Jennifer Reyes Lay
she/her/hers
Owner Member
Jennifer Reyes Lay (she, her, hers) is a catholic priestess in the lineage of the Magdalene. She seeks to incarnate and share the loving and liberating presence of Sophia Christ in her life and ministry. Jennifer is an ecofeminist theologian, ritual leader, preacher, musician and songwriter, poet, facilitator, aspiring herbalist, midwife of justice, and lover of the natural world. She is fluent in Spanish (se habla Español) and happy to offer her many gifts and skills to the Spanish-speaking community for their spiritual and ritual needs. She lives in St. Louis, MO, the ancestral land of the Osage and Missouria people, with her husband Roger and dog Bella.
Jessica Gazzola
she/her/hers
Owner Member
Jessica (she, her, hers) is a catholic priestess tracing her spiritual lineage to the Mary’s surrounding Jesus (the Magdalene, his Mother, Mary & Martha). The sacredness of dirt, food, and a warm hearth track through her Italian and Polish heritage. Her calling to the priestess path is a dynamic unfolding. It reveals itself most plainly these days in tending life in a blended family and exploring the wildness of her own soul. Jessica is drawn to explore the threshold places where humans transform – through the fires of birth, grief, eroticism, healing, and the milestones that mark our lives. Jessica offers her creative story-crafting skills to Sophia Rising amplifying Her presence through communications. In Jessica’s free time, she can be found with her chickens and children tending their community orchard.
Learn more about Jessica here.
Hannah Zyla
she/her/hers
Collaborator Member
Rooted in the mothers of the Reformation and the lineage of Martha of Bethany, Hannah was raised by clergy parents on the grounds of a progressive seminary in northern California, where professors and hippies lived side by side and debated matters of faith and justice at her childhood dinner table. Because of (or maybe despite?) the environment in which she grew up, she went on to study Religion at Occidental College in Los Angeles before continuing on to receive her Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School.
With friends new and old, she and her spouse, Adam, are building an urban intentional community in their home in St. Louis, accompanied by the chaos and joy of their children. With more enthusiasm than skill, Hannah spends her time gardening, crafting, baking, and dancing, and loves nothing more than extensive, lively, meandering conversation over good food.
Lo Ziv Peckman
ze/zir/zem
Collaborator Member
Lo Ziv Peckman is from many wild and wily protestant backgrounds & influences. Lo grew up in a military, right-wing, white evangelical family, and still can’t believe it, most days! Ze ended up at a historically Moravian women’s college, and had the rare privilege of living four, whole years without being interrupted by her male peers in a classroom! That really changes a person. This shifted Lo’s world. Lo followed zir passion for sacred stories, language, and history to a Master’s degree in Biblical Exegesis, doing the ancient languages and history and whatnot. Lo has journeyed alongside people of many faith stages & traditions, within the synthesis of history, sacred stories, and the arts, ever since.
Lo has taught in prisons (both in the USA and in Romania), at universities, in preschools, and at camps for kids and adults around the world. Teaching, dancing, traveling, learning, music, and storytelling are the zest & substance of life for this one. Some of zir favorite sacred words are:
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” – John 3:8
Ze seeks to live into the lineage of the faithful femmes who remained, finding inspiration from disciples who actually stayed, through to the bitter end, in the sacred story of the Crucifixion. Lo continues to revel in story, history, dance, and song. You can find zir teaching folk & social dance, and leading some song circles, across the nation! Something Lo loves about the Sophia Rising community is how we stay alongside one another. May we be the ones who sing, feast, and stay present with one another. Friends on the mysterious journey, in body & spirit.
Sophia Rising 