.

During my interview with Louise, I listened to how this cancer journey has impacted her life, ministry and sense of self. It has made her call more lucid, inviting her to name the image that speaks to her life right now as a spiral. This picture is Louise's bracelet, holding her image of life, that she names as a call to the serene sacred circle, a counter clock-wise spiral that signifies growth, change, and a source of steady energy.

In a sermon Louise preached at Judson and now published in a collection of sermons by UCC pastors (including Barbara Gerlach) on sexual identity and orientation, Louise writes, "in our time, we have a few areas where unexpected love must still strain against societal conventions. I think that deep and intimate friendship is one. Anyone can send a Christmas card, or go out to an occasional dinner, and most of us have friends on that level. But think about the short list of friends who matter most, the ones who are really there for us over time. It's not easy to make sure these relationships have the resources they need to deepen, and far easier to perpetuate the quick social interaction that is so much more common. We have to take time and risk to know these friends better."

We send Louise and Regina Christmas cards. I love our birthday dinners. But I'm most thankful that we give each other time and take the risk to deepen our friendship.