About Sheryl
Two things stand out in Sheryl Spencer’s childhood memories – the wildness of the creek at the back of her family’s farm and her grandmother reading her stories. The seeking out of wild places and a love for stories have pretty much defined her life since then, and maybe a few other things too, like becoming a mother and then becoming a minister and now, wondering how she will grow old. Does the life she’s lived so far and the stories she has to share mean anything? Is there such a thing as the passing on of wisdom? Could such a thing help in the healing of a faltering world?
​​Sheryl Spencer was first published at the age of seventeen when a review she wrote of a local play made it into the Barrie Examiner. She studied English Literature and Drama at the University of Guelph then obtained a diploma in Communications Studies and a teaching degree. All the while, though, even while serving as the mother of three children, she was writing – as a scriptwriter for educational videos; as a freelance film reviewer for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald and Mail Star; and as an occasional essayist for the Globe and Mail and CBC Radio.
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In 2006, her life took another turn when, out of the blue, she experienced a call to ministry. A solo pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago in Spain led her to seek ordination in the United Church of Canada. She practices a ministry that celebrates the sacredness of land and creation, and her prayers and liturgies have been published in Gathering magazine.
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In 2021, Sheryl was accepted into the Doctor of Ministry program in Creative Writing and Public Theology at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. It is through this work that she has truly found her voice, that of a strong and wise and wondering woman. You will find recent essays in Broadview and the Porch magazines.
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Sheryl serves in ministry at the tip of the Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula in southern Ontario. You’ll find her writing and walking, tending to souls and upholding the sacredness of the land in this UNESCO biosphere reserve.
